Small businesses should increase the amount of time and resources into ensuring employees are healthy at work, according to employment relations service Acas.

The advice follows a recent review of the health of the working age population by national director for health and work Dame Carol Black, which revealed that ill-health costs the British economy £100bn a year.

The review also highlighted that businesses should seek to take early intervention by investing in improving the health and wellbeing of their staff, identify measures that will reduce ill-health and help staff to remain in work or quickly return to work after a period of absence.

"The review by Dame Carol Black shows that creating a healthy workplace has strong benefits for individuals and organisations," said Ed Sweeney, Acas chair. "It also places a lot emphasis on the role early intervention can play in reducing the problem of ill-health at work and this ties in strongly with Acas' ‘prevention over cure' approach to dealing with wider employment issues."

Acas claims the key indicators of a healthy workplace are having:

  • Confident line managers who are trained in people skills
  • Employees who feel valued and involved in the organisation
    Work can have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing which in turn can boost productivity and effectiveness of a business
  • Managers who use appropriate health services such as occupational health to tackle absence and help get people back to work
  • Managers who promote an attendance culture by conducting return-to-work interviews
  • Jobs that are flexible and well designed

In order to help small businesses tackle this issue, Acas has produced a new guide called ‘Health, work and wellbeing in the workplace', which can be downloaded free from www.acas.org.uk.

The booklet claims to help companies recognise health problems with employees and learn what makes a healthy workplace. It also offers a health, work and wellbeing checklist.

"Work can have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing which in turn can boost productivity and effectiveness of a business," added Sweeney. "Our guide can help businesses to develop good workplace relationships so that managers are fully trained in people skills and employees are valued and content."