To ensure a company’s stability, making employees feel productive and safe in the workplace is important. With Covid-19 affecting lives in the past few months, employees have had a lot of uncertainty and health risks. Managers need to have an effective screening process; in that way, if an infected person enters the office, they can be sent back before spreading any kind of virus. Employee health screening can be implemented in no time with careful planning and the right tools.
What is Employee Health Screening?
The process of performing various checks and tests on each employee to ensure they are healthy and fit to enter the workplace is called an employee health test. With regular screenings, employees feel psychologically safe; this helps them put their best foot forward at work. A healthy staff can deliver better results, and investing in such employees is more beneficial in the long run.
Creating a healthy workplace is valuable both for the employees and the employer. Health check-ups identify issues before they become serious problems and affect employee performance. Different tests are conducted considering the specific industry an employee is working in.
What is the Importance of Performing Employee Health Screening?
Sometimes working in the corporate sector comes with immense stress, which directly affects an employee’s health and gives rise to multiple diseases. It can become extremely challenging to juggle between work-life balance, and employees may need guidance and support on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Some employees might ignore their health alarms and not visit the doctor to have their blood sugar or blood pressure levels checked if they notice no or fewer symptoms. Employee health tests can save precious time and money for employers and employees and identify health issues before they turn severe. It also pushes them to opt for a healthy lifestyle, daily exercise, and a balanced diet. If an employee indulges in unhealthy habits like smoking or drinking, they are told about its adverse effects and suggested to stay away from such habits.
Effective Tips for Performing Employee Health Screening
If your staff is healthy, it will make a big difference in terms of culture and progress in the company. Here are some effective tips that can be used for performing employee health tests.
1. Communicating the Purpose and Importance of Screening
The most important aspect is ensuring employees understand why regular health check-ups are essential for them and the company. The purpose should be clearly communicated so that employees are not hesitant to undergo any tests. A healthy workplace motivates its employees to their maximum efficiency. But, if there are any sick people, they can spread viruses to others and demotivate the working environment.
2. Ensuring Employee Privacy and Confidentiality
The medical results of any individual are private, and it is not ethical to discuss them publicly. However, an organization should respect that sometimes people feel uncomfortable sharing any medical issue. Therefore, it needs to ensure its employees that their health check-up results will be strictly confidential and all communication regarding their results will be done with them privately.
3. Using Qualified Healthcare Professionals
When an employee trusts you with their health, it becomes an organization’s duty to provide them with certified and knowledgeable healthcare professionals so that the most accurate results can be derived. When an organization calls top healthcare professionals, it motivates employees to corporate with the screening process, as such check-ups can be very costly otherwise.
4. Selecting Appropriate Screening Tools and Tests
A complete physical examination usually includes checking vision and hearing abilities, blood glucose levels, blood pressure, height, weight, heart health tests, drug and alcohol testing, mental health check-up, cholesterol check-up, urine test, kidney examination, liver examination, x-ray, and complete blood count. However, not all organizations need to follow the same health check-up procedure. Depending upon the type of sector and organization policies, these tests vary.
5. Providing Timely and Appropriate Follow-Up are
More than merely conducting various tests is required, it is equally essential to provide employees with prompt follow-up care. If any health issues are detected, the organization should keep in touch with the employees about further developments.
6. Providing Education and Resources for Employee Development
If an employee is into alcohol or smoking, educating them about its adverse effects mentally and physically can help them quit such addictions. There is still a lack of awareness about many diseases, and if an organization provides resources from its end, it will help employees move towards a healthier lifestyle. With the help of wellness programs, employees can be empowered and enlightened about the health issues they currently face or the potential health risks in the future and how to stop them.
7. Legal Considerations for Employee Health Screening
Learning the legalities involved in screening and testing employees is a good idea. Understanding and following these legal implications is vital to avoid violating disability, employment laws, and labor laws. There are many laws concerning healthcare for staff working in an office. Some examples include anti-discrimination laws and the rehabilitation act. Every organization has to abide by what the law in their state says. HR should clarify how long the business will retain the screening information, and data should not be held any longer than required, as it can posses a risk to the employees.
8. Create a Healthier Workplace with Trusted Partners
A business’s organizational health and its employees’ physical health usually go hand in hand. Fit employees can deliver better results. Working with a trusted partner is crucial to ensure a candidate can carry out their job duties. It is beneficial to select a partner who offers specific tests so that you can easily choose the one that best fits your type of organization. Some examples of specific tests include fit-for-duty tests, pulmonary function tests, skin TB tests, audiograms, etc.
There are numerous benefits an employee can get through a company health check-up. This includes access to health information, reduced level of stress, greater physical fitness, reduced personal medical costs, reduced health risks, and an ability to improve well-being and self-assurance.
Health and wellness is an effective approach toward the holistic development of employees. It enhances job satisfaction. The work environment must be where an employee feels nurtured, comfortable, and valued because wellness and well-being directly impact how invested your employees are in your business’s future.