Posts Tagged ‘wellbeing at work’

Employee wellbeing – health ‘MOTs’ may not be good for you

Health “MOTs” for people aged in England over 40 were introduced back in 2009 for the best of reasons – they are designed to help doctors screen for conditions such as heart disease, stroke or diabetes by looking for “silent” risk factors, such as high blood pressure or cholesterol.

But, according to research, such general check-ups are unlikely to lead to a condition needing treatment being identified and, in fact, may even make things worse by causing an individual undue stress and worry.

Atos-Healthcare-female-doctor-examining-a-young-man.jpgStop checks?

The Danish study for The Cochrane Library, has even gone so far as to recommend doctors consider stopping offering the checks.

The review of more than 180,000 patients concluded the check-ups do not reduce deaths overall or deaths from cancer and heart disease.

Ministers at the time of the launch suggested the scheme could save as many as 650 lives a year.

Worried well

But the Danish study argued it is often the “worried well” – or people who are worried about their health but otherwise fit and healthy – who put themselves forward for such screening.

Lead researcher Lasse Krogsboll, of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark, told the BBC: “From the evidence we’ve seen, inviting patients to general health checks is unlikely to be beneficial. We’re not saying that doctors should stop carrying out tests or offering treatment when they suspect that there may be a problem. But we do think that public healthcare initiatives that are systematically offering general health checks should be resisted.”Atos-Healthcare-female-doctor-hand-holding-a-stethoscope.jpg

However the government responded by defending its policy and arguing that spotting people at risk of heart attacks, diabetes, stroke and kidney disease can help prevent them succumbing to the diseases.

Executive perk

So, what do employers and employees think? Given that many employers invest a lot in health promotion and screening – and often, especially at executive level, offer just this sort of health MOT as a perk – is it money well spent?

And, for employees, is being able to access such screening reassuring – a sign your employer really cares about you and your health – or really neither here nor there when it comes to how you think about your employer?

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Posted in Occupational Health by Atos Healthcare on the 5th December 2012 |

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Occupational health: Money may not make the world go round after all

At first glance the fact the Royal Mint is joining “austerity Britain” and introducing cheaper, nickel-plated coins might appear to be an arcane “so what” issue for most employees and employers.Atos Healthcare - hands-with-coins - occupational health

But, as a group of dermatologists from the St John’s Institute of Dermatology and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield have highlighted in the journal BMJ, its cost-cutting could have significant health implications for people operating in businesses, like retail, where cash changes hand all the time. It’s therefore something employers, HR and occupational health professionals will need to remain vigilant about.

The authors of the report have warned that the Royal Mint has carried out no studies or assessments on how the coins might affect employees, perhaps with hand eczema or dermatitis already, who have a nickel allergy and yet end up handling the money. There was “no information on nickel-release from the new coins” and little, if any, consideration had been given to the potential costs to health in terms of skin disease, financial implications to the NHS or other costs to the taxpayer, they have argued.

Atos Healthcare - sharing-the-wealth - occupational healthOf course, this might all end up a storm in a, er, piggy-bank. But, given the authors also warned that Sweden’s Riksbank had recently concluded nickel-plated coins posed “unacceptable risks to health” clearly this is a health issue that, at the very least, employers should be aware of.  As the coins come into wide circulation, nickel allergy-related cases may begin to emerge and affect workplaces.

If the economy wasn’t in such a bad way, it might be grimly ironic to recognise that, on the one hand we have the Bank of England pumping electronic money into the economy to try and get it moving while, on the other, we have the Royal Mint allegedly pumping out money that might – just might – bring some workers to a grinding halt.

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Posted in Occupational Health by Atos Healthcare on the 20th July 2012 |

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Absence management: Is Presenteeism worse than absenteeism?

Atos Healthcare - employees discussing - absence managementWe recently described presenteeism as the “elephant in the room” of absence management. With all the focus on managing and dealing with those off sick and absent, it’s all too easy to overlook the cost to a business of those who have struggled into work for whatever reason – fear, loyalty, misplaced belief in their own importance – just to sit there shuffling papers, spreading germs and doing half a job badly.

