Employee Advisory Resource roundtable – From people to profit: Driving the link from health to wealth, London, UK, 14 May, 2008

Citation

King, A. (2008), "Employee Advisory Resource roundtable – From people to profit: Driving the link from health to wealth, London, UK, 14 May, 2008", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 7 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2008.37207fae.001

Employee Advisory Resource roundtable – From people to profit: Driving the link from health to wealth, London, UK, 14 May, 2008

Article Type: Resources From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 7, Issue 6

With rising interest rates, wage pressure and fears of recession looming in the UK, the temptation might be for employers to scale down their investment in HR benefits, particularly in the area of employee wellbeing. However, at this roundtable event, the case was put that in this uncertain economic climate, it makes even more business sense to continue to invest in employees’ wellbeing.

The event, “From people to profit: driving the link from health to wealth”, was sponsored by Employee Advisory Resource and included a panel of financial and human resource experts, and delegates from a wide cross section of industry.

The stark reality surrounding absence

CIPD chief economist and chair of the event, John Philpott opened the discussion with the stark warning that the workplace is becoming a more stressful environment given the turbulent economic landscape, and this will grow further as organizations feel the pinch. Health and wellness benefits, employee assistance and absence management initiatives face being pushed down the organizational agenda with the erroneous assumption that this will cut overall costs. However, the medium-term damage of such a move far outweighs the apparent saving.

According to Ian Rajan, executive director of Priory Healthcare, stress-related illness is the largest reason for people going on to incapacity benefit. Absence management programs, for example, are shown to not only speed the return to work of employees, but increase the ability for the organization to plan consistently, a key factor in maintaining productivity and growth.

Dr Bertolt Stein, an absence management consultant for Mannaz, reinforced this view in illustrating the stark differences between employee motivation and productivity while working, as against their time spent absent from work. Another negative impact on employee productivity and stress levels, as evidenced in the current fiscal climate, is the implicit or explicit threat of redundancy.

Understanding the financial implications

Maria Mallet, Carphone Warehouse, expounded that HR departments need to ensure that CEOs and CFOs buy into absence management programs understanding the associated profit and cost savings. Worryingly, the importance of this is still the exception more than the rule, with only seven FTSE 100 companies reporting qualitative figures on absence, according to Fiona Robson from the Newcastle Business School.

In essence, there was agreement on the fact that HR departments need to re-double their efforts in linking the investment in health and wellness, absence management and employee assistance to organizational performance and profit. Such initiatives are proven to keep employees focused and structured, shorten absence and increase productivity. The human, organizational and financial return on such investment, which is often a fraction of the wider benefits package, far outweigh the cost, even more so in the uncertain economic environment.

Alan KingPresident and chief operating officer, Employee Advisory Resource.