Employers should take more responsibility for our health

Over half of Britons are calling for employers to take more responsibility for their health and wellbeing needs, according to a nationwide survey by health and care company Bupa.

The popularity of pensions as a workplace health benefit fell by six percent this year, while demand for private medical insurance (PMI) rose to 40 percent, halving the gap between pensions and PMI to just nine percent, and moving PMI closer to becoming the most desirable employee benefit. Bupa's survey also found that PMI, health assessments and free gym membership now top Britain's workplace health wish-list.

These findings come at a time when UK companies are already under rising pressure from the Government to invest in workplace health, with the Department of Work and Pensions' recent 'Review of the Health of the Working Population', led by Dame Carol Black, highlighting the need for companies to do more to support the health and wellbeing of their staff.

Ann Greenwood, director business markets, BUPA Health Insurance said: "The rising popularity of workplace health benefits, particularly PMI, reflects changing attitudes to personal healthcare - people are now keen to have more control of their healthcare options rather than leaving them to chance. They want faster access to specialists and no waiting lists, but most of all they are concerned about hospital cleanliness, with almost three in every four citing clean hospitals as a key reason for buying PMI - up eight percent on 2007.

"At Bupa, we work with 88 percent of FTSE 100 companies as well as thousands of smaller businesses across the country. We know that companies are keen to play their part in keeping Britain healthy, but the current tax treatment of workplace health provision is an obstacle and a strong disincentive. Our own research of corporate clients shows that nine out of ten employers want to see support from the Government. Over half would invest more in employee health and wellbeing if fiscal disincentives were removed."

Bupa is on the leadership team of Business Action on Health, a UK-wide initiative from Business in the Community (BiTC), promoting the business benefits of investing in employee health and is also conducting its own major 18-month research project on workplace health, due for completion in the Summer of 2009, which aims to provide evidence of the benefits of workplace health services to individuals, companies, and the UK economy and health system.