Member Article

Supporting employee health in the 'new normal'

The pandemic has meant that for the past two years, many people have been unwilling or unable to access face-to-face care.

Businesses are now in a unique position where they can offer primary care services to employees, at an easy, quick and flexible way, scheduling appointments around everyday commitments, work and other responsibilities.

We know that people want to have the option to see a GP face-to-face and those coming into our clinics are presenting with multiple conditions or more serious ones which need to be diagnosed and treated in person. This is why we’ve relaunched our GP service for businesses, offering face-to face, remote GP appointments and in office appointments to support employee health.

Over the last year, we’ve seen a 35% increase in appointments booked for primary care needs. Whether a niggle or something more serious, employees can now get unlimited access to GP appointments to support their health and wellbeing.

Advice for employers in the ‘new normal’

With more and more people beginning to move to the hybrid model of working, i’ve outlined my tips to support the wellbeing of your workforce in this new era:

Educate managers and line managers

Education is so important when it comes to normalising conversations about our health. A good example of this is for women going through the menopause, they need people to understand symptoms and be able to have open conversations about what they’re experiencing without feeling embarrassed or the other person shying away from it.

Creating manager and line manager guides can be a great way to educate managers and other people within your organisation. You could also try running an internal session and inviting speakers from outside the organisation in to give a talk on how a health concern can impact the workforce. Awareness days can be a nice opportunity to do this and create a culture of openness.

Be flexible and approachable

When it comes to health, employees want to feel comfortable to open up to their manager or line manager about what they’re experiencing, so being approachable is key to supporting the wellbeing of your workforce.

As we move into a hybrid way of working, its important organisations are flexible to their employees’ needs, whether this is working different hours or members of the team needing to be remote while others are in the office

Provide easy access to services

Access to services is key to ensuring employees are getting the support they need. Mental health has been high on the boardroom agenda for some time, but business need to look at physical health too. A key concern to come out of the pandemic is muscle, bone and joint problems from working at home, can physical health services include physiotherapy? As we reach winter, flu jabs are also important for employees.

Highlighted earlier, primary care services are essential for helping employees access GPs in a quick and convenient way for any health concern.

Employee assistance programmes (EAPs) are also a service organisations can offer their employees, these often include support with mental health, legal and financial issues and trauma.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alaana Woods .