The call by the EEF comes on the back of a business survey on sickness absence, which shows a key plank of its plan for getting employees back to work is failing to be embraced by companies.
The survey found that while 77% of companies are aware of the Fit for Work Service, just a quarter would use it and an equal number would not use it at all.
Meanwhile, of the 14 companies in the survey that had used the service, just three said that it had enabled their employees to return to work early. In contrast, 36% of companies still rely entirely on the NHS to provide medical treatment for their employees.
EEF believes that a healthy and productive workforce is an important component of an industrial strategy and overall economic growth. It says that the Fit for Work Service can contribute to this by tackling the most common causes of long-term absence and could also provide the framework for helping more people with disabilities and long-term health conditions into the workplace.
EEF’s head of health & safety policy Terry Woolmer says: “Keeping people fit, healthy and productive is a key element of improving the UK’s productive performance for the overall benefit of the UK economy. Whilst the Fit for Work Service has a key role to play as part of this, companies are clearly not persuaded of the benefits of using it, either because they already have some form of occupational health provision or, they are content to rely on the NHS.
“As such, government needs to review its work and health priorities as part of the development of the wider industrial strategy. This would help improve the productive potential of the economy and reduce the burden on an overstretched NHS.”
The survey also shows that companies are upping their efforts to enhance the work and wellbeing of employees over 50 so they can continue to retain their services and address long-term health issues. EEF also believes that fiscal incentives have a key role to play in encouraging companies to pay for employee health and wellbeing programmes.
It recommends that:
- The Fit for Work service has to do more to engage with manufacturers and make it clear how engagement with the service will result in employees returning to work earlier.
- There needs to be a serious consideration about whether an expanded Fit for Work service has a place in helping companies employ more individuals with disabilities and/or long-term health conditions.
- The government’s strategy towards older workers should form part of the overall work and health agenda, and the government should consider how incentivising employers to introduce health and well-being programmes will be of particular benefit to older workers who might otherwise leave the world of work.
- Financial or other incentives need to considered to encourage employers to try new and creative ways of supporting more people with disabilities and health conditions in work.
To read the report in full, click here.
