Did you know that a business can expect to lose around $1,685 each year for each employee who misses work due to health issues? Your employees likely face some long-term health conditions and seasonal bugs. Both hurt your company’s productivity and raise costs.
Your company can offer occupational health services to improve workplace health and safety. These not only help your workers when they’re sick or injured. They also help prevent disease, identify mental health issues, and encourage wellness.
Read on to learn about seven essential occupational health services to offer.
1. Drug and Alcohol Testing Services
Taking advantage of occupational health services for drug testing has two main benefits. It can help you ensure your business doesn’t hire employees who abuse substances. You can also use random drug and alcohol testing to prevent substance-related accidents.
The benefits of this occupational health service go beyond just improving safety, though. When you have a drug-free workplace, you can save money in healthcare and insurance costs. You can also reduce theft and improve the overall morale of the workforce.
2. Preventative Care Services
Sick employees miss work or don’t work as productively as usual. So, care to prevent illness is an important component of occupational health.
By having your employees get annual physical exams, they can find out about health problems earlier on. They can also work with the doctor to manage the conditions and reduce their impact on work.
You can also offer common screenings for blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol done regularly. Health coaching can also be a great way to help workers manage their health and improve workplace wellness.
Preventative care also includes promoting important immunizations like the flu vaccine. If your employees travel internationally, you’ll also want to have a program for them to get the recommended vaccines for the locale.
3. Dental Services
You may overlook dental problems when you think of overall workplace health. But oral health issues can sometimes lead to other health issues that keep employees out of work.
Workplace accidents like falls may also lead to the need for emergency dental care. This emergency service offers 24-hour care for dental emergencies. This can help save a knocked-out tooth or deal with a serious oral infection an employee faces.
4. Work Injury Care
When an employee gets injured, they may just need checked out. Or they could have a more severe injury like a broken bone. In any case, the person needs treated promptly to minimize harm and reduce lost work time.
Work injury management services help employees take care of injuries and get rehabilitation. This includes getting examined promptly and arranging for any necessary physical therapy or surgery.
Occupational health services for injured workers also include return-to-work programs. These keep track of the employee’s progress and arrange for them to resume their role.
In addition to having employees physically visit a specialist for checkups, you can take advantage of telemedicine services. This often includes apps that let workers connect with a licensed doctor using their phones, tablets, or computers. Telemedicine is an occupational health service that employees find convenient and that can reduce treatment costs as well.
5. Physical Therapy Services
It’s likely that at least some of your employees have health conditions or injuries that impact their movement. To better serve these employees, you can consider working with an organization to offer in-house physical therapy services.
Physical therapy services can improve occupational health through exercises that help workers reduce their pain and move better. They can even help workers improve their balance so that they’re less likely to fall off a ladder or slip on the work floor.
Physical therapy also serves as a good way to recover from an injury or even a stroke.
6. Employee Assistance Programs
Did you know that mental health issues impact around 20 percent of adults in the United States? This doesn’t even include the people who struggle from everyday stress due to their jobs, health issues, and families.
Like with physical health issues, your business incurs costs when employees suffer from mental health problems and can’t do their best at work. When left unresolved, mental health issues can lead to problems like substance abuse that further impact the workplace.
To provide mental health care, your company can offer an employee assistance program (EAP). This involves giving your workers access to a person with which they can confidentially discuss their personal problems and struggles. This can include counseling for a specific issue or general advice that improves your workers’ lives.
For example, your EAP might allow employees to make in-person visits to a local professional. Workers may also use a phone or video chat service. Your staff can get help with issues like trauma, substance abuse, or even relationship problems.
Some EAP programs even include assistance programs for workers who want to adopt children or get legal advice.
7. Employee Wellness Programs
Employee wellness programs boost both physical and mental health as well as offer social benefits. This occupational health benefit can reduce absences, make your workers happier and more productive, and even help you recruit and keep quality workers.
Examples can include having an on-site fitness center for workers to choose and offering healthy lunch options. You might also get workers involved in community service and set up company sports teams. You can even have a person offer custom fitness and nutrition plans to workers.
Now You Know the Essential Occupational Health Services
These occupational health services can improve your employees’ quality of life and help prevent injuries and illnesses. So, consider offering them at your company.
You’ll find that physically and mentally healthy workers do higher quality work and keep a higher productivity level. At the same time, your company can reduce its expenses related to workplace accidents, turnover, and lost work time. There can even be legal benefits when it comes to handling workplace injuries promptly.
If you found this helpful, be sure to check out our other posts for business advice and tips.
