Employers are invited to participate in the search to find Britain’s healthiest workplace — through a survey designed to identify the physical and mental condition of staff, its links to productivity, and the best practices for improved wellbeing.
The study, founded by Vitality and backed by the Financial Times along with Rand Europe, the University of Cambridge and Aon, will explore the effects of the pandemic and broader factors influencing the health of employees.
Participation is free, and will help employers and employees alike to improve wellbeing and boost staff retention. Any organisation in the UK with 20 or more employees can take part through a simple registration process, and winners in different categories, based on size, will be announced in November 2023.
Since 2013, 580 organisations and 193,000 employees have participated in this survey in the UK, which has identified a substantial loss of productive working time because of both absenteeism and presenteeism linked to ill health.
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Previous rounds of the study have highlighted the disproportionate burden of physical and mental ill-health on young people, on women and on those on low incomes; and the stress connected to financial worries, poor diets and insufficient sleep.
The most recent survey findings from last year identified growing mental health concerns, the importance of quality as well as quantity of sleep, and the value of hybrid working.
Winners of the Healthiest Workplace awards in 2022 included Nomura, Novo Nordisk and OpenCredo, as well as public sector groups led by Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust.
Employers wishing to take part this year can register on the survey website, and will then receive a customisable questionnaire link to send to their employees for completion by September 30.
Participants will receive a report on their health and tips on how to improve it, while employers will receive an anonymised analysis of their workforce’s health, engagement, and performance.
The data analysis is overseen by an independent advisory panel chaired by Carol Black, an adviser to successive UK governments on work and health, and comprising other experts including Professor Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, and Professor Andrew Curran, chief scientific adviser and director of research at the Health and Safety Executive.
Participating employers will receive Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum status, depending on the health of their staff, as well as benchmarking information to compare with other organisations in the same industry.
The FT will publish a series of articles about trends and practices in workplace health over the coming months to accompany the survey, culminating in a special report in November, analysing trends and profiling the best employers.
Previous editions of the report have covered trends in different public, private and non-profit sectors in the UK and elsewhere around the world, as well as topics such as workplace design, and the importance of trust and flexibility in boosting employees’ mental health, motivation, and output.