A health policy is a plan or decisions that are assumed in order to accomplish specified health care objectives within a given society. The health policy stipulates the things to be achieved and in what timeline. The plan also gives insight on how an organization’s future on healthcare should look like which then guides the actions to be taken. As health services continue to be decentralized, the patients have been exposed to more information. Thus, most employees would tend to take control of their health care.
As a result, the company comes in as a private provider of health care. This is also a way of satisfying the employee needs by the company. This would further promote employee retention and also impact on the overall employee performance. It has also become an emerging trend in the world that companies provide health insurance to their employees. Therefore, a majority of firms are involved in the provision of medical cover to their employees in order to match up their competitors. Provision of heath care to employees ensures that the company will continue to maintain healthy personnel which results to a wellness culture.
Our company has actively been involved in the crafting of a health policy that will cater for the entire workforce and also the newly hired employees. The company’s workforce consists of 210 employees. This policy is mainly aimed in providing several health services to the employees to ensure they stay healthy (Health Outcomes Methodology, 2000). These services include; proper nutrition, provision of flextime to work out, proscribing alcohol and tobacco usage at the office, stress management and other health care benefits. The company intends to lessen the burden of health care provision to its employees.
The company is aware that the health policy must not necessarily involve only the health service. To this regards, the company is keen to include non health services to its employees which might have a positive impact on their health. These includes employee guidelines such as those associated to vacation time, work hours, flexible scheduling and management approach that sustains the desired health objectives. The broad health services to be addressed by the company’s policy shall include; healthy behaviors, health screening, mental health, injury and adult immunization.
- Healthy Behaviors
The company shall instill desirable health behaviors to ensure that all employees live a healthy life at work and even in their homes. The company shall seek expert advice to enlighten the employees on proper nutrition which shall foster their good health. The contracted nutritionist shall interact directly with the employees and provide them with a comprehensive document on nutrition.
This will specify the type of foods that employees would take in order to maintain proper health. The company shall set up a gym where employees can freely attend for exercises in the stipulated time. To affect this, the company will provide flextime among the different departments for physical exercise. The gym will have an instructor who shall be overseeing exercises and directing employees on the types of exercise best suit for them.
The instructor will also be advising employees on the best weight to maintain for healthy living. To realize a healthy workforce the company shall prohibit alcohol and substance abuse in the workplace. Tobacco use shall also not be allowed in the workplace. This is due to the adverse effects that these drugs and substances have on the health of the employees.
- Health Screening
The company wishes to ensure that all employees shall remain healthy in the workplace. For this reason the company shall set up a screening facility in the company where employees will be screened for various diseases. The screening shall also apply to new employees to ensure a constant healthy workforce. Those found to be positive for various diseases shall be admitted to the company’s hospital for treatment.
Employees are urged to check their blood pressure at the facility consistently at least once in every week. This will ensure that the employees maintain a healthy blood pressure. Employees are also encouraged to test for obesity in the screening facility. This shall be done regardless of their weight since the test shall be performed with regards to the body mass index (BMI).
The health personnel shall advice employees on how to live a life free of obesity. Women employees are also urged to take breast and cervical cancer tests at least once in every month. Men shall also be screened for prostate cancer once in every month. The screening facility shall also be performing tests for diabetes and employees are encouraged to take tests once per month.
- Mental Health
The company shall offer services to ensure proper mental health of the employees. New employees are also urged to visit the mental health physician in the facility for support. This will deal with depression and stress management. Any employee who is undergoing any form of stress or depression is highly advised to seek help from the facility at any time. However, the facility shall be performing tests on all employees on a monthly basis for each of the departments. This shall be done to ensure a mentally sound workforce in the company.
- Injury
The company is also dedicated to ensure that employees don’t get inflicted to physical injuries in the line of duty. For this reason the company shall provide safety clothing and equipments to prevent employee injury. The clothing shall be availed to workers who are in contact with machinery and other harmful substances in the company. This shall mostly involve workers in the technical departments. Conversely, any employee who suffers any kind of injury while at work must see the physician in the screening facility for treatment.
- Adult Immunization
The company will also be offering immunizations to all employees both the existing and the newly hired to ensure protection against any communicable disease. The company shall offer immunizations against influenza and pneumococcal.
The company’s health policy will meet one of the organizational goals’ which is to maintain a healthy working culture. This will also present a platform for employees to live healthy lives while undertaking their work. It would not be prudent if an employee of this company falls prey to one of the killer diseases which can be easily controlled by developing a health policy (National Institute of Health, 2012).
For this reason it is highly encouraged that all employees should be part and parcel of this vital health policy from the company. The company also understands that not everyone has the ability to meet all the health needs. As a result the company has developed this helpful policy to ensure that all employees benefit from it. It is also the company’s objective to retain the entire workforce at its reach.
The company will be glad to know that it retains healthy employees and at the same time it continues to maintain their good health. Consequently, a healthy workforce would translate into an improved organizational performance. But most importantly is that the health of the employee will be constantly checked by the company. Hence this comes in as a social benefit from the firm to its individual employees.
References
Health Outcomes Methodology. (2000). Medical Care. 38, pg 117–23.
National Institute of Health. (2012). NIH Grants Policy Statement. Rockville, Maryland: NIH
