C3 Collaborating for Health | Workplace health

Why is workplace health important?

The healthiest quarter of the workforce is naturally 18% more productive at work than the least healthy quarter. Improved productivity leads to improved financial performance.

Health promotion programmes are cost-effective, with returns on investment demonstrated of 2.3 to 10.1 times the amount invested.

Most employers already offer some health programmes such as health and safety, occupational health and private health insurance. However, 67% of companies in the UK are currently not addressing health and wellness.*

Employers with health programmes have improved reputation with their workforce, community and investors.

See how we’re helping organisations with their workplace health initiatives and contact us to talk more about workplace health for your organisation.

*Statistic quoted by Dame Carol Black at a YMCA seminar, ‘All work and no play: getting your workforce active’, on 6 May 2011.

Why should we address the risk factors?

Many adults spend a significant proportion of their lives in the workplace, making it a crucial place in which to enable healthy behaviour. Addressing three risk factors, tobacco use, physical inactivity and what we eat and drink is particularly important.

Smokers are absent from work more than 50% more than non-smokers and 35% more than former smokers. Smokers also have significantly more unproductive time at work.

Obese employees are more than twice as likely to experience high-level absenteeism and 1.5 times more likely to suffer from moderate absenteeism as those of recommended weight.

Non-exercisers have 46% greater absence rates than those who exercise just once a week.

Our workplace health initiatives

Workplace health projects

Our current workplace health projects include a healthy weight initiative for obese nurses, social-marketing campaign for health professionals and a recent project on the NHS workforce with funding from the Health Foundation.

We have also been a member:

project boards of the World Economic Forum’s Working towards Wellness Initiative
Bupa’s Health at Work Initiative

We also coordinated an innovative partnership, the Health and Wellbeing Local Business Partnership, as part of the government’s Health in the Workplace Responsibility Deal.

Workplace health events

We organise events with our partners, host expert speakers for our Workplace Health Movement members, and arrange workshops on behalf of organisations through commissioned projects and awards.

View our most recent and future workplace health events.

C3 Workplace Health Movement

The C3 Workplace Health Movement is a networking and knowledge-sharing group for people involved in workplace health. The goal is collaboration across all areas of health at work, identifying ways to make it easier for organisations to develop and maintain healthy, resilient and productive workforces.

We are also inviting organisations to sponsor the Movement.

Workplace health