Why Need A Corporate Health Check?

Odd hours of working and an almost non-existent social life creates stress on individuals. However, the ways adopted for coping with stress, viz., smoking, binge eating and binge drinking, create further stress on the body and mind. The result is hypertension / high blood pressure, overweight and obesity, etc. which lead to further complications like diabetes, heart diseases or cancers. Such conditions lead to a sick workforce and increased absenteeism.

Customized Corporate Check - Impact on Corporate Sector, A Survey Based Report (2009) by ASSOCHAM reveals that-

• 70% correlation exists between age of employee and man-days lost due to sickness.
• 82% correlation exists between work Experience of the employee and man-days lost.
• One rupee spent on prevention saves Rs. I33 in absenteeism costs and Rs. 6.62 in healthcare costs.

The Report of the Working Group on Disease Burden for 12th Five Year Plan states that "Heart diseases, stroke and diabetes are projected to increase cumulatively, and India stands to lose 237 billion dollars during the decade 2005-2015."

While health insurance has its own set of benefits, it does not help the organization in having a proper understanding of the present health status and impending health issues of its employees. Corporate employee wellness can be the much-needed solution that can give the decision-makers a proper insight into the organization's human resource.

An employee's physical wellness, psychological health and overall wellbeing affect his work. Corporate Health & wellness programs help keep employee healthy and productive.
To maintain quality and to deliver results, the person has to be

• Sincere
• Efficient, and above all
• Healthy and Fit

Unfortunately, this does not happen all the time. Courtesy to their odd working hours, lack of exercise, binge eating, smoking/drinking and other unhealthy ways of living, prying diseases pounce upon and people fall prey to them easily.

• Increased absenteeism
• Lack of concentration
• Diminished work output

Stats Speak!

• 17.3 million of global deaths occur due to heart diseases
• In one day, 12,060 people die of diabetes (21% being Indians )
• 4 die of heart attack & 1 from stroke every minute in India
• One rupee spent on prevention saves Rs. I33 in absenteeism costs and Rs. 6.62 in healthcare costs

Sources-
World Health Statistics 2012 (WHO), IDF Diabetes Atlas, Million Death Study (The Lancet)
Workforce  Health Care – Impact on Corporate Sector, A Survey Based Report (2009) by ASSOCHAM

Benefits of Pre-EmploymentCheck

To Maintain Safety at Workplace

The new candidate should be free from medical conditions that could result in harming other people (colleagues or customers), especially in health and safety sensitive jobs such as driving, piloting, working in automation etc.

Health Record Compilation

A Pre employment health check establishes baseline health related data against which the future health status of an employee can be compared. It identifies existing medical conditions, including lifestyle and contagious diseases which could get adversely affected by occupational exposure.

Ascertain Productivity and Efficiency

These tests establish that the new employee is free from medical conditions which can affect his productivity post employed. Companies understand the importance of a healthy employee as his health is going to be directly proportional to his productivity and efficacy towards work.

Cost to Company for Medical Reimbursement

Considering that medical treatment is getting costlier by the day, employee health is becoming a major concern for companies. Several companies provide full or partial coverage for medical expense to their employees. An employee who suffers from a long term illness which may require frequent hospitalization and absenteeism from work may cost the employer a lot of money. Companies want to assess this before hiring the candidate.

What do pre-employment checks include?

Pre employment checks are usually basic screening tests which gives a broad assessment of the candidate's health status.

Usually they include the following test, though they may vary from company to company.

1. Complete Medical & Physical Examination
2. Laboratory Investigations
• Complete Blood Count
• Blood Sugar Test (usually fasting)
• Urine Routine & Microscopy
• Blood Group & Rh Factor
3. X-Ray Chest
4. ECG
5. Lipid Profile
6. Kidney function test
7. Liver function test
8. Optional tests
• HIV
• HBsAg (Hepatitis)

An occupational health check offers several benefits to every organization. With such check-ups, it becomes possible to identify the health status of existing and new staff. Numerous companies have started taking initiatives for employee wellness and offering comprehensive health check packages or employee wellness programs for their employees.

