The We Are Wellbeing team visit businesses across the country to deliver employee health checks. This helps to give your people an indication of their state of physical health, encouraging them to live active and healthy lives.
What is a health check?
A health check is a great way for an individual to become more aware of their physical health levels. It provides a results breakdown and professional recommendations so individuals are better able to manage their health, wellbeing and quality of life. By identifying any health or lifestyle issues that might lead to higher than normal risks of illness or other conditions, individuals are able to make the changes needed to improve their health.
Our health checks are carried out by trained and qualified Wellbeing Coaches. They can answer any questions your team may have, and provide expert advice on the best ways to improve general health.
Preparing for your office health check
We’ll arrange with you a date and time to visit your office or site, and will work with you to put a promotional plan in place to reach out to your people and encourage them to attend. You may already have a team of Wellbeing Champions ready to spread the news and encourage sign-ups amongst their departments. All staff emails or promotional posters on-site can also help to drive awareness.
It’s important your team understands the benefits of a health check, as this will motivate them to sign up. Getting a clear indicator of health levels gives individuals the drive they need to make long-lasting lifestyle changes. This can make a big difference to your team’s overall health both in the immediate and long-term future.
Simply create a booking system that works for your business. Create a spreadsheet in a public folder, or a Google Sheets document, detailing time slots. Your employees can then fill their name in against a time that suits their schedule. Make it clear what your team should expect, and anything they might need to bring with them.
Your team will receive a consent form to fill out in advance. This will give individuals background information about the health check and advise what they need to do to prepare for the check. This includes fasting for two hours before the assessment, avoiding caffeine and cigarettes for two hours before the assessment, avoiding alcohol in the 12 hours before the assessment, avoiding strenuous exercise on the day of the assessment, trying to get a good night’s sleep, wearing comfortable loose-fitting clothes and what to do if they need to reschedule. The individual will be asked to sign a consent form indicating they understand and accept the terms of the health check too.
What happens during a health check?
An individual should arrive for their health check at their allotted time. They will have a quick chat with our trained health practitioner, who will explain what will happen next.
The practitioner will then carry out the health checks – using professional equipment such as blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeter and cholesterol pin-prick test. They will make note of each result on a health check sheet for your employee to take away with them. The sheet will indicate whether a result is good, normal or unhealthy. Our professionals will make sure your employees understand their results and what steps they can take to improve their physical health if necessary. In some cases our Wellbeing Coaches may advise the individual to seek further GP consultation, limit the intensity of exercise or avoid certain activities.
By undertaking an annual health check, your team can benchmark their physical health and set themselves a goal to achieve within twelve months.
Which health check should I choose?
We offer three levels of health checks: Heart Health, Essential Health and Executive Health.
Heart Health is a quick and simple 15 minute health check. It provides information on resting heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation and cholesterol levels. This gives your employee a simple overview of their physical health.
Our Essential Health check is more detailed and takes slightly longer (30 minutes). The practitioner will check Body Mass Index, Waist to Hip Ratio and Fasting Blood Glucose to give us an idea of blood sugar levels. This more advanced check provides further insight into your employee’s health, including weight and its relation to certain health conditions.
The 90 minute Executive Health check incorporates all previously mentioned checks. It also includes an exercise stress test, grip strength, lung function test, body fat and bone mass test, VO2 cardio fitness measurements and triglycerides test. This gives us a full indication of an individual’s health profile. It allows us to provide much more detailed and specific advice on how to improve and maintain good levels of physical health across the board, from cardiovascular health right through to nutritional advice.
Health checks should not be seen as an alternative to a medical consultation with a GP, as our Wellbeing Coaches are not medical practitioners. We would always advise to seek an appointment with a GP if an individual is unsure about an aspect of their health.
The benefits of a health check for employees
This one’s simple. Your people need to know their basic health levels in order to identify ways to best manage and improve their health.
Everyone wants to be physically and mentally healthy, but this is easier said than done. Tangible results showing the state of your health gives people the hard facts they need to make a change. In many cases the health checks motivate people to make positive lifestyle changes or drives people to continue monitoring and maintaining a good level of physical health.
The benefits of a health check for your business
Healthy and happy employees are more motivated, productive and engaged while at work. This is great for your business and your customers. Healthy employees also save your business money as they are less likely to be absent from work.
Running health checks is a great way to show your employees that you really do care about them and their health. Alongside a comprehensive wellbeing programme, health checks contribute towards creating a positive workplace culture where wellbeing is at the heart of your business. Employees are far more likely to stay within a business that prioritises and cares about their health, and working with a wellbeing provider can help to make this happen. For more information, get in touch with the We Are Wellbeing team.
