Firms don’t know or don’t care about healthy work

Employers are failing to create healthy workplaces – and are openly admitting that they don’t do enough to protect workers.

In a survey carried out by pollsters MORI for Investors in People (IiP), the body that manages standards for the development of employees, 30% of workers said their employers considered “healthy working” to be either a wasted investment, a waste of time, nothing to do with them or a meaningless concept.

One-fifth (20%) thought their employers only paid lip service to employees’ health and wellbeing at work or had no interest in promoting it. And this lack of action has serious repercussions: 30% of workers said they were either suffering from or knew someone suffering from work-related stress, potentially undermining productivity and performance.

When employers themselves were questioned, a quarter (24%) admitted that they did not take action because they simply didn’t understand how best to help, while a further 17% said it would be too expensive. And almost a third (31%) equated “healthy working” with eating healthily at work.

IiP acting chief executive Simon Jones said: “Despite recognition of the benefits that a healthy workplace can deliver, some employers simply don’t seem to understand that it is about more than just gym membership and fresh fruit.”