Promoting employees' Health and Wellbeing is just good business sense
Promoting Health and Wellbeing in workplaces does not just have obvious benefits for workers - it makes excellent business sense for employers, says Warwickshire County Council's Director of Public Health Dr John Linnane.
In his 2016 Annual Report entitled Public Health Matters: Sex, Drugs and Fluoridation, Dr Linnane stresses the benefits to employers of doing all they can to promote wellbeing among their workforces. It is plain business logic to do so. Employees in good health can be up to three times more productive than those in poor health, are usually better-motivated and more resilient to change and also more likely to engage with the priorities of the business.
Dr Linnane recommends that workplaces sign up to the ‘Workplace Wellbeing Charter’ (or equivalent approach) to encourage adopting healthy lifestyles, focusing on reducing risks to health and promoting protective factors by:
- promoting good mental wellbeing
- promoting ‘health promoting environments’ for all health facilities
- offering staff access to physical activity opportunities as available through local programmes
The good news is that in recent years the number of Warwickshire businesses implementing healthy workplace policies has increased. But much work remains to be done.
So Dr Linnane wants every business in the county, big or small, in every sector, to think about their procedures and adopt The Workplace Health Charter or equivalent.
"The workplace is an important setting to promote health and wellbeing for health and wellbeing programmes," said Dr Linnane. NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) shows that promoting a culture which improves the health and wellbeing of employees is good management and leads to healthy and productive workplaces.
The report is available online: http://publichealth.warwickshire.gov.uk/annual-report
Watch a short video which summarises the report online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goZPC9jXmeU&feature=youtu.be