Employee wellbeing | How to design a health strategy that works

By Kay Needle, Early Intervention and Rehabilitation Expert at Generali UK Employee Benefits

“Self-imposed chronic disease due to lifestyle choices” represents a huge burden on people, society and business, says Paul Nattrass, Commercial Director at Inuvi, a provider of medical screening and health insight services, and one of the Employee Benefits Claims and Medical Underwriting team’s trusted partners whose services are eligible for Wellbeing Investment Matching (WIM) funding. People need to learn how to improve their health behaviours. And those employers who take a personalised, data-led approach to help their workforce with this will be the winners, he adds.

The burden of chronic disease on people and business is expected to continue its upward trajectory, says Paul. This is due to people having to work until later in life – whether due to increases in state pension age or simply because people cannot afford to retire any earlier – and, at the same time, potentially burdened with chronic disease.

Latest reported figures show that around 7 in 10 people in England do not follow guidelines on tobacco use, alcohol consumption, healthy diet or physical activity. All these lifestyle factors influence the risk of morbidity and mortality. Research also shows that lifestyle factors are associated with employees’ absence from work due to illness; from musculoskeletal diseases and depressive disorders to circulatory, respiratory and digestive diseases.