Businesses strive to have their workforce healthy and productive. A new study from Aon Hewitt shows that a positive and successful work environment should be fostering healthy employees. HR departments with a culture focused on improving worker health are happier, less anxious, and more likely to address issues with their own health. Therefore encouraging a positive workplace culture should result in employee well-being for all.
The Aon Hewitt report surveyed more than 2,700 employees and their dependents covered by work-sponsored health plans. Particularly, the research explores the logistics, behaviors, and attitudes regarding these workers’ health and wellness. The data showed that 73 percent of businesses with robust health and wellness cultures tend to rub off on employees. This trend increases the employee’s chance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Employers that promoted a healthy work culture saw a decrease in worker stress and negative impacts on the company. The report also showed that only 25 percent of stress-related problems were reported in companies with strong health cultures. This figure was in comparison to 49 percent of stress issues in companies with weak health values and cultures.
Companies that want to promote a healthy workplace have to take action.
According to Business News Daily, encouraging a culture of health and wellness in the workplace starts with managers/higher-ups taking action. To see a decline in healthcare benefit usage and workplace injuries, businesses must make moves toward developing a healthy workplace.
“In an office environment, you spend most of your working hours sitting in meetings or front of a computer screen,” said Jamie Russo, to Business News Daily. “Aside from the physical hazards of sitting – such as the increased risks of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer – there’s a productivity benefit to giving yourself a mental break.”
Focus on individual circumstances
The report noted that businesses striving to institute a healthy culture need to be specific to each individual. It should not use a blanket approach to cover all the workers. Companies should tailor health incentives to each worker since every worker’s health condition is different.
It is essential for organizations to pay special attention to their employee population’s various age or generational segments. Particularly to workers under age 35 who often are assumed to be healthier due to their age. While these employees may be the best-educated and most tech-savvy generation, they also may be the most at-risk generation for future health issues.
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