Your workforce is your company’s biggest strength. However, when that workforce isn’t as healthy as it could be, the organization suffers. Keeping your employees physically and emotionally healthy is a key part of keeping your organization strong.
Unfortunately, sometimes a doctor’s appointment takes significant time out of the day. It can be particularly challenging for hourly employees to take time off for appointments. Because of this, personal health care often falls by the wayside.
In general, employed adults spend more time at work than anywhere else, so it makes sense to help employees manage their health through workplace health screenings. These screenings give employees a chance to understand their overall health. This knowledge helps them take steps toward preventing, recognizing, and managing chronic conditions.
What types of health screenings should you offer?
Many chronic conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes are preventable. By recognizing the early signs of disease, employees can take a proactive role in avoiding many health problems. On-site screenings to test for risk factors can include:
- Blood pressure checks
- Cholesterol checks
- Glucose screenings
- Height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) measurements
How do health screenings help employees?
Encouraging employees to understand their overall health will help them identify strengths and challenges, including lifestyle changes they may need to make. Sometimes, changes in nutrition and exercise or early intervention through medical care can make a big difference. Screenings can also help lower employees’ long-term health care costs by identifying problems before they develop into serious illnesses.
What are the benefits for the company?
A healthy workforce means a healthier organization. Investing in the health of employees means fewer sick days or long-term medical absences across the company. Also, by providing these services, organizations can benefit from improved employee satisfaction, reduced turnover and increased productivity. Finally, like individual employees, the company overall benefits from reduced health care costs by catching chronic conditions early.
How can you implement health screenings in the workplace?
While health screenings offer a number of benefits for both employees and employers, these programs can be ineffective if not implemented correctly. Be sure you and your team understand existing programs and how to implement new employee health and wellness programs. Use appropriate incentives to encourage participation, drawing on your knowledge of the organization to understand what motivates employees at your company.
Remember that health screenings take time and repetition to be successful. Make sure you are working to educate employees on their benefits and improve accountability to build lasting success for these programs.
By Applied Systems, Inc.