Every year around 34% of the deaths that occur in India are because of the non-communicable diseases. Out of these majority of the deaths are caused by lifestyle diseases like diabetes, obesity etc. Apart from that, physical injuries and illnesses may also occur at the workplace. Occupational health services are basically campus-based services provided by companies like COWIN which offers treatment for the illness and work-related injuries right on the campus.

Benefits of Occupational Health Check to Employer

• Workforce  healthchecks offer an excellent way to identify the prevalence of diseases among the new recruits. Moreover, it ensures that the present workforce is physically fit for the job.
• If you conduct such checks in your organization on a regular basis, then this will enhance physical as well as behavioral health among the employees. Also, it reduces the overall rate of absenteeism and participation of employees to a great extent.
• Employees find occupational health physical exam as an easy way to avail precise health assessment. They participate actively in all such programs and even are willing to be more productive for the organization.
• The checks form a baseline to maintain a health record status of employees. The data can be used to offer treatment or to analyze, compare the future health trends of the employee to the present one.
• With regular health checks, it becomes convenient for the employers to ensure that all employees are free from any medical issues. Many companies conduct pre-employment checks as well to decide if the candidates possess required productivity and efficiency and can be employed.
• When a company takes an active interest in their employee’s fitness and health condition, then employees appreciate it and prefer working with such companies for a much longer time period.

Benefits of Occupational Health Check to Employees

• Regular health screenings at the workplace update employee about their health condition and encourage them to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
• Medical treatment is becoming expensive with every passing day. Workforce  occupational health screening helps identify most of the ailments at an early stage. This way, timely and accurate treatment can be planned.

What Does an Occupational Health Check Include?

An occupational medical health check usually involves a basic health screening of the employees. It offers them a broad analysis of their health status. If an employee is identified with a major illness, these programs even educate him/her about the lifestyle and dietary adjustments to be done.

All in all, an occupational health screening benefits employees and employers in manifold ways. Several companies even offer customized Workforce  health packages. You just need to make a smart choice with a reliable option.

In India, fatal consequences of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are on the rise with each passing year. According to the studies, NCDs cause approximately 60% deaths in India. An alarming fact is that 4 diseases namely, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic pulmonary diseases are the reason behind the approximately 80% of the deaths related to NCDs.

Today, professionals who are working in a corporate environment in India are prone to diseases related to stress, anxiety, prolonged sitting and unhealthy diet. The unhealthy corporate lifestyle mixed with new emerging pathogens has created a dangerous situation putting everyone at risk. Thus, it is crucial for the companies to choose customized corporate checks for their employees to ensure better and healthier future. Employees too should be serious about their health and should actively go for corporate health check. The corporate health check is mutually beneficial for employee as well as the employer.

Benefits for the Employee-

• They can avail regular employee health checks at an affordable cost using high-end technology
• The plans can be designed as per the requirement of the company or the employees’ work profile
• Everything right from labs to doctors for consultancy is available under one roof
• Strengthens relationship between the employee and the employer
• Decreased financial burden (illness means increase in the expenditure on healthcare services)

Benefits for the Company-

• The healthcare cost comes down
• The productivity of the employees increases
• The rate of absent employees from work due to health conditions decreases
• The workplaces related injuries also decrease

It is essential for the company to show compassion towards their employees to build trust. Furthermore, a healthy employee will always be a better choice for the company. COWIN provides a wide range of executive health check packages for corporate world; companies can also get a customized one as per specific requirement. We have a comprehensive corporate health and wellness plan that is suitable as per your needs and requirements.

A healthy employee equals a flourishing business. When the workforce is hale and hearty, productivity behind the desk increases many folds.

Today, organizations and corporates are emphasizing enormously upon their employee's health. Corporate health checks are a mandate with every company, be it small or big.

In the competitive corporate world, employees go through rigorous work routine, have to meet deadlines, eat junk and fast food regularly, keep sitting at their work stations for long hours, sleep less and remain under stress of work pressure most of the times. All this is bound to take a toll on their health.

