The health of your employees matters—not only to them, but to everyone else in your business. Whenever an employee is sick or not able to give one hundred percent on the job, everyone in the workforce must compensate. Helping employees stay healthy is in your best interest.
Healthy Employees Are More Productive
When employees call in sick, their absence affects business productivity by causing delays and gaps in work processes. Even if employees don’t miss work, their ill health may cause their individual job performance to decline. Sick employees may be slow in completing their work. They may take frequent breaks, fall asleep, or leave early.
Studies show that when employees live a healthy lifestyle, such as eating well and exercising regularly, they use fewer sick days. Offering employee wellness programs that include such perks as nutritional counseling, gym memberships, and smoking cessation treatment, can benefit the overall productivity of your business.
Illnesses Cost You Money
Employee illness costs you money in a number of ways, including production losses. You may need to pay overtime to other employees to cover the absent worker’s shift or to complete their assigned jobs. For prolonged absences, you may have to hire temporary replacements.
Providing disability insurance can help defray the costs. About 90% of disability claims are due to illness and not injury. Employees pay the cost of the policies, and if they become ill, short-term disability policies will pay up to 50% of their wages.
Healthy Employees Improve Morale
Employees burn out quickly when they have to work overtime or pick up extra work because their coworker is ill or frequently absent. Low morale causes tension and conflict in the workplace. Workers become less engaged and quality suffers. Low morale also leads to higher employee turnover, as disgruntled workers look elsewhere for more favorable working conditions.
When businesses offer employee wellness benefits, workers feel valued and supported, and they become more engaged in the workplace. It’s important that the benefits are accessible to everyone and include measures to protect individual privacy when needed.
Employee health can have powerful effects on your business. The impact of employee illness and absenteeism can reach into all parts of the workplace and cause problems that multiply. Helping your workers achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle is in your best interests and a good investment in the long run.
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