Did you know that cardiovascular disease is responsible for 25% of deaths in the UK, according to the British Heart Foundation? It’s also the single biggest premature killer (under 75) in the UK.
This is why workplace health checks are so important for your staff as, statistically speaking, some of them will be experiencing cardiovascular issues and not know it.
So, you want to undertake some workplace health checks, but don’t have any idea where to start? Or you’re already hosting employee health checks, but don’t know if the approach you’re taking is the best one?
Here at New Leaf Health, we’re experts in workplace health check services – we’ve been doing it for over 30 years now. So, we’ve put together a complete guide to health checks in the workplace to help you determine the right approach for your employees and your business.
Table of Contents
Why Should Employers Offer Health Checks?
Let’s say you’ve never offered health checks to your employees before. Why would you want to? What’s the benefit to the business? Well, here are a few eye-opening stats around the physical health of adults in the UK:
- 30% of adults in the UK have high blood pressure, with around 15% being undiagnosed/untreated – this can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and heart disease, amongst other conditions.
- The cost of obesity and being overweight to the UK economy is estimated to be around £30 billion annually in lost productivity.
- Estimates indicate that there are around 1.3 million people in the UK living with type-2 diabetes who aren’t yet diagnosed and treated, leaving them at risk of various cardiovascular problems.
This is just a quick snapshot – many more conditions and problems can impact an employee’s performance that could go under the radar.
You might be thinking, “What’s the point? Surely that’s what their GP is for?” And you’d be right, the best place to get a health check would be at the GP. But your employees aren’t at their doctor’s surgery every day – they’re in your workplace.
This is why employers love workplace health checks. Staff don’t need to take time off work, plus it helps reach those staff who wouldn’t have gone to their doctor in the first place – by bringing the health checks to you, we help remove all of the barriers to access.
So, what kind of health checks are available to employers?
What Types of Employee Health Checks are Available?
There are a variety of workplace health checks available, but here we’ll look at the three key services that have the biggest impact on employees and drive high engagement.
Employee Health Checks (Body Composition Testing)
An Employee Health Check consists primarily of body composition testing. We carry these out in the workplace using our Health Check Point equipment. This consists of:
- Blood pressure testing
- Accurate height measurement
- Body composition testing, covering:
- Body fat and muscle mass
- Visceral (internal) fat rating
- Body water score
- BMI and weight
- Metabolic rate and age (how efficiently your body uses energy)
This is a very accessible approach to corporate health testing, as the only thing people need to do to get involved is take off their shoes and socks/tights.
As part of the check, employees will also be guided by our practitioner on what their results mean and what they can do to improve them.
This approach is great for: businesses that want to engage 70+ staff in a day, employees who don’t want a blood test approach, and workplaces where the testing can generate a buzz (it’s a great visual in a central space or location.)
Help your Employees Improve their Physical Health and Wellbeing
Employee Health Screening (Blood Testing)
Employee Health Screening is a slightly more in-depth approach to health checks, where we use a finger-prick device to draw a small amount of blood from the finger to check cardiovascular health. In this health check, we test:
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol levels
- Blood glucose levels
- Plus, in the 20-minute screening, we incorporate all of the Health Check Point tests listed above
This approach is also one-to-one, meaning attendees get tailored advice and can really dive into their results with the health practitioner.
This approach is great for: employees who want a one-to-one approach, identifying cardiovascular risk, and getting a truly comprehensive health check.
Learn about Employee Health Screening in the Workplace
Workplace Wellbeing Fairs
Workplace Wellbeing Fairs are slightly different, as they’re not just a health check. They’re a much broader event that can incorporate different kinds of health checks, including:
- Employee health checks (body composition testing)
- Workplace health screening
- Vitamin D testing
- Iron deficiency testing
- and more
You’ll notice that we snuck a couple of tests in there that we haven’t discussed yet – Vitamin D testing and Iron Deficiency testing. Whilst these do fall under the broad banner of employee health checks, they’re very specific, and often work well in conjunction with other tests that focus on key health stats – like screening and health checks.
Every Wellbeing Fair starts with our Employee Health Check, split into two zones: the health checks zone and the lifestyle zone. We have two practitioners running this, which means we can get twice as many staff through over a standard health check day.
We then add on whatever other zones your staff are interested in, such as:
- Building Resilience Zone
- Physical Activity Zone
- MSK & Posture Zone
- Cancer Awareness Zone
- Mindfulness Zone
- Sleep Hygiene Zone
- Diabetes Awareness Zone
- Heart Health Zone
- Nutrition Zone
- Chair Yoga Zone
- Massage Zone
- Mole & Skin Cancer Checks Zone
During the autumn months, we could even run a workplace flu clinic as part of your Wellbeing Fair, if you’re inclined!
This approach is great for: organisations that want to celebrate employee health with a large-scale interactive event, ideal for workplaces with lots of staff.
Promote different aspects of wellbeing across your whole workforce
What Will Employees Learn From a Workplace Health Check?
We’ve covered what’s tested in each employee health check above, but here’s a breakdown in terms of how comprehensive each health check is.
Workplace Wellbeing Fair (all health checks available)
A Wellbeing Fair can be whatever you want to make it – everything but the kitchen sink, so to speak. In other words, if you want the most comprehensive health checks for your employees, we can fit them all into one Wellbeing Fair, right in the comfort of your workplace.
20-Minute Health Screening (most comprehensive stand-alone check)
The 20-Minute Health Screening essentially combines the 10-Minute Health Screening with the Employee Health Check body composition testing, so your employees get a comprehensive look at their health stats.
