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Online health assessment will boost workforce performance 6 July 2005 A new online health assessment lets employees identify health problems and act on them directly from their desks, after research revealed that people in good health are 20 percent more effective in the workplace. The Bupa Positive Health Programme, powered by vielife, is a new addition to the Bupa Wellness portfolio of services. It acts as a health and wellbeing measurement tool which identifies hotspots within an organisation, so that they can be immediately addressed and minimised for the future. Employees complete a confidential detailed online health and wellbeing questionnaire covering four main areas - stress, sleep, nutrition and fitness. They receive instant online reports and action plans, and a health log enables them to track their weight and cholesterol. Tips on how to lead a healthy lifestyle and more specialist information are emailed to users every fortnight giving advice and support, and the online service also provides a comprehensive library of health information and up-to-date news. A health log enables people to track their weight and cholesterol to encourage them to keep a check on these heart risk factors. "It’s all about education and awareness," said Peter Smythe, head of marketing for Bupa Wellness. "Active management of staff health and wellbeing can lead to an increase in company productivity and a reduction in illness-related absence, which costs British business billions each year. "People with good overall health who manage their stress well, eat properly, exercise, don’t smoke and don’t drink to excess are much more productive than less healthy people," he added. Employees at Channel 4 are amongst the first to benefit from the new service, with poor sleep patterns being reported by a third of the 216 employees who have responded so far, and 25 percent identifying problems with managing stress. The company wanted to get a better sense of the health profile of the organisation in order to target occupational health initiatives and support staff in making lifestyle changes, with a corresponding positive impact on stress levels. Jane Jordan, deputy head of human resources for Channel 4, said: "We chose this service to support our proactive occupational health strategy, based on the fact that people could get an instant, individual health assessment along with the practical advice necessary to make changes straightaway." Companies get access only to data that gives an overall picture of the health and wellbeing of the organisation, enabling them to make an informed decision on introducing targeted lifestyle programmes. Bupa Wellness will work with companies to design health promotions based on specific health risks for the business to address the issues arising from the survey.
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