QHS CEO and work health expert Paul Burnett was recently interviewed by HR Daily, discussing how to best invest in health prevention.

Employers should consider the demographic of their workforce and the needs of their workers before running health clinics.

This article appeared in HR Daily on the 4th May 2010. Click here to go to HR Daily's Website.

Employers should consider the demographic of their workforce and the needs of their workers before running health clinics, says work health expert Paul Burnett.

Burnett, the CEO and executive director of Quality Health Screenings, says there is no one-size-fits-all approach to employee health. Employers should screen their workforce, look for patterns, and then address problems accordingly, he says.

For an employer with a high proportion of female workers more than 45 years old, a breast clinic would be a "fabulous" idea, he says by way of example.

The nature of the work and the work environment should also be considered. For employees who do a lot of outdoor work, melanoma screenings might be in order, but for workers occupying sedentary roles, blood pressure and blood sugar should be tested.

Better to invest in prevention than pay workers to stay home

Proper on-site health screening will pay for itself "over and over again", Burnett says. Rather than paying workers to stay home sick - and in some cases, paying for replacements - employers should seek to save money through prevention.

Employees who are physically and mentally healthy work harder and have a better relationship with their employer - "statistically, the savings to a corporation are just staggering", he says.

Employers that want to reap the benefits of a healthy workforce should avoid tiered programs, Burnett says. Companies that offer tiered health benefits, where only executives and senior managers have access to the full range of programs, create "an awful stigma" that is likely to "backfire" due to poor health and discontent among other workers, he says.

In Burnett's experience, opt-in on-site health screenings are usually very well attended. Quality Health Screening's consultations take an average of 15 minutes per worker and the convenience often attracts those who would otherwise neglect their health. Compared with the expense of sending a worker off-site for a simple test - which can cost a whole day due to travel and waiting time - it is extremely cost-efficient, he says.

At present, Burnett says employers should be encouraging flu vaccinations and ensuring workers understand the importance of washing their hands. Asthma and other allergies are also prevalent at this time of year, and there are ways to alleviate symptoms. BMI, cholesterol and diabetes are easy to measure and can flag potentially serious problems.

The screening process should focus primarily on educating workers, he says, "going through their eating habits, their lifestyle, their family history; making adjustments and giving advice".

When to stay home

Another area which warrants education is the importance of staying home when ill. Employers should "come down hard and heavy on that one", Burnett says. Those who allow contagious workers to come in "are asking for a major volcano to explode within the company. Please, tell them to stay home".

HR managers dealing with this issue should use common sense, and consider what they would advise if a sick worker were their child or spouse, he suggests. "Explain to the employee that they're not doing the company any justice at all by coming into work."

If necessary, and possible, the worker might be able to do some work from home, but "the important thing is to stay home and rest so they can get stronger and healthier a lot quicker and not contaminate the workforce", he says.