Jessica BirdJust under one in 10 (9%) employers say their priority in offering health and wellbeing support is on preventative care, to stop staff getting ill in the first place, according to research by GRiD.
The research found that 57% of employers provide health and wellbeing support after a set number of weeks’ absence, and 33% provide it from day one.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said: “The goal should be to mitigate the number of sick days by prioritising preventative measures, but with rehabilitation readily available too.”
Support for mental health, such as initiatives to help staff manage stress and mental health, including access to EAPs and counselling, was given precedence over other types of support, offered by 57% of employers as part of preventative care.
Preventative support for physical health, such as helping staff increase physical activity and improve diet was offered by 56% of employers.
Support for social health, such as organising social events, or supporting voluntary work was offered by 53% of employers, and support for financial health, such as financial planning and debt consolidation was offered by just under half (49%) of employers.
Employers said preventative support for mental health was most helpful to staff (50%), followed by support for physical health (49%), social health (46%) and financial health at 42%.
Moxham said: “Our research shows that preventative care can be overlooked by employers and therefore undersold to staff, but make no mistake, these seemingly straightforward measures can make a dramatic difference in absence rates and in staff performing to their best ability.”
