Aviva UK Health Research Spotlight on Employee Health
In an interesting research study, Aviva UK Health has revealed that employees do not wish to share their health concerns with employers. According to the Aviva’s Health of the Workplace study a mere 4% of employees expressed that they didn’t mind sharing their health concerns with their employers.
It appears that employees are more comfortable with their family and partners about matters of health concern. To share such matters with either a colleague or the HR department was emphatically dismissed. There just seems to be no connect between employers and employees about sharing health matter issues.
This is alarming as the health of the employee is a priority for productivity of an organization. If the employee chooses not to disclose or seek help for health concerns, the organization is the loser. It is time for implementation of policies and approaches that are more employee-friendly when it comes to matters of health.
It is surprising that the study also reveals that employers are under the impression that they have an open door policy that allows to identify any employee related issues and extend full support and cooperation in that regard. It seems to be like an illusionary perspective for the employers as only 1% of the employees said that they trusted their HR department. Employees are under the impression that sharing health concerns at work would affect their prospects and merit unwarranted attention that could only be detrimental to progress.
Dr Doug Wright, principal clinical consultant at Aviva UK Health is clear in his comment that while the open door policy is a positive approach, a conscious effort is needed on the part of the employers to initiate employee engagement to tackle important health issues and concerns.
He believes that the study clearly reveals a barrier in communication between the employer and the employee and this could lead to stress related risks that may be harmful for the organization and the employee in the long run. An organization’s ability to support and intervene on time would be the true measure of a successful HR practice.
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