Major new report recommends action by the Accountancy Profession to prioritise Workforce Health
It’s a problem that is estimated to cost UK employers £14 billion annually, but despite the fact that most management teams agree that “employees are our most valuable asset”, senior accountants and finance directors show limited interest in the health and wellbeing of their workforce, according to new research published by ICAS.
'Recognising Workforce Health as a Key Organisational Asset: A Study of Current Thinking and Practice', by Professor Robin Roslender, Dr Howard Kahn and Joanna Stevenson, investigates how finance directors and HR directors in the private and public sectors view issues surrounding the health and wellbeing of their workforce and how workforce health can be ‘valued’. The report draws on case studies of three very different organisations – AstraZeneca, South Lanarkshire Council and South West Water.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development estimates that in 2008 the total cost to employers of employee absence was around £14 billion. Dame Carol Black’s review of the health of Britain’s working age population also estimates that poor health costs the British economy £100 billion a year in lost productivity, lost tax revenues, lost spending and increased health and social care costs.
The ICAS research concludes that, whilst the costs of ill health can be identified and measured, the value of maintaining a healthy workforce is more difficult to account for and quantify. While more than two thirds of HR directors surveyed during the research believe that it is possible to identify some form of financial value for this, finance directors are more sceptical.
The report challenges the UK accountancy profession to consider a number of steps, which might be taken to enable all stakeholders to benefit from a healthier workforce:
- A concerted effort to promote interest in the intellectual capital field;
- Making accountants aware of how it might be possible to account for various components of intellectual capital, in particular those surrounding health and wellbeing;
- To work in conjunction with other managerial professions, including human resource management and occupational health specialists;
- Influencing central government to install a portfolio of legislation, compelling employers to take a greater level of responsibility for the health of their workforces.
The challenge is to ensure that the gains from workforce health initiatives outweigh the costs of their introduction.
David Wood, ICAS Executive Director, Technical Policy said, “Most businesses will closely monitor absence and illness as a strong indication of workforce wellbeing, but this report suggests the mindset needs to change to actively maintaining a healthy workforce. It challenges the accountancy profession to take a leading role in such initiatives –and given that absences are a multi-billion pound problem for UK employers, this is an issue that every business should take seriously.”