The health of your staff is an aspect that you should prioritize in your organization. The productivity of your employees largely on how healthy they are. Employee health screening is a practice involving a range of checks and tests aimed at identifying health risks and enhancing the wellbeing of staff.
The potential benefits of workplace health checkups cover both the employer and the employees. There are direct financial implications that can be minimized if you promote the health and wellbeing of your workforce. Some of the critical health checks organizations should conduct include:
- Pre-employment Health Checks – These checks target new employees. The goal here is to identify any health issues with a view to supporting the affected employees.
- Health Surveillance – Employees that are exposed to particular hazards or risks in the workplace require ongoing health checks in the form of health surveillance.
- Lifestyle Assessment – These are basic health checks consisting of a combination of tests aimed at giving an employee an overview of their health status.
Why Conduct Workplace Health Checks?
Employee health screenings help in picking up health issues that may otherwise go undetected. Cholesterol screening and blood pressure screenings are examples of checks that can identify staff that are at a higher risk for cardiac diseases. Addressing these problems early can potentially ward off heart attacks in the future.
Glucose checks help in identifying employees that may have diabetes. In many occasions, workplace health checks have unearthed type II diabetes among unsuspecting employees. Blood sugar levels that are above normal, but not yet in the diabetic range can also be detected early.
1. Contributes to Healthier Lifestyles
Organizations that prioritize health motivate staff to reassess their lifestyles including dietary choices and exercise. For instance, if an employee knows they have a high cholesterol level, they will be motivated to discuss with their doctor on how to make the necessary lifestyle changes to correct the situation.
2. Makes Employees Productive
Though unfortunate, it is a fact that not every employee prioritizes their health issues. Some of them may go for years without checking on their health with a doctor. Workplace health screenings cannot replace blood studies and physical exams done by health professionals, but they can detect problems before they balloon into bigger health issues.
Healthy employees are more efficient at work and contribute to lower absenteeism rates in organizations. When these two factors combine, the only result you can logically expect is high productivity.
3. Gives Employees Peace of Mind
An overall health check helps in bringing out issues into the open so that an employee can accept and deal with them. Helping employees to learn about their health allows them to become increasingly aware of their overall status as well as reassuring them that someone cares about their health.
There is nothing of higher value than the peace of mind that comes from knowing your health status. This will result into more informed decisions on the part of employees that double up as an asset to the organization.
4. Improves Workplace Safety
As part of the workplace health checkup, employers may be under statutory requirement to screen employees for drugs and alcohol. However, the organization is meant to communicate clearly to the employee all the details involved and why the checkup is being done.
The purpose of drug and alcohol testing is to improve workplace safety especially where your job demands a high level of sobriety. Depending on the requirements set by the organization, this screening may cover pre-employment or random checks. Employees may go through urine and saliva drug tests for substances such as opiates, cannabis, cocaine, and antidepressants.
5. Cultural and Financial Benefits to the Employer
As the employer, there is no price that can equate good health. Even though you will be covering the full cost of health screening, investing the health of your employees is more important than any other investment you will ever make in your business.
We all know how expensive sick pays are. Therefore, if you can pick an employee health issue well in advance, you save your organization the impact of regular and lengthy sick days. With no time wasted and money for replacement staff saved, everyone wins.
Culturally, organizations that take care of the wellbeing of their staff are viewed favorably by society and potential employees. This is particularly important when attracting high flying employees. The assurance of a safe and positive working environment is an area of priority for employees in the 21st century more than the pay you will give them.
In addition, clients feel more comfortable dealing with organizations that have workplace health policies that guarantee the wellbeing of their employees.
