A study released in April of this year by Hewitt Associates found that 88 percent of the employers surveyed plan to spend money and other resources to improve their workers’ health and productivity. That is up from 66 percent the previous year.
Ambitious plans for health improvement hit a snag, according to the study, because employees don’t like their bosses telling them how to make healthful choices to be more valuable at work. Only 12 percent of employees in the study said they felt it was appropriate for their employers to play a health promoting role.
“Employees trust their doctors and view them as the sole people who own their health,” says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.
Occupational medicine services should be based on the premise that doctors in private practice are best positioned to advocate healthful principles at work and in personal life. It’s known as the doctor-patient relationship. “The trust that builds between a patient and doctor is one of the strongest bonds that exists,” one doctor commented.
That doesn’t leave employers out of the loop. Winkler suggests making it easier for employees to find the information they need about specific health issues and not requiring them to sign in to find out phone numbers and contact information for specific health services or clinics.
Another approach not mentioned by Winkler is to build on the strong doctor-patient relationship by involving primary care and occupational medicine physicians in your company’s wellness programs.
(This blog is brought to you by HealthWorks and Griffith Publishing.)
