Good health working

All of a sudden wellbeing is everywhere. From an unknown concept it is now being promoted in all sorts of circles, including by David Cameron the right-on leader of the Conservative Party. What is this new phenomenon? And what is the impact of this political posturing?

Suzanne Clarkson, head of corporate marketing at health benefits provider HSA, says wellbeing has been turned into a political football.

"It seems that wellbeing has become the latest political pawn, but this concept really doesn't represent merely a buzzword. Rather, we have seen it gradually filtering into the culture, values and general behaviour of UK companies for some time."

Indeed, there is no shortage of people to preach the gospel of wellbeing. James Wallis, managing director of insurance third party administrator PlusOne Services, says that for every £1 his company invested in staff health and wellbeing benefits there was a return of over £3 in savings on recruitment and training.

He says: "Focusing on your staff's wellbeing helps to improve the quality of the service they provide. But it also delivers significant productivity improvements through reduced staff turnover and absenteeism. Staff turnover in our service centre is 14.8%, less than half the UK service centre average of 31.6%."

Increasing absenteeism
The focus on employee wellbeing or, more simply put, is prevention rather than cure. It was borne out of some need to find a solution to the problem of staff turnover and increasing levels of absenteeism.

"Companies have traditionally dealt with staff absence on a very reactive, ad hoc, basis but are now beginning to recognise the benefits of wellness management with regards to helping to transform demotivated and unhappy employees into healthy high performers," says Clarkson.

To plug into this growing company demand, QBE recently launched an employers' liability product, promoting a holistic approach to employee wellbeing and bringing absence management, rehabilitation and risk management into the fold of employers' liability cover.

Mark Humphreys, head of the risk management team at QBE, says: "Wellbeing is just a name for things that have always been there but have now been put under one banner. What it can do is alleviate risk exposure for employees and reduce health related problems because they are looked at an early stage."

And James Barber, deputy portfolio manager for employers' liability at QBE, adds: "For too long there has been too much put on health costs and really accident prevention is the key."

One of the arguments for wellbeing is the escalating cost of healthcare. The national health costs in regards to GDP total 15% in the US and 7% in this country. This statistic is a central argument for wellbeing for Ann Dougan, marketing director at Cigna Healthcare.

She says: "Wellbeing has really bedded into the US. And now real demand is being seen by US-owned companies who filter down the idea of wellbeing to their UK subsidiaries. So this will increase further."

But of course wellbeing is an opportunity for health insurers to add on products. "We work with employers and sell health insurance, but also take a proactive approach to the health issue as it is better from an employer and insurance perspective to have healthy staff, so we have health coaches to advice staff on various health programmes available," says Dougan.

As part of the wellbeing programme is rehabilitation. And Rosie Corless, rehabilitation manager at QBE, says that while there is much doubt expressed about rehab there is a real case for embracing it.

"As an industry it is difficult to measure the benefits of rehab. But as a company we don't just look at cost savings, we also look at wider issues, and rehab meets the needs of clients and deals with health issues satisfactorily that the NHS cannot satisfy."

Add on products
But Anthony Philips, managing director of WellKom, disputes the offering from many insurers on the issue of wellbeing. "Insurance companies generally don't have the innovation necessary to fully develop wellbeing. They just add on products they think they can sell and fail to acknowledge the importance of a full wellbeing programme.

"Companies keep offering health programmes, but one in four people suffer not from health, but mental health problems.

"Also if a person is unhappy in their work the last thing they want, is someone telling them to embark on a rehabilitation programme after an injury so they can take up work as soon as possible. This is something that is not even acknowledged in the process."

WellKom's statistics on health in the workplace makes startling reading. Over 25% of UK workers have a long-standing condition which affects their ability to work - the highest figure ever. The proportion of the workforce with common mental ill-health problems (depression, anxiety etc) is now 16% - also the highest ever.

About 5% are absent from work with the incidence of long-term absence from work (which accounts for about half the rates of absence) increasing across all sectors. Even when at work a further 45% are performing sub-optimally because of ill-health

But the latest Employee Benefits/HSA Healthcare Survey reveals that the move towards more proactive ways to improve workplace health is already happening.

The survey revealed a move towards more 'proactive' ways of promoting health and wellbeing, such as the new generation of health cash plans. The results revealed considerable movement with regards to the benefits provided to individuals within certain job functions.

For instance, it is interesting that the percentage of senior executives and senior managers receiving traditional PMI has decreased by 24% and 80% respectively. And amongst these same two management tiers health cash plan provision has increased by a huge 418% and 55% over the last year.

One of the first in the new wellbeing market was PruHealth, who in 2004 developed a PMI system that could result in reduced premiums if customers embark upon health incentives, such as regularly visiting the gym. Initially criticised as a pure gimmick, PruHealth has seen its membership double in the last six months to 50,000 customers.

"A third of out individual customers are new to PMI," says Shaun Matisonn, chief executive of PruHealth.

One aspect that should be noted is the role brokers have played in this growth. 650 brokers have been part of PruHealth's quotation process with a third of those placing business.

"We know that business placed through brokers is good business, because brokers know the range of cover on offer and the broker offers quality advice and exactly what the customer needs," says Dave Priestley, sales director at PruHealth.

Big brother
Its latest product addition is not to penalise those with conditions such as high blood pressure with higher premiums, as long as the customer can show they live a healthy lifestyle, and to clock up health points by using a 'fitbug' device which highlights how much walking and running the client has done.

But isn't this all a bit corporate big brother, forcing people to be healthy just to save a few quid on insurance premiums?

"We don't force anybody to do anything," says Priestley. "We sell PMI and we offer a range of cover like other companies, but we also have this voluntary option for the consumer to benefit by choosing whether they go for a healthy lifestyle, for example to visit the gym regularly and live healthier lives. Most people after all, want to live healthy lives. It is all about offering people choice in the market."

Only time will tell whether the concept of wellbeing is a fleeting fad. But Clarkson says that when it comes to a company assessing the benefits of wellbeing there is no argument.

"It doesn't take a genius to work out that if a company ensures that employees feel valued by helping to improve their general health and happiness, this should go a long way towards achieving an overall improvement in workforce commitment, productivity and motivation." IT