Employees in the East of England call for healthier workplaces

According to The Assessment Network, the Investors In People Centre for the East of England, four in ten employees in the East of England (41%) believe that their employer needs to do more to improve the health and wellbeing of employees at work. According to new Ipsos MORI research commissioned by Investors in People ñ the organisation that works with companies to improve performance by investing in their people ñ a further one in five (20%) say their employer currently pays lip service to the issue or has no interest in promoting it.

Underlining the negative impact of this lack of action, a worrying 38% of employees in the East of England are either suffering from or know someone who is suffering from work related stress, potentially undermining productivity and performance.

Despite this, nearly a quarter (22%) of employees also say that their employers think healthy working is either a wasted investment, a waste of time, nothing to do with them or that it doesnít mean anything.

Yet both employers and employees in the East of England see the benefits that healthy working can deliver. Half of all those questioned (49%) felt that if their organisation took steps which had a positive impact on their personal heath and wellbeing at work, it would increase their job satisfaction, whilst 44% felt that it would boost their motivation and 38% said it would improve their productivity and performance.

Conversely, respondents said that symptoms of an unhealthy workplace include low staff morale (68%), high stress (66%), high turnover of staff (62%) and absenteeism (59%).

Simon Jones, Acting Chief Executive at Investors in People UK, commented:

ìWhilst many employers understand the importance of a healthy workplace, a worrying number clearly arenít committed to the health and wellbeing of employees. It simply isnít good enough for employers to dismiss this as ënot their problemí. The bottom line is that an unhealthy, unhappy workforce will also be uncommitted and unproductive. If employers donít address this, they will see a negative impact both on individuals and the performance of the business.

ìThere are a number of simple steps that employers in the East of England can take to address this issue ñ and they shouldnít be deceived into thinking that fresh fruit and gym membership is the answer. Our research shows that employees actually want better support and development structures to create a healthier environment ñ and managers should take heed.î

When employers and employees in the region were questioned about what their company or organisation offers to improve the health and wellbeing of staff, the top two responses given were compliance with health and safety regulations (65%) and break or rest areas (58%). In contrast, flexible working and effective day-to-day support from managers were called for as the measures felt to have the most impact on improving health and wellbeing at work.

Investors in People are currently working on a project to encourage organisations to tackle the health and wellbeing of their workforce with a more focused and in-depth approach.