The care of people and their health become an increasingly strategic element for companies in Navarra. This conclusion follows from the I Survey on Health and Business, promoted by Mutua Navarra. In her 91.6% of Navarre companies consider that the health of their workers has a "high" or "very high" influence on productivity and results. But there is more: the study confirms that health improvement actions have a significant influence on employee satisfaction and are a decisive means of retaining talent, as almost 65% of respondents say.
"After more than ten years promoting healthy businesses in Navarra, we believe that the time has come to take the pulse of advances in health promotion at work in the companies of the Autonomous Community," said yesterday Juan Manuel Gorostiaga, managing director of Mutua Navarra during his presentation.
In research, the first of these characteristics that is carried out in the community, 250 companies of different sizes and sectors have participated. To make the study possible, we have had the collaboration of the Confederation of Employers of Navarre (CEN), AEDIPE Navarra and the General Directorate of Economic, Business and Labor Policy of the Government of Navarra. The realization of the study has been directed by the Department of Sociology of the Public University of Navarra.
"Companies can and should contribute to the professional promotion, health and well-being of all the people that make them up," added Javier Zubicoa, director of the Labor Service of the Government of Navarra.
"The company is an ideal place to develop health initiatives and is something that every day more companies are incorporating," added Jose Antonio Sarría, president of the Confederation of Employers of Navarra.
Next, we highlight some other conclusions of the investigation:
• Four out of every five companies implanted in Navarra state that their main health problem is musculoskeletal disorders (78.8%), a fact that is progressively increasing as the size of the company increases.
• Common diseases are the main cause of absence from work for more than 85% of companies.
• Almost two out of every three companies interviewed (59.6%) consider that it is the opportune moment to implement programs and actions related to the promotion of health, and in fact they are already taking some action. More than a third of the rest value it as desirable, although they do not consider it appropriate in their current situation.
• There are important differences in the scope and organization of health as the size of the company increases. For example, in aspects such as the availability of structured health plans (from 5.2% in companies with less than 25 workers to 32.6% in companies with more than 250 workers), budget allocation (of 2, 58% to 20.5%, respectively) and the willingness to develop health programs in the next three years (from 29.9% to 77.3%).
• The elaboration of structured health plans with defined budgets is among the issues that have least implementation among Navarre companies: only 10% claim to have defined and integrated them in their management systems.
• It should be noted that among the main lines of intervention that companies plan to develop in the next three years are the programs of psychological and emotional well-being (64.8%) and physical activity and sports (with 61.2% ).
• 30% of companies plan to develop Age Management plans in the coming years. Here, too, the percentage varies greatly according to the size of the company: only 12.7% of those with 1 to 25 workers, compared to 47.7% of companies with more than 250 workers.
The definition of a healthy work environment has evolved enormously in recent decades. From an almost exclusive focus on the physical working environment, we have taken into account health habits (lifestyles); psychosocial factors (work organization and work culture); and even links with the community and everything that may have a profound effect on the employee's health. The Mutua Navarra study allows us to evaluate, therefore, the situation of companies in Navarra in relation to the new healthy business model, as well as to identify which lines of work should be advanced in the coming years. "The survey shows that the implementation of actions to promote health at work is a reality in many companies in Navarra", Explains Javier Igea, responsible for the area of Healthy Company of Mutua Navarra.
The high impact that health has on the income statement, according to the same companies confess, allows us to conclude that more and more will develop broad health programs in the coming years. And the largest will continue to open the way, serving as a model for smaller companies with fewer resources. "The challenge now is to establish policies and actions that also help SMEs to join this healthy business model with programs and actions adapted to their business reality, given the benefit it represents for workers, companies and society in general ", stresses Igea.
The realization of the I Survey on Health and Empresa de Navarra is part of the tenth anniversary of the Blue Prize for the Promotion of Health at Work, promoted by Mutua Navarra to reward each year the organizations that best promote healthy habits in work environments.
What is a healthy work environment for WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines the healthy work environment as one in which workers and managers collaborate in a process of continuous improvement to promote and protect the health, safety and welfare of workers and the sustainability of the environment. work based on the following indicators: health and safety concerning the physical work environment; health, safety and wellbeing concerning the psychosocial environment of work, including the organization of the same and the culture of the work space; personal health resources in the work environment, and the ways in which the community seeks to improve the health of workers, their families and other members of the community.