There’s certainly a keen debate to be had around this topic, its causes (can we really, for example, simply blame rising presenteeism on the recession and uncertain jobs market or is it more complex than that) and how best to manage it. But one of the trickier, more fundamental, questions about presenteeism is whether, actually, we should be treating it as a health issue at all?

Sickness and ill-health can, of course, be a big issue when it comes to presenteeism – we all know a sickly employee is more likely to be disengaged, distracted and just plain listless than someone who is feeling fit, healthy and raring to go.

But people perform badly at work for a myriad of other reasons, too: lack of training or coaching; a bad manager; personal stress; a hangover; general disengagement; office systems not working; the list could go on. The net result, however, is much the same: poor service and performance potentially leading to a vicious cycle of negative customer perception and feedback, lost or diminished business and, in turn, greater internal pressure on the bottom line, leaders, managers and, ultimately, all staff.

Atos Healthcare - woman multitasking - presenteeismEmployers are by and large getting much, much better at tackling sickness absence, as the Office for National Statistics highlighted last month. But what also needs to be recognised is that wellbeing at work – both absence and presenteeism – is something that must be managed from a holistic perspective. Yes, employers should by all means attack a specific health-related issue from a health perspective, but they must also recognise the risks involved with over-medicalisation.

Where employees need wide-ranging support or, indeed, where an organisation’s management approach or culture is, really, the underlying issue at fault, just sticking the problem in a box marked “medical” and throwing money at it is going to help no one.

In a way, this is a similarly difficult question to the old chestnut of “Is stress just bad management by another name?” But that’s one for another day.

 

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Posted in Occupational Health by Atos Healthcare on the 9th July 2012 |

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Workforce wellbeing: Is our commute making us all ill?

OK, you probably don’t need a scientist to tell you that the steam-out-of-your-ears commute you’ve just had to get in to work this morning was potentially bad for your health.  But its short lived so surely relatively harmless?  Well actually, no.

Sedentary behaviour is known to have adverse effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health.  But a recent study* has also found that greater commuting distances tend to be associated with decreased cardio-respiratory fitness, increased weight, and other signs of metabolic risk.  The researchers also made the point that, as swathes of us move even further away from urban centres, more of us will inevitably spend longer hours behind the wheel or packed onto buses and trains on the way to and from work.

So what’s the answer? How can we as society and as employers help safeguard our workforce from the risks?  Should we be allowing staff to work more flexibly, via remote working options or staggering commutes?  Is the answer more tax-friendly bike schemes, workplace gyms or other wellbeing benefits, to help us all let off steam and stay fit?Atos Healthcare - Workforce wellbeing: Is our commute making us all ill? - cars in a traffic jam

The truth is, there’s probably no one-size-fits-all response, as every organisation will have its own approach to attendance, time-keeping and flexible benefits.

The first step, particularly for those faced with managing stressed colleagues, is to acknowledge that stress and frustration doesn’t start the moment someone crosses the office reception threshold; there’s probably been at least half an hour’s build up which, day after day can have a cumulative, corrosive effect.

The second step is realising the potential of promoting wellbeing in the workplace.  Health promotion sometimes gets bad PR – it’s all fluffy, worthy stuff that in a tough business world a) doesn’t really make a difference, b) doesn’t stack up as being of value when you consider all the economic and financial stresses and strains people are under at home and work right now and c) is a “nice to have” we-can’t-afford-anyway accessory.

But whether it’s educational workshops or events, one-off gimmicks (workplace pedometers anyone?) or trying to effect something more gradual and permanently life-changing, such as encouraging stair use, cycling to work or getting off a stop early, if it’s going to make people feel better about getting to, and arriving at, work, and therefore more effective once there, then it’s worth considering, even when budgets are tight.

We all need optional or enforced daily disruptions in the workplace they can help us take the edge off the vicious health circle or sedentary travel, followed by sedentary desk time, followed by sedentary travel home, topped off with a quiet night on the sofa.

And it’s not just the physical health benefits we can all benefit from; the extra mental alertness and productivity that can come with a more energetic, energised approach to the working day,  can make the world of difference to how we feel about work.

For more information about workforce wellbeing, please follow the link here.

* Source: Commuting Distance, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, and Metabolic Risk,” as published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

 

 

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Posted in Occupational Health by Atos Healthcare on the 6th June 2012 |

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