I spent most of Monday at a rather good seminar put together by the health-insurance provider, WPA.

The theme of the day was looking at how better employee health and wellbeing could improve productivity. The seminar used some expert speakers from both sides of the Atlantic to convey the messages, including Dame Carol Black and Professor Dee Edington. Certainly the input and case studies from across the pond were very useful, as the US is far advanced on the UK in this area.

The principal reason for this disparity is that US employer’s have a very tangible driver to keep their workforce as healthy as possible. In the US the employer often funds the lion’s share of healthcare costs for their employees (many thousands of $ per employee), whereas in this country the (much maligned) NHS underpins much of the cost burden.

However, one of the more surprising outputs of the event was that even taking measures to improve your employee’s health is unlikely to result in a significant reduction in medical insurance premiums. On the flip-side, and much more importantly, it can result in increased employee engagement, productivity and profitability.

Professor Edington highlighted that the traditional employer approach to healthcare is to ‘wait for defects [illness], and then try and fix the defects’. As he correctly pointed out this is not an approach that most employers would take to other facets of running a business.

So how to resolve this? The message from many of the speakers was that you have to imbed health management into the environment and culture of a company. Or to use Professor Edington’s words ‘fix the systems that lead to the defects’.

Much of the day provided evidence of how the US is achieving just this through Health Management Programmes in the workplace, focusing on such issues as obesity and diet.

But can it work in the UK?

Yes, and it already is for a (very) few employers. But I do believe that there are barriers to UK plc following this road, at least in the short-term:

Costs and Return on Investment (ROI)

Any new program is going to bring with it costs and administrative burdens. Given the currently fragile state of the UK economy, finding extra funds will be a challenge for many employers.

Another result of the deficit is that employers need to see a quick return on any extra expenditure. Given that few employer’s have robust sickness and absence records to date, evidencing an ROI is going to be quite a challenge in the early years.

Company size

Whilst some of the larger employers may well have the support functions to assist with this level of employer leadership, most SME’s just don’t.

An awful lot of smaller employers have recently dispensed with some HR functions as part of cost-cutting measures. As a result, many are struggling to cope with day-to-day duties, and changes forced on them by legislation (for instance Pension Reform), without the additional burden of ‘creating’ extra duties and responsibilities.

US v UK culture

But the biggest challenge is surely one of culture.

The US do belief better than the UK.

Americans believe in politicians, religion, sport, investments, employers, and Mum’s apple pie, at a level which the British often find astonishing.

As a result, I suspect that an employer supported wellbeing programme in the US is often looked on as exactly that - something that is there to help the employee. As such, it’s likely to be welcomed and used.

The UK is different. We are, generally speaking, a cynical bunch, and often view things from a jaundiced angle. A wellbeing programme sponsored by the employer is likely to be viewed with suspicion, which could damage engagement.

Even if the programme is welcomed and used, there is perhaps more reluctance in the UK to fully embrace new ideas. To borrow from the TV journalist and author, Andrew Marr, the UK has a national ‘inability to go the whole hog’.

Sometimes this is a strength, sometimes a weakness, but for the purposes of embedding an employer led culture of health and wellbeing this is a major obstacle.

So, without doubt, an interesting and thought provoking day. I am sure that many of the proposals outlined will eventually cross the Atlantic and take root in the UK, but I really do think that this will take many years to become the norm, even with some larger employers.

For the meantime it’s a concept that employers should be aware of, and aspire to. It may well be a case of ‘small steps’ taken as and when the opportunities present themselves.

Ultimately, the potential prize of increased productivity and profitability is one worth having.

Best regards

Steve