More than two-thirds of employees (70%) have never been referred to occupational health by their employer, with half of employers also admitting to not knowing fully what their OH service can offer, according to research.
The poll of 1,000 employees and 200 employers for Spire Healthcare found that more than half (57%) of employees believe their working conditions significantly affected their overall health, with this jumping to 72% for those aged 25-34.
Nearly half of those employees (46%) who have had to take more than a month off work during the past three years also said this was because of incidents or health issues directly related to their working environment.
Part of this disconnect between ill health and being referred to occupational health could be down to the fact that only half (47%) of the employers polled admitted to fully understanding the full range of occupational health services that can be provided, such as mental health support or absence management.
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For smaller and mid-sized firms (with 101-250 staff) comprehension of occupational health and available services dropped to just 14%.
Cost is a further factor, with budgetary constraints cited by organisations as the biggest barrier to improving their working environments. A total of 45% of employers polled listed lack of money as the key challenge.
More widely, more than a third of workers (38%) believed the onus is on their employer to look after their health, rising to 46% of those aged 35 to 44 who thought this.
More than three-quarters of the employees polled (78%) felt employers should be responsible for supporting physical wellbeing, while 80% said the same for mental wellbeing support.
Mental health support was the most popular service provided by businesses (82%), with it also being the most popular service requested by employees.
Some six in 10 employees expressed a desire to access mental health training, employee assistance programmes and counselling through their employer.
Although 94% of employers surveyed believe in the importance of occupational health in maintaining a healthy and productive workforce.
Yet only a third (33%) said they were very familiar with the financial benefits of investing in occupational health and employee wellbeing programmes.
The vast majority (77%) of employees agreed their employers should invest more in occupational health, while 79% said the government should incentivise companies to do so.
Caroline Gardiner, managing director of Spire Occupational Health, said: “For years occupational health has been viewed by too many businesses as an unwieldy cost rather than a vital investment. With people living and working longer than ever before, safeguarding the health of employees needs to be a priority.
“With workplace absence rates rising sharply, the impact of sickness and ill health within the UK workforce is not just of concern from an employer’s duty of care perspective, but also for productivity and retention, a business’s bottom line and more widely, economic prosperity,” Gardiner added.
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