Employers play important role in enhancing health span of workers, report finds

The lifespan of the average American is nearly 78 years. However, most live just 66 of those years in good health, according to research from Deloitte’s Health and Life Actuarial teams.

“All Americans could potentially live up to 95% of their years in good health and live to be nearly 90 years old,” the study found. “Not only can people of all ages gain more years and more healthy years, but we could spend less on health care in the process.”

The report distinguishes between lifespan and health span:

• Life span is the average expected number of years between birth and death.
• Health span is the average number of healthy years between birth and death.

Employers can be catalysts in driving the change toward living healthier years and spending less. “The payoff could be sizeable and long-lasting,” the report said. “In fact, we could see lifespan in the United States increase by an average of 12 years and health span increase by an average of 19.4 years by 2040, according to our analysis.”

Employers can contribute to improved worker health by:

• Ensuring their workforce has improved access, benefits and support for physical and mental health care services through digital tools and expanded networks.
• Leading efforts to improve health literacy and education for their employees.
• Supporting financial literacy, wealth management and other financial resource tools.
• Investing in prevention, screenings and care at home as fundamental and integrated parts of the care delivery system.
• Creating more awareness of health and wellbeing by providing employees with preventive and wellness programs such as improving access to healthy foods, providing nutrition counseling, promoting physical activity and increasing mental health resources.
• Recognizing the role that their own products and investments play in the drivers of health and health equity, and thoughtfully addressing any flaws.

Beyond the health ramifications, there is a competitive advantage and business case for employers to lead a health-span movement. To have the greatest impact, employers should think beyond their traditional role of offering health insurance to employees. This likely will require employers to consider the broader health needs of their employees and how that extends to the communities where they live. This might include investing in workforce initiatives such as focusing on mental health, improving health literacy, enabling financial literacy and wealth management and encouraging as well as incentivizing healthy habits.

Related: What do employees care about more: Life/health or lifestyle?

“Employers have a growing responsibility to create a healthy and positive work environment that aims to improve employees’ physical, mental, social and emotional health both within and beyond the workplace,” the report said. “Such workplace initiatives can increase employee productivity and retention — and help improve the overall success of the business.”