Vauxhall are leading the way in terms of tackling Occupational Health (OH) which is having some very positive results.
Vauxhall have brought in several new initiatives along with Vista who are their OH provider partners. These initiatives have seen a reduction in staff absences whilst increasing the staff members' job satisfaction and producing a financial return for the company at the same time.
These results are factual and have been measured through the latest initiative of 'showing shoulder pain the red card'. What Vauxhall have invested in this project alone has seen a 10 times return on every £1 spent when measuring the saving in staff absences related to this problem. It was measured that it cost around £38 per staff member compared to a saving of nearly £315 per staff member due to reduced sickness related absences.
Phil Millward is the HR director for General Motors UK and Ireland, and this is what he had to say about the recent OH results: “The decision to move from a reactive to a proactive occupational health system was, in fact, made some time ago, and it is the philosophy that underpins our entire OH offering,”
“The general thinking was quite simply that prevention is better than cure, and with the quality and quantity of data at our disposal regarding risks and common health complaints in our workplace, it was clear for us where we needed to invest in pre-emptive measures,”
As can be seen from the information above, this strategy is clearly making a difference. Should other manufacturers follow Vauxhall's example? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
