Health to Employer and Employee Essay Example

Health to Employer and Employee Essay Example Health to Employer and Employee Paper Health to Employer and Employee Paper In today’s scenario the work place and its environment play a key role in our day to day lives. A typical work day for an average individual comprises nine of his or hers waking hours of the day. It comprises a large portion of the day and goes without saying that it has an important bearing on the overall mental and physical well being of an individual. Organizations are increasingly recognizing that employee health and well being are key determinants of productivity and hence organizational health in terms of money, time and effort. A software consultancy firm’s mission statement written on their transport vehicles exemplifies this, â€Å"The human side of business†. Today health is an important consideration. In fact the US governments program, â€Å"Healthy People 2010† outlines various on going programs concerning the health of US citizens.     For the purpose of this discussion we concentrate on one aspect concerning employer employee relationship that is health. When one considers health at the work place we cannot escape the three basic requirements, clean air and water and healthy food. These are often taken for granted by employees. For an employer providing these three basic requirements are not considerations only of the law and costs but also have bearing on productivity. For example, the presence of allergens in the air in a factory, we can see would impact the employee’s health. Allergies are not life threatening usually but are associated with considerable morbidity. For the employer it would mean absence from work and loss of man hours. Providing food for the employee in large organizations is a challenge. At the minimum an employee would have one meal and one snack at work. He can only eat what is offered and providing the healthy food would be the employer’s choice. To choose healthy food is today almost a prerequisite, given the increasing awareness and health consciousness of the general population What does employee health mean for the employer?   The old paradigm of healthy body healthy mind would change in today’s context. Today the employer’s paradigm would be healthy mind healthy body. The mental status of the employee effects his motivation. His motivation determines his output both qualitative and quantitative. That is why employers spend a lot of time and money in employee motivation. Many have Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that provide basic mental health services for their employees. A motivated employee is productive and has greater chances of gaining in the rewards system of the company. It is a win-win situation. Providing clean air may not be in total control of the employer when one relates it to occupational asthma and allergies. The nature of the business environment, for example a factory dealing with chemicals, may throw up a variety allergens in spite of the stipulated precautions. â€Å"There is little or no evidence to guide the occupational physician for effective management of prospective employees with preexisting or current history of asthma† (Gannon, 2005, p. 586). It would be in the interest of both the employer as well as the employee if the pre-employment screening included test for asthma in fact occupational asthma accounts for 10% of adult onset asthma ( Tarlo and Liss, cited in Gannon, 2005, p. 586). This is a sufficiently large number for employers with a high risk business like a chemical factory to screen its prospective employees. This would benefit both the employer and employee. For the prospective employee it would prevent a great deal of morbidity. Also it gives the employee and employer a choice to weigh the benefits verses the risks. The approach to the problem could be both a medical and a management issue. But it is clear that clean allergen free air is important to both the employee and employer. Employee and employer would need to meet midway to manage a potential health issue should it arise despite all precautions. The center for disease control and prevention (CDC) is a premiere public health services agency of the federal government of the USA that has a web site that has a lot of information regarding disease control. On work site food the CDC promotes work place practice and policies that promote healthy food choices whenever food is made available at the work place. Healthy Worksite Food, 2008). According to the CDC in 1995 it was estimated that $ 9.3 billion was lost in productivity due to morbidity associated with chronic diseases, like cardio vascular diseases diabetes, that was attributed to poor diet. Clearly diet is an important factor to consider at the work place for employees and employers. Medical literature clearly links diet to health. Frequent meetings and conferences would contribute to poor diet if unhealthy food is served. Some thing as simple as tea of coffee, accompanied with sugar and milk would up set the energy balance of an individual and be a contributing factor to overweight and obesity. For an employer the cost of serving healthy food could be little different. Serving foods rich in fiber, more fruits and vegetables would have its implications for productivity. It would be prudent to consider how much their share of the pie the $ 9.3 billion loss is, in the absence of any in house estimates. It would benefit the employee too in reducing the risk of disease. So in another basic requirement, food is important health indicator that benefits employee and employer. It becomes increasingly clear that health is important to employee and employer. The employer has screening programs prior to employment but since health contributes to motivation of the employee and thus productivity, Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) become the need of the hour. EAPs become all the more necessary because problems like allergies and asthma may manifest after the employee joins the work force. Teich. JL Buck JA reported that in a survey conducted in 2001, 17 percent of the firms offered EAP’s and the percentage offering EAPs go up depending on the size of the company (Psychiatry Services, 2003). What are the problems that would affect the mental health of an employee? In the same survey employee reported that their EAPs provided counseling and referral services for work or family issues. Employers must recognize that EAPs are just a way of telling the employees that the organization cares for every individual of the company. How an employee is treated contributes to their mental well being. All like to be treated fairly and with justice. This was clearly seen in a prospective cohort study on organizational justice and health of the employees. The study concluded that the extent to which people are treated with justice in the work place independently predicts their health. (Kivimaki M, Elovainio M, Vahtera J, Ferrie JE, 2003, p. 27). Low versus high justice of decision making procedure was associated with a 41 percent higher risk of sickness absence in men and a 12 percent higher risk in women. Any absence affects the employer to a large extent. Crucial projects could get delayed impact the organizations clients. At every level of interaction between employer and employee health is important to both. Health has not only physical and mental implications but also a large socioeconomic consideration affecting both employer and employee. An important aspect in today’s economic scenario is organizational downsizing. Retrenchment due to a variety of reasons, mainly economics, has a large social impact but few would consider the implications it has on health. A study published in the British Medical Journal throws some light on this issue. The key learning for the study was that, â€Å"the threat of job loss due to downsizing results in increased morbidity. The increase seemed to be mediated not only through job insecurity but also through increased job demands and lowered job controle.†(Kivimaki M, Vahtera J, Pentti J, Ferrie JE, 2000, p. 975) In summary the implication health has for the employer and employee clearly outline the importance it should be given in an employee employer relationship. Every individual has a moral responsibility for ones health. The family would suffer due to ill health of an individual. Work is a source that provides for the family’s needs and lifestyle of individual members. If work becomes a source of ill health then the family suffers it is not a single individual that is affected but all members. Employers recognize this and provide for the employee’s health depending on the size of the organization. The overall well being on an organization depends to a large extent on the physical and mental health of its employee’s. The health of the two is interconnected. References Gannon, P,( 2005), Pre-employment Assessment and   Health Surveillance for Employees Exposed to occupational Asthmagens, Occupational medicine, 2005, 55,586-587. cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/hwi/polocies/ Healthy Work Site Food, (2008), Choosing Foods and Beverages for Healthy Meetings conferences and events, Retrieved on May 15, 2008, from the CDC a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Database Kavimaki, M. Vahtera, J, Pentti, J, Ferrie JE, (2000), Factors Underlying the effect of Organzational Downsizing on Health of Employees, British Medical Journal, 320, 971-975. Kivimaki, M, Elovania M, vahtera, J Ferrie, JE, (2003), Organsational Justice and Health of Employees, Occup. Environ. Med, 60, 27-34. Teich, JL, and Buck JA, http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org, (2003). Mental Health Services in Employee Assistance Programs, 2001, 54, 611. Retrieved on May, 15, 2008, from the APA database