Our recent Webinar on Reward & Employment Costs in the New Economy highlighted the need to manage costs whilst keeping your staff engaged and motivated, and our second Webinar on Absence Management, highlighted the importance of monitoring and managing absence costs in these tough times. A related article in this Newsletter looking at the cost of presenteeism continues this theme.
In this article we look at the value of taking steps to positively improve ‘well-being’. It is timely because a recent CIPD Survey indicated that the recession appears to have had an impact on employers’ plans to invest in employee well-being, with a significant reduction in the proportion of organisations anticipating increasing investment in this area over the coming year.
So what is Employee Well-Being?
Well-Being is a key source of higher levels of performance and competitiveness for organisations. If your workforce has a strong sense of purpose and well-being, research shows that it will perform at higher levels. If employees feel better they are likely to work harder and take fewer days off sick. People with higher levels of psychological well-being learn and solve problems more effectively, are more enthusiastic about change, relate to others more positively and accept new challenges more readily.
The most commonly provided employee well-being benefit is access to counselling services. Employee assistance programmes, stop-smoking support and subsidised gym membership are the next most commonly provided benefits. At the other end of the scale, health screening only tends to be provided by large organisations with well established healthcare benefits and large budgets.
At HR Advantage we appreciate that the cost of providing these types of benefit can sometimes be prohibitive for smaller organisations and that’s why we’ve linked up with a specialist partner to offer our clients two cost effective well-being benefits.
Employee Assistance Programme from as little as £20 per employee per year!
The Employee Assistance Programme will provide telephone counselling on either personal or work related issues that cannot be dealt with through the company procedures, helping the individual recognise the cause of, and cope with the particular problem. If the situation is more serious, the employee may be referred for some Face to Face counselling sessions
Whilst the Employee Assistance Programme is primarily intended as an employee benefit, the services may be extended to members of the employee’s immediate household family, to address specific issues that may be having an impact on the employee’s wellbeing and working life.
Health Screening from £35 per employee!
These cost effective health screening programmes are carried out on-site which is not only convenient for employees, but also time efficient. As long as you have a private room that can be utilized for this purpose, your employees need not take too much time out of their working day to attend. The benefit to the employee could be early detection of a medical condition that might not otherwise have been spotted. The benefit to you, the employer is the same, plus an employee who feels cared for by the Company and in turn, more committed.
The Flexi Screen: £35 - 25 minutes including results
Lifestyle questionnaire, glucose (diabetes), blood pressure, body composition: height, weight, BMI - Body Mass Index, body fat, muscle mass, hydration, basal metabolic rate (BMR), metabolic age, bone mass, visceral fat (fat around the organs). Plus ONE of the following: Total cholesterol/PSA-Prostate Blood Test/H. Pylori (cause of stomach ulcers and often misdiagnosed as IBS)/hemoglobin (Iron levels).
The Maxi Screen: £63 - 45 minutes including results
Diabetes, cardiac risk assessment, blood pressure, cholesterol, H. Pylori (Cause of stomach ulcers and often misdiagnosed as IBS) PSA - Prostate Specific Antigen (Prostate blood test for men) Iron (anaemia), lifestyle assessment, action plan. Plus full body composition test comprising of: Weight, height, body fat percentage, muscle mass, total body water – hydration, bone mass, visceral fat assessment (fat around your organs), basal metabolic rate (BMR), metabolic age, BMI - Body Mass Index.
The Osteo Screen: £47 - 20 minutes including results
Easy and accurate osteo scan checks for early warning signs of Osteoporosis using the latest technology. It’s a Dexa scan, utilising laser and X-ray technology and endorsed by the Osteoporosis society. The latest official statistics are that 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men will suffer with Osteoporosis over the age of 50. Like all our evidence based tests, if the condition is caught early enough, it can be rectified and helped before it becomes a problem. Bone density scan, Lifestyle assessment, Action plan.
Premier Screen: £85 - 60 minutes including results
The most popular screening choice, this screening combines all the benefits of our Maxi Screen and Osteo Screen in one easy appointment, ideal to keep your employees at the top of their game.
If you would like to find out more about any of the above services, please contact Lynne on 01494 451681 or e-mail lynne@hradvantage.co.uk
