Employee health screening is a term used to describe a range of checks and tests that help identify risks to health and improve wellbeing among staff. This set of specially designed screenings has potential benefits to both employees and organizations.
Employee Medical screening and health checks, usually offered as part of a workplace wellness program, usually comprise a combination of tests that aim to give an employer a general overview of its employees’ health status. This helps them detect disease or risk factors early.
BENEFITS OF MEDICAL SCREENING
Employees are an important asset to an organization, so it makes sense for employers to do what can be done to promote their health and wellbeing. Keeping employees healthy and productive also makes sound financial sense according to international data. According to the Office for National Statistics, an estimated 137.3 million working days were lost to sickness or injury in the UK in 2016 (an average of 4.3 days per worker per year). Furthermore, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) reported that staff sickness cost the British economy an estimated £15 billion in the year 2011. Implementing quality employee medical checks and screening has been shown to reduce these numbers significantly.
Employee health checks also offer a variety of benefits to both organizations and the individuals (employees) who work for them.
Some of the benefits accrued to individuals who undergo employee medical screening includes (but are not limited to):
- Good access to personal health information.
- Reduced health risks through early detection.
- Improved personal performance due to improve morale.
- Better mental health.
- Beyond benefits to Individuals (Employees), organizations are mostly at the winning end.
Some of the advantages of conducting periodic employee Medical screenings to organizations include:
- Reduced sickness absence levels.
- Greater staff satisfaction.
- Reduced turnover of staff.
- Improved productivity.
- Improved morale and loyalty amongst employees – health screening demonstrates that employers care about their staff and are dedicated to helping them stay healthy.
- Improved teamwork.
- Medical screenings offer lasting benefits to employees as a worker may be helped to overcome a niggling health problem or the tests may capture potentially more serious health issues early when they are easier to treat.
- Lifestyle advice and support (e.g., advice about smoking cessation) can reap long-term life-enhancing benefits.
An organization would benefit from supporting the health and wellbeing of its workforce, with the potential for lower levels of sickness and absenteeism. Fitter workers may also concentrate better and have higher levels of productivity too.
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