A company’s workforce is arguably it’s most important asset. Therefore, it makes sense to keep your employees working at optimum capacity by ensuring their health and wellbeing is in order.
According to the Office for National Statistics 137.3 million working days were lost to sickness or injury in the UK during 20161. That’s an average of 4.3 days per worker per year.
By having annual health checks, employees can be helped in overcoming minor continuous health problems as well as spotting serious symptoms early, preventing long absences.
What is an annual health check?
A health check is usually a combination of tests which help to give an individual an overall picture of their health. They also help to detect disease and other risk factors early, so that treatment can be arranged as soon as possible to avoid any unnecessary time off work.
If a test does reveal an issue, an appointment can be made with a GP in order to receive the right medication or treatment moving forwards. DocHQ can make a follow up appointment with a GP in 24 hours.
Since the NHS only offers annual health checks to individuals aged 40-74 every 5 years, it makes sense to get employees checked much more often, as health conditions can develop suddenly.
What are the benefits to employees?
Firstly, many health issues don’t show any symptoms. This means they can only be detected once necessary tests have been run.
Annual health checks give employees access to their current medical information, providing them with peace of mind that they aren’t silently suffering from illness. This helps to improve their mental health by reducing stress levels and anxiety.
They can also help to detect long-term health risk factors.
For example, high cholesterol is a very common condition amongst the working population, however many are completely unaware of their own cholesterol levels. Left undiagnosed, employees are much more likely to develop heart disease or suffer a stroke.
Catching this early allows an employee to make changes to their lifestyle to prevent any negative long-term health effects.
What are the benefits to the employer?
Apart from safeguarding the health of staff members, employers can enjoy a whole host of benefits.
First and foremost, annual health checks help to reduce the amount of sick days employees take by spotting health issues early.
Not only will employees be in work more often, but they will perform at higher levels because they are less likely to suffer with any of the issues picked up during the screening process, improving morale.
Finally, in an increasingly competitive jobs marketplace, providing health checks for your staff as an employee benefit helps demonstrate that you genuinely care about their wellbeing. This helps to increase staff satisfaction within the workplace and reduces employee turnover.
Conclusion
Having an employee annual health check policy means that both the employee and employer can spot any serious conditions early, and it promotes a caring culture.
Employees benefit by getting any serious health-related issues remediated early, receiving an up to date picture of their current condition. They can then make the necessary lifestyle adjustments to avoid any future complications, such as altering diet, exercise or sleep routines. And employers reap the benefits of a reduced absenteeism from their workforce.
DocHQ can help to set up annual health checks, and many other mutually beneficial health policies such as physio, at your company, for a small monthly fee.
Why not review our packages to see which is the best fit for your organisation?
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DocHQ Ltd is a Health Tech company improving choices. We help you connect efficiently to health support and advice whether you are at home, work or travelling. See our website for our services or call us on 0330 088 0645.
