One-quarter of UK employers ignore the health and wellbeing of their workforce because they don’t know how they can help, research has revealed.
A survey commissioned by people development firm Investors in People, questioning nearly 900 people, found that more than three in 10 respondents equated “healthy working” to eating healthily at work.
Three in 10 of nearly 700 respondents, defined as employees, said their employers believed healthy working was either a wasted investment, a waste of time, nothing to do with them, or that it didn’t mean anything.
The same proportion of employees said they either suffered from or knew someone who was suffering from work-related stress.
More than half of respondents pointed to low staff morale and high turnover of staff as symptoms of an unhealthy workplace, while absenteeism and high stress featured.
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Simon Jones, acting chief executive at Investors in People UK, said: “Despite recognition of the benefits that a healthy workplace can deliver, some employers simply don’t seem to understand that it is about more than just gym membership and fresh fruit.
“The bottom line is that an unhealthy, unhappy workforce will also be uncommitted and unproductive. If employers don’t address this, they will see a negative impact both on individuals and the performance of the business,” he added.
