Recruitment firm GI Group UK determines its workforce’s health by carrying out regular surveys and looking at key indicators.
The organisation employs around 500 employees. Its annual energy survey includes questions around employees’ physical and mental wellbeing, with all feedback being anonymous. The scores are broken down by age, role and which part of the business individuals work for. It also looks at internal key performance indicators such as sickness days per person, sickness percentage rates and reasons for sickness absence.
Cindy Gunn, group head of people, explains that the group focuses on sick days per person, the sick percentage rate and cost of sick days, as measurements against which to benchmark with peers.
“These help to identify individual and team level patterns which could represent stress, or team-specific challenges,” she explains. ”We also use these metrics to gain a big-picture view of the overall health and absence culture. These are analysed across teams and throughout the year to identify changes in workload, plus reactions to peak seasons and seasonal illnesses.”
As a predominately desk-based employer, with many employees sitting for long periods using screens, the organisation is conscious that this does not naturally encourage its workforce to be active. Therefore, it feels it is important to continually assess physical and mental health, provide support and encourage employees to take positive action.
The organisation aims to support the health and wellbeing of its team by nurturing a productive working environment and monitoring illnesses.
“The more we invest in understanding our team’s pressure points and when these are most likely to arise, the easier it is for us to help them navigate,” says Gunn.
The group offers a wide range of proactive and reactive healthcare benefits. These include private medical insurance, provided by Vitality, where employees receive points for physical activity, annual dental checks, blood tests and more. It encourages staff to rise from bronze to silver level through internal campaigns.
It also offers Bupa-provided dental plans at a discounted cost to all employees and their dependants, in recognition of the high cost of dental treatment that some can struggle to afford, particularly if something unexpected arises.
Furthermore, the group’s health cash plans provide all employees with access to services including alternative therapies, optical health and helplines, while its employee assistance programme enables staff to use a 24/7 online GP service with professional advisors. This is also available to its temporary workforce.
Gunn adds that the group has an occupational health service to help support employees with ongoing or longer-term health problems.
“This is designed to support employees while they are off and help them to transition safely back into the workplace, offering workplace adjustment support and sharing the role we can play to accommodate their return to work,” she says.
