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Workplace health 2016 : why should employers care?
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www.hertsdirect .org Workplace Health : why should employers care? Jim McManus, Director of Public Health Hertfordshire Workplace Wellbeing Event 4 th November 2016
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Transcript of Workplace health 2016 : why should employers care?
www.hertsdirect.org
Workplace Health :why should employers care?
Jim McManus, Director of Public Health
Hertfordshire Workplace Wellbeing Event4th November 2016
www.hertsdirect.org
Covering
• Health inequalities in Hertfordshire and the impact on workplaces.
• Why a Public Health Workplace Wellbeing Offer?
• The cost of employee ill-health on workplace productivity.
www.hertsdirect.org
Health challenges for employersStressPoor Mental Health Drugs /AlcoholSmoking related respiratory diseasesNPS (Legal Highs)Dementia – carer timeCarers at workMusculoskeletal diseaseDiabetesCompound effects of sedentary lifestyles
These are all causes ofLost productivity
www.hertsdirect.org
Just finished year of mental health• Over 1000 workplace
mental health champions
• BIGGEST cause of absenteeism
• Major cost to health and economy
• Much of it preventable or reducable
www.hertsdirect.org
Key Points1. Good health supports employee productivity and
employer outcomes2. Key task for employers is build a positive
psychosocial workplace – The Psychological Contract
3. There are lots of simple things employers can do. Some of them discussed here
4. Poor mental health and poor physical health is costing your business!
www.hertsdirect.org
• Overall, Hertfordshire generally has better health outcomes compared with the rest of the country as a whole.
• This reflects the fact that Hertfordshire is a more prosperous area than average – health outcomes are closely linked with levels of deprivation.
Health in Hertfordshire – the big picture
www.hertsdirect.org
It’s all relative…
• So when looking at variations (or inequalities) in health outcomes across the country, we get a positive picture of health in Hertfordshire…
• …but when we compare health outcomes in Hertfordshire with those in areas that have similar levels of deprivation, we start to see opportunities for improvement.
www.hertsdirect.org
Looking closer
• Simply looking at figures for Hertfordshire as whole, however, masks the variations in health outcomes which are present within the county itself.
• A health statistic which looks better than average at a county level, can present a much more varied picture of outcomes when shown at district level.
www.hertsdirect.org
Inequalities between areas
• Stark contrasts emerge when we begin to compare wealthier parts of the county with those which are less well-off:
Local authority ranking (higher is better)
Health outcome St Albans Stevenage
Cancer deaths 78 / 324 282 / 324
Heart disease deaths 57 / 324 268 / 324
Lung disease deaths 86 / 323 281 / 323
Liver disease deaths 11 / 301 89 / 301
• We see a clear pattern across Hertfordshire, with people living in less deprived areas generally living longer…
www.hertsdirect.org
Life expectancy - why should you care?• Stark contrasts emerge when we begin to compare wealthier parts of the county with
those which are less well off:
www.hertsdirect.org
Inequalities between social classes
• Health inequalities occur between different sections of the population, as well between different geographical areas.
• Across the country, we see a health gradient across the class spectrum, with those who are better off generally experiencing better health and the poorest in society experiencing the worst health outcomes…
www.hertsdirect.org
www.hertsdirect.org
Lifestyle variations between social classes• Many of the causes of health inequalities are preventable through lifestyle change, including eating more healthily, reducing levels of drinking, becoming more physically active and quitting smoking.
• Smoking is now much more common among people in lower paid occupations and is a major cause of health inequalities:
www.hertsdirect.org
Inequalities between other groups
• As well as inequalities based primarily on wealth and social status, we see variations in health outcomes based on a range of other characteristics, e.g. – male life expectancy is consistently lower than female life expectancy– levels of physical activity and smoking vary significantly across ethnic groups – the level of overweight and obesity is significantly higher among people living with a disability compared with those who don’t have a disability
• When variations become compounded by deprivation-based inequalities between geographical areas, the differences in outcomes are even more stark; e.g. – male life expectancy in the Stevenage ward of Woodfield is 75.9 years– female life expectancy in the St Albans ward of Harpenden South is 88.6 years
www.hertsdirect.org
Highlighting inequalities between districts
www.hertsdirect.org
The Problem for Employers• 2/3 of sickness absence avoidable
– Smoking related ill health– Musculoskeletal ill-health– Mental health and stress related– Increasing risk of preventable disability in
employees with age– The more risks you have, the more illness you
have (multiplicative effect)
www.hertsdirect.org
It’s costing you
• Sickness absence• Productivity
Established relationship between lifestyle related risk factors (smoking, inactivity, obesity) and productivity absenteeism and health claims.
• (Buron et al,2005, Wellsource, 2006 & University of Michigan, 2006)
www.hertsdirect.org
Example - smoking• £58 m annual cost in smoking breaks• £50.8m annual cost in sickness absence• 1500 deaths a year in working age adults• Smokers 5 times as likely as non smokers to have
sickness absence EVERY year from ‘flu and chest infections
GETTING THEM TO QUIT NEEDNT COST YOU A PENNY
www.hertsdirect.org
And Hertfordshire shows the same pattern!
www.hertsdirect.org
And Hertfordshire shows the same pattern!
The new retirement age. 2/3 of population will be in disability by Retirement age
www.hertsdirect.org Slide courtesy of Gay Sutherland
www.hertsdirect.org
Dementia -projections
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
Num
ber o
f peo
ple
Year
People aged 65 and over predicted to have dementia, by age, projected to 2020, Hertfordshire
90+
85-89
80-84
75-79
70-74
65-69
Source: www.poppi.org.uk
www.hertsdirect.org
Mental Health• Biggest single cause of sickness absence• Mostly avoidable or remediable at early stages• Significant cause of ET claims and workplace
disputes• Area most employers feel least prepared for• 1 in 4 of population have in lifetime• 1 in 3 of workforce report sickness absence
around it
www.hertsdirect.org
How? Starting Places1. Build a positive psychosocial workplace/happy
workplace– Values and behaviours which value people– Diversity across all diversity strands – Train people to be resilient– Embed resilience and self care skills into managers
and staff– Pleasant working environment – Encourage people to be open about MH issues
www.hertsdirect.org
Starting Places2. Embed work-life balance into policies and working arrangements3. Leave policies4.Deliver MH first aid training and also awareness training5.Ensure your MH Policies are up to date6.Ensure people can access support when they need it7.Identify return to work packages for people with MH issues
www.hertsdirect.org
What is the root issue?
• There is a flow from low risk to high risk to disease for the working age population
• This leads to:• Diseases of lifestyle• More risk, more absence• Compound risk, compound absence• Low productivity
www.hertsdirect.org
Productivity Decreases with Number of Health Risks
Excess
Productivity LossProductivity Loss (%)
Base Cost
Number of Health Risks
(Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2005;47:769-77 (n = 28,375))
www.hertsdirect.org
Absenteeism Increases with Number of Health Risks
Number of Health Risks
(Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2005;47:769-77 (n = 28,375))
Base work loss days/yr
Excess Work Loss days/yr
work loss days/yr
www.hertsdirect.org
What can be done
• An effective Workplace Wellness strategy is to stop migration of people to higher risk and keep low risk people at low risk.
• Champions recruiting other businesses and employers
www.hertsdirect.org
The Herts Approach
• The Workplace Offer• Amassadors Group• About self-interest
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