Small businesses owners today often find themselves consumed with the day-to-day running of their firms and find very little time to sit back and take stock of other important considerations. And while this kind of focus ultimately makes for a more successful business and happier customers, it also means that they sometimes forget to think about the ‘what ifs’. According …
Too Busy Working to Keep Fit and Healthy?
Do you ever feel as though there aren’t enough hours in the working day? You struggle to get all your daily tasks completed before it’s time to go home, let alone find time to exercise. If so, you’re definitely not alone, but it’s a reality which you should address for the benefit of your health in later life. A new …
New Guidelines Suggest That Employers Need to Encourage Their Workers to Get off Their Backsides More!
According to the first official guidelines on the subject, office-based staff need to break up periods of prolonged sitting with regular walkabouts and standing activities. More specifically, office workers must be on their feet for at least two hours every day while they are at work. The guidance, which was recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, warns …
Next UK Government Needs to Take Action on Health & Wellbeing Say Employers
According to recent research, almost a fifth (19%) of UK employers and employees want the next government to take more action when it comes to staff wellbeing. The research, which was conducted by Group Risk Development (GRiD), surveyed 500 UK businesses with between five and 1,000 employees, as well as 1,000 UK workers. It found that in addition to the …
Life and Disability Insurance. Has Your Employer Got You Covered?
In 2014 alone, the number of people covered by group risk insurance schemes rose by 200,000, according to a study by Swiss Re. In its Group Watch 2015 report, Swiss Re found that the overall UK group risk market grew by 7.9 percent in 2014 alone. Couple this growth with the 300,000 people who received life and disability cover from …
Britain’s Office Workers Told to ‘Stand and Deliver’
According to a new survey office workers need to get up off their seats and move around more during their work day, or risk a host of health problems which even regular gym workouts will not undo. The nature of office work inevitably means that individuals often find themselves grabbing lunch to go and eating it at their desks, instead …
At Last! Good News Re Sickness Absence Rates
According to a new survey, 40% of UK employers have seen their sickness absence rates improve over the last year. This figure represents a six percent increase over last year and is in complete contrast to the 15 % of employers who said their sickness absence rates had worsened. The survey, conducted by Group Risk Development (GRiD), interviewed 500 UK …
Mental Health Disorders – Now the Most Common Work-related Health Issues
A new study has found that more than half of all work-related ill health issues reported by occupational health physicians nowadays are due to mental health disorders. Furthermore, mental health disorders in the workplace now surpass musculoskeletal problems. Employers should sit up and take note of this shift Employers are now being urged to invest more in workplace health and …
Greater Employer Awareness Needed Say Cancer Survivors
Being diagnosed with cancer is a life-changing and devastating event, which many people struggle to come to terms with. Furthermore, taking time away from work to undergo crucial treatment is something that cancer patients have to accept. However, once their treatment finishes and the individual is well enough to consider a return to work this is the time when they …
Is Low Unemployment a Threat to Your Business?
As unemployment in the UK has fallen to its lowest level in the last six years with 30.8 million people now in work and an unemployment rate of 5.8% of the adult working population, we ask how this may be seen as a threat to your business and what steps you can take to protect your most valuable resource… your …
Employers: Facing the Challenges of an Aging Workforce
It is no secret that our workforce is getting older. Gone are the days where we could happily retire at 60, safe in the knowledge that we had a good state pension to rely on. With the rise in retirement age, which in turn pushes back the state pension age – the latter of which is constantly being reviewed by …
The Cost of Brain Drain
As the economy is showing strong signs of growth in many sectors, this will no doubt bring challenges for employers to recruit suitably experienced new employees. This means it is even more important to retain those employees you already have. This can be achieved in many ways but in our experience the two main areas are: Employers not only need …