I came across this interesting question posed to one of our partners, Hewitt Associates, on the links between health and well-being and employee engagement and I thought I would share an excerpt below written by their national lead on organizational health, Rochelle Morandini. The information is based on a special research component of the 2009 Best Employers in Canada study, Hewitt Associates collected data from almost 200,000 Canadian employees to examine exactly this issue.
Our research classified organizations as having high, moderate and low engagement, based on employee feedback from the Best Employers in Canada study. We then looked at various indicators of employee health and well-being by engagement level and found the following results:
- The average number of days lost due to disability and family leave was half at companies with high engagement versus those with low engagement
- With respect to annual mean days off specifically due to physical, emotional or mental fatigue, absenteeism of employees with low engagement was twice that of highly-engaged employees
- The average number of new long-term disability claims per 1,000 employees was 2.5 times higher at low-engagement employers than at high-engagement employers
- Workers’ Compensation premiums at high-engagement companies averaged $654, but they were $900 at organizations with low engagement—despite the fact that Human Resources at the low engagement employers reported the lowest risk exposure to health and safety risks for their employee population
- High-engagement organizations had fewer employees who reported high job-related stress
- Stress was consistently highest for middle managers and team leaders/supervisors
- High engagement organizations have fewer employees who report high work overload
- High engagement is also linked to better personal health, particularly where employees have positive manager support
- Even at high-engagement organizations, most employees do not believe they are saving enough for their retirement, affecting their financial well-being
These findings linking employee engagement and health and well-being establish that engaged employees enjoy lower job-related stress and absenteeism, along with better overall health, resulting in lower disability and workers’ compensation costs for their employers and a more productive, motivated and happier workforce. Clearly, a focus on improving employee engagement results in tangible financial benefits for employers.
So, what do you think? Are engaged employees healthier? And, what is your organization doing to maintain a positive, healthy work environment?
