Health equity in the workplace: Not just an American problem
A study out of the United Kingdom explores how businesses can play a role in reducing health inequity.
Health equity is a hot topic in the United Kingdom, just as it is the United States. By improving the health of their employees, businesses can reap the benefits of a more productive workforce, according to a new report from the UCL Institute of Health Equity.
“The COVID-19 pandemic made clear that a failing economy damages health,” said Michal Marmot, director of the institute. “Until now, the social determinants of health equity have been the responsibility of government and civil society. Business can be part of the problem of health inequalities.
Related: To improve health outcomes, address health equity
“More positively, it can be part of the solution and has a key part to play in improving these social conditions that affect health and health equity, in conditions of work and employment; in goods and services; and in impact on the wider society and environment.”
Researchers found a number of reasons why business has a role in reducing health inequity:
- Life expectancy stalled in 2019 and then fell for men and women by approximately one year because of the pandemic.
- Excessive working hours are linked to premature deaths from stroke and heart disease.
- The food industry spends 27 times more on advertising than the UK government budgets for promoting healthy eating, although obesity is a major social determinant of a shorter life expectancy and contributed to many deaths during COVID.
- The minimum wage often is insufficient to live a healthy life. Most people in the UK in poverty are employed.
- Pay for sickness absence is essential to physical and mental health, yet UK sick pay is one of the lowest in the EU, and many low earners are not even eligible.
- Pockets of good work, siloed in ethics, corporate social responsibility or environment, social and governance teams, do not translate into healthy business practices.
- Unhealthy environments cause a quarter of all deaths globally.
“Reducing health inequities is a key part of leveling up — literally a matter of life and death,” said Nigel Wilson, CEO of Legal & Counsel, which was a partner in the study. “Business can be a force for good in society if we work to identify areas where we can sustainably and positively impact people’s lives.”
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