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Benefits of Corporate Health Packages for Employers and Employees

09
Feb

2021

Benefits of Corporate Health Packages for Employers and Employees

Human resource is the strength of any organisation, whether small or large. The success of any enterprise depends upon the productivity and competence of its workforce. It is very important to keep employees happy and healthy for the prosperity of an organisation.

This encouraged the MNCs to start corporate health packages for the well-being of their human population. Now disease management plans and annual health check-up for employees are part of most small, medium, and large enterprises.

A health package for employees plays a key role in maintaining a healthy and positive workplace. They help in creating a stable relationship between employees and employers. Annual health check-up for employees has also been getting a lot of importance these days due to the alarmingly increasing rate of chronic diseases amongst corporate workers like diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.

Corporate health packages benefit both employer and employee equally. On the one hand, they increase job satisfaction, decrease stress levels, and uplift employees' morale. On the other hand, they help employers in building a better relationship with the workforce, increase retention rate and boost productivity.

Employee medical check-up also assists in identifying hidden health issues that may have been negatively impacting the workplace's positive energy.

Some of the benefits of a health package for employees are discussed as follows: 

Reduces mental pressure:

Reports of increasing strain on corporate employee's mental health are very common these days. This could be caused by multiple reasons like too much workload, family issues, low work-life balance, reduced job satisfaction, etc.

With the help of an annual medical check-up for employees and a proper health package, employers can identify recurring mental health issues in their workforce. Hence, they can take timely preventive measures to resolve them. Thus, employee medical check-up reduces the mental strain on workers, and they get to work in a stress-free environment. 

Reduction in health risk:

Increasing health risks for high blood glucose, increased cholesterol level, and high blood pressure is a major concern amongst employees, especially those who primarily have a desk job.

Corporate health packages focus on recognising such threats and proposing healthy behaviours. This reduces the elevated health risks in employees. It also prevents the occurrence of life-threatening diseases like heart attack and cancer. 

Thus, a good health package helps an employee in maintaining a clean lifestyle. 

Early Identification of Chronic Diseases:

Chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, etc. are one of the major reasons for growing job dissatisfaction amongst employees. Many of them couldn't recognise early symptoms of such diseases due to a lack of regular medical check-up. 

Hence, their threat level increases to a point where they start affecting daily activities like job responsibilities. Annual health check-up for employees helps in early identification of chronic diseases. Workers also get suggestions on how to take care of their health to avoid increased risks of these diseases via corporate health packages. 

Reduction in personal healthcare expenses:

Employees' medical check-up and treatments are covered under corporate health management plans. Depending on the company's policies, they only have to contribute a small sum of money for medicines, medical tests, etc. Thus, the cost incurred on maintaining personal health reduces because of a corporate health package. 

Similarly, employers are opting for corporate health packages because of the following perks: 

Increase in workplace morale amongst employees:

Corporate health packages ensures that employees go through regular medical check-ups. In a way, an employee's health becomes a company's responsibility. This gives an individual a feeling of belonging and a sense of security. 

An annual medical check-up for employees shows that the organisation is concerned about its workforce's well being. Thus, their morale automatically goes up. 

Less absenteeism and sick leaves:

An employee is regularly being checked under the corporate health packages. He/she gets a proper diet chart and tips on leading a healthy life. Any chances of future onset of diseases are identified early through employee medical check-up and treated beforehand. 

Thus, the frequency of sickness gets reduced to a great extent, and they take less sick or unplanned leaves. 

Increase in productivity:

Corporate health packages help identify diseases that could infect an employee in the future. Thus, proactive measures can be taken beforehand to prevent the disease or at least reduce its side-effects. 

The employee also becomes well aware of what habits are adversely affecting his/her health because of a regular medical check-up. They also start following a healthier lifestyle. This, in turn, improves individuals' productivity and, as a result, the total productivity of human resources of an organisation also increases. 

Increased retention rate:

A good corporate health package comes with many benefits like zero insurance premium, free gym membership and monthly visitations to health clinics of all varieties. 

These are regarded as additional benefits for employees and thus, make them feel important. Corporate health packages influence the loyalty of a company's workforce. 

They help in raising the retention rate because employees are healthier and happier. Health packages are a way of showing that an organisation cares for its workforce.

Despite having so many pros, not all enterprises can develop effective corporate health packages for employees. Some of the reasons behind their shortcomings are:

  • Looking for an immediate result instead of a long-term solution.
  • Opting for a more complex health package.
  • Giving more importance to physical fitness and ignoring mental health issues.
  • Developing corporate health packages in-house (in most cases by HR team) instead of consulting a health check-up company.
  • Lack of support from upper management.
  • Lack of communication with employees.

Keeping in mind the above factors, several corporate health packages have been offered by several organisations in the current scenario. They can be categorised as a pre-employment medical check-up, continuous employee medical check-up and surveillance, assessment of health risks, and vaccination programs. 

Corporate health packages are only beneficial if they are properly planned. A well-executed disease management plan impacts both the organisation's economic growth and the well-being of employees in a positive direction.

Neeraja Baby