10-Minute Health Screening (in-depth cardio health check)
The 10-Minute Health Screening is a finger-prick blood test focusing on cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure. This means that attendees get clear insight into their heart health stats.
The results tell your employees what’s going on in their bodies right now – it’s not a diagnostic test, but it’s an excellent indicator that something may require further investigation.
Employee Health Checks (indicating potential risk factors)
The Employee Health Check gives attendees an idea of hidden health stats that can indicate increased risk for certain conditions.
One of the key stats that our medically-validated body composition scales pick up, for example, is visceral fat. This is the internal fat that surrounds your organs and protects them. It surrounds vital organs, including:
- Heart
- Intestines
- Kidneys
- Liver and gallbladder
- Pancreas
- Stomach
Having some visceral fat is normal – it helps protect your organs. Having too much visceral fat, however, is linked to several serious diseases, such as:
- Heart disease
- Type-2 diabetes
- Stroke
- High cholesterol
- Certain cancers
If you have a body composition check and your visceral fat level is too high for your age, that doesn’t mean you’ll have one of the conditions above, but it does mean that your risk of developing them is increased.
In other words, if the Health Screenings tell people what’s going on in their bodies right now, the Health Checks tell attendees what might be going on in their bodies based on their stats.
Health Checks, Health Screening, or Wellbeing Fairs – Which is Right for Your Workplace?
Deciding which health check approach is right for your business certainly isn’t easy. There are a lot of factors in play, including:
- Number of checks needed/attendees
- Which aspects of health you want to target
- If you want to look at other areas of physical and mental wellbeing
- What your budget allows for.
The good news is, we’ve taken on all of the hard work for you and put together a guide on which health check is best for your workplace, including a handy table comparing all of the health checks discussed in this article.
How to Plan and Run a Workplace Health Check Day
If you’re looking to plan and run a workplace health check, there’s a really simple approach – leave it to the experts.
Sorry if that sounded patronising! But it’s what we do. We don’t just sell in health checks and leave you to it – we engage in a consultative process with all of our clients to help you determine:
- Which health check is right for your business
- How to format it
- When to run it
- How to get people to attend (we have free adverts and an online booking tool to help with that)
- And we’re always on hand to answer any other questions or concerns you might have
Even if you don’t want to book an employee health check with New Leaf Health, we’re happy to have a no-obligation chat with you to bounce some ideas around and share our knowledge and experience with you.
How Much do Employee Health Checks Cost?
The cost of employee health checks can vary widely across providers. Here at New Leaf Health, we’re open with our pricing, as we believe in finding the right solution at the right budget. We can’t speak for other providers, but our costs are:
- Employee Health Checks: From £870 + VAT per day (72 attendees)
- 10-Minute Health Screening: From £975 + VAT per day (40 attendees)
- 20-Minute Health Screening: From £925 + VAT per day (20 attendees)
- Wellbeing Fair (Employee Health Check Zone and Lifestyle Zone): From £1575 + VAT per day (144 attendees)
You may notice the word “from” sneaking into the above costs. Generally speaking, the majority of our clients will pay the costs listed above, but, because we operate UK-wide, sometimes we need to add things like travel expenses – if we’re going to particularly remote locations, for example.
Frequently Asked Questions About Employee Health Checks
Are workplace health checks a legal requirement?
The workplace health checks we’ve listed here are not a legal requirement by any means – they’re just the right thing for an employer to do. That being said, some industries and employees do require regular medical check-ups.
This is a different topic altogether, so we’ve put a blog together on the subject: Is Health Screening a Legal Requirement for Workplaces?
Who carries out the health checks?
Despite being held in a workplace, rather than a medical setting, all employee health checks should be carried out by a fully qualified, trained, and quality-assured health practitioner. That’s our minimum standard here at New Leaf Health, so when you’re selecting an employee health check provider, make sure you ask them who will be carrying out the tests.
Can all employees take part?
Most, if not all, employees can take part in a health check day. With body composition testing, due to the nature of the test, it’s recommended that pregnant women and anyone with a pacemaker not use the body composition scales, but they can get involved with the other tests.
Additionally, if someone has a pre-existing condition such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, it may not be beneficial for them to get involved with certain tests (such as health screening), as they will likely already be under monitoring with their doctor, so our tests wouldn’t tell them anything they don’t already know.
How far in advance do we need to book a health check day?
If you ask us, we’d say a month or two ideally. Even six months or more if you’re planning to hold employee health checks during Know Your Numbers Week (early September), for example.
If you ask our clients, though, they might say a week is plenty of notice! We joke, of course, but we’ll always do whatever we can to get health check days booked in on a date of your choosing, whenever that may be.
For the record, though, our shortest notice booking was about 3 days.
Can we rent the equipment rather than booking a facilitated day?
Our Employee Health Check kit (for body composition testing) can absolutely be rented – usually for a week or a month. We do need to train your Wellbeing Champions on how to use the kit first (or just a designated person, if you don’t have Champions), which requires the purchase of one of our standard days.
This approach is great for workplaces that want to hold regular employee health checks. You can have a testing and training day to launch your health check programme, then six months later, you can simply rent the kit from us – this is an incredibly cost-effective approach to health checks.
Ready to Book a Workplace Health Check Day?
If you’re ready to discuss employee health checks for your workplace, get in touch to speak to a member of our team. We have over 30 years of experience delivering health and wellbeing programmes to workplaces around the UK, so if you’ve got a specific challenge you’re trying to overcome, chances are we’ve already seen it.
Fill out the form below, and a member of our team will get back to you to set up a meeting – or just to chat via email, if that’s your preferred method.