Such unhealthy ways of living may lead to several diseases. Unfortunately, lifestyle diseases like heart ailments, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain cancers remain asymptomatic in their initial stages and do not exhibit pronounced symptoms. Due to this, diseases lay hidden and go unnoticed for a long duration until they reach their late stages when the treatment and management becomes extensive, expensive and difficult.

Corporate Medical Checks - A Wise Investment

Companies understand the importance of executive wellness for their employees. An unfit and unhealthy employee loses his productivity due to frequent absenteeism, lack of concentration and low energy levels at work.

Regular health screening is the key to good employee health management.

COWIN offers tailor-made corporate medical checks for working professionals. The employee wellness program packages are designed specifically to suit executive's healthcare needs, keeping in mind COWINtrial and occupational hazards.

Tests included in the corporate health check packages will give a clear insight of the employee's health status and will also provide him the way forward to appropriate treatment and management, if any abnormality is detected.

As most of the Indian workforce gets ready to go back to work from offices, managements need to have a plan in place to stop the spread of Coronavirus. Employers can use this handy guide by COWIN to strategize their return-to-work policies-

Mandate basic Covid-19 Workforce measures

The first step to implementing the basic preventions is to educate your employees more about the risks and impact of the spread of Covid-19. Support them in practicing good hygiene by providing the employees, clients and visitors, easy access to handwashing areas and hand sanitizers. Administer policies for practicing mandatory social distancing and carry out regular cleaning and sanitization of the office spaces.

Implement protective controls in office

Make sure to increase ventilation at the workplace - you can install air filters and opt for having room air conditioners. Establish policies to limit the number of employees and visitors in the workplace - let employees who can work from home continue that and let others come in shifts to reduce crowding inside the office. Rearrange your office space to maintain proper social distancing norms easily, and set up barriers/partitions between cubes/desks. Provide your employees with all the personal protective equipment like masks and gloves, along with educating them on protection against the virus and office policies to combat it.

Identification & isolation of susceptible virus carriers

Do daily health screenings like body temperature and oxygen levels before entering the workplace. Encourage employees and other staff to self-monitor themselves for signs and symptoms of Covid-19 on a daily basis. Make them aware about all the benefit policies and procedures for employees experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 or actually contracting the disease.

Use Antibody Testing for mass screening

Antibody/Anti-SARS COV-2 tests for Covid-19 also called Serology Test, is done to check if the immune system has been exposed to Coronavirus infection recently. It is a blood sample test to investigate antibodies in the immune system developed to fight SARS-CoV-2. In case the test shows the presence of antibodies, it means the person was infected in the recent past with Covid-19. The results are quick, can be done in a day without a doctor's prescription. Only an Aadhar Card or a letter from HR is enough for getting the test done. Read more about Antibody Testing for Corporates here.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, almost all offices had to work from home. Now that everything is opening and employees are starting to work from their office spaces, health safety is a big concern. As work-life slowly resumes, it’s imperative to make sure that offices have a COVID-safe strategy to keep employees protected.

To help employers tackle this important concern, COWIN has introduced Antibody Testing.

What is Antibody Testing?

Covid-19 Antibody/Anti-SARS COV-2 test, also known as Serology Test, is done to determine if the immune system has come across Covid-19 infection recently. It is done by using a blood sample to test for antibodies the immune system develops to fight SARS-CoV-2. If the test shows the presence of antibodies, it means the person was infected in the recent past with SARS-CoV-2. The result doesn’t confirm whether the individual is currently infected (asymptomatic or not). The antibodies for Covid-19 are produced typically 10-18 days after the infection.

How does Antibody Testing benefit you?

·         Test results are same day   

·         It detects past infection 

·         Good for sero-surveillance and health planning 

·         Inexpensive 

·         Does not require a doctor's prescription - only Aadhar Card or HR letter is needed 

·         Beneficial for mass screening 

·         Easy blood test 

·         Enables the person to donate plasma if they were infected in the past 

What should you do as an employer?

When you opt for Covid-19 Antibody Testing before allowing employees in the workplace, provide a clear explanation of what the results indicate about their health in the past regarding Covid-19 infection. Also, hand a list of dos and don’ts to the employees so that they can be careful about taking care of their health and keep them safe from Coronavirus infection in the future.