UK plc needs to stop viewing employee wellbeing as a ‘nice to have’ as such investments could see organisations collectively recoup £6.4bn a year through reduction in lost output from sickness and a further £7.3bn from increased productivity.
This is according to a report from Unum and WPI Economics surveying more than 4,000 UK employees which found eight in 10 employees (80%) claim that they are more productive at work when they are feeling healthy and happy.
Consequently, the report’s authors make a number of recommendations including a widened definition of occupational health recognising that it is just part of the overall package of support that government and employers should be working towards providing to all employees,
It also recommends a commitment from government, employers and insurers to work together to drive a step change in employee health and happiness, a new sick pay system that supports employees and employers to replace Statutory Sick Pay.
Other recommendations include the introduction of new set of voluntary national standards and an accreditation scheme for health and wellbeing at work.
Happy workers are productive workers
The report showed that compared to employees who reported to be unhappy, those who are happy at work needed to take, on average, nine fewer sick days per year.
Compared to employees who said they are not happy, workers who were happy at work also reported 5.5 fewer days of presenteeism a year (where they turn up for work when they are ill and unable to perform their job effectively).
Elsewhere the report showed eight in 10 employees (80%) said that they were more productive at work when they are feeling healthy and happy.
Employees who were found to be happy at work were nearly three times as likely to rate their performance as being very productive (37% versus 13%).
The report also found employees with good physical and mental wellbeing (87%) were nearly 2.5 times more likely to be happy at work than those with poor physical and mental health (38%).
And when asked how much of a positive impact certain benefits would have on their happiness at work, 69% said mental health support would provide a significant positive impact, followed by 65% for private medical insurance, 62% cancer support, 61% employee assistance programmes, 58% physiotherapy, 57% cash plans, 56% virtual GPs, 55% group income protection and 52% preventative services such as nutrition and exercise advice.
WPI also asked employees about the number of workplace health and wellbeing products and services they had access to, before then asking about their views of the support and values of their employer.
Employees with access to a greater number of workplace health and wellbeing products and services unanimously felt more positively about their employer.
The report found just one in three (33%) of those who do not have access to any health and wellbeing support felt that their employer had the right practices and services to support their physical and mental health. This increased to more than eight in 10 (83%) for those who have access to six or more benefits.
Four in ten (41%) of those with no access to workplace health and wellbeing support felt that their employer would help them get better if they required take time off sick or that their employer values their health and wellbeing (43%). Painting a similar picture, for those with access to more than six products and services, these numbers rose to 85% and 83% respectively.
WPI used the report’s findings to develop an economic model of the potential financial benefits. It modelled a scenario where the number of people unhappy in work is reduced by half, leading to increased productivity and improvements in mental and physical health and wellbeing that also reduced sickness absence and presenteeism.
Using this model, the report found the UK could achieve a reduction in lost output from sickness absence and presenteeism worth around £6.4bn a year and an increase in output from improved productivity of around £7.3bn a year.
Recommendations
While lauding government’s efforts in this year’s consultations exploring how to increase the take up of occupational health schemes, particularly amongst small businesses, the report’s authors made a number of recommendations as a starting point towards making the ambition of comprehensive support for all employees a reality.
These include:
A commitment to improve workplace health and happiness
For government, employers and insurers should commit to work together to drive a step change in employee health and happiness. The report’s authors say this should involve a commitment to a new, UK-wide collection of data on an annual basis examining workplace health and happiness, which could be used to monitor and drive progress over time.
A new system of Statutory Sickness Support
The report’s author say a vital first step will be to implement recommendations in the 2022 report, Statutory Sickness Support: A new sick pay system that supports employees and employers, which outlined a comprehensive new system to replace statutory sick pay. The authors of the report argue this would ensure both employees and employers receive the help they need to better manage instances of ill health or injury – as well as providing much-needed support for those unable to work due to illness or injury.
A widened definition of occupational health
The report says government should use its existing consultations on occupational health and how to incentivise its use by employers as a springboard to start a wider discussion with employers and service providers. In particular, the definition of occupational health should be widened. The existing definition could potentially lead to unintended consequences such as limiting innovation and employers choosing occupational health when other offerings, such as vocational rehabilitation, may be more suitable. In short, the report urges government to recognise that occupational health is just part of the overall package of support that government and employers should be working towards providing to all employees.
National employer standards
Both a new set of voluntary national standards and an accreditation scheme for health and wellbeing at work should be introduced. The report says this should extend beyond the government’s current proposals on occupational health. Supported by the yearly collection of workplace health and happiness data, it adds this could also allow for a comprehensive evaluation of the approaches taken, which could be used to inform the potential roll out of mandatory standards in future through the Health and Safety Executive.
Businesses not doing enough
Speaking at an event in Parliament to launch the report last week, Matt Oakley, director at WPI Economics, said: “Tackling this issue has to be central to the government’s approach to boosting the economy, improving living standards and delivering a sustainable economy in the future.
“Ultimately, businesses and government don’t do enough in this space. That’s really at the core of a lot of work we’ve been doing – working out why that is the case and why aren’t we doing more?”
Oakley maintained the key issue in this field is that too often interventions in this space are seen as a cost to business or a “nice to have” to improve employee’s happiness and wellbeing.
“But actually what our work shows is that yes, that is true of course improving happiness at work is good for employees,” Oakley continued. “But it is also central to delivering productivity in the workplace and really improving the bottom line of business.
“So ultimately, our point is that is something that businesses can’t afford not to do rather than being an cost to them.”
Mark Till, CEO at Unum UK, added: “We’re asking for a few things as a consequence – a commitment to improve workplace health and happiness to unlock the benefits to employees, employers and the wider economy.
“We’re also calling for a new system for statutory sickness support, one that supports employees back to work as well as paying benefit while their off sick, a wider definition of occupational health to improve companies’ ability to offer support to their employees, and there was some positive news from the DWP recently on that.
“And lastly, some national employer standards to tackle sickness absence and presenteeism and promote health and happiness at work to better measure associated productivity gains from doing so, and again the Autumn Statement had some positive news on that.”