The economy could be boosted by more than 65 million working hours each year if employee assistance programmes (EAPs) were provided in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), an analysis has argued.

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has argued there are currently some 12 million people who work in workplaces without access to EAPs, most of whom work for SMEs.

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Yet, it has highlighted, at the same time 2.8 million people are currently out of work because of long-term sickness, with 185 million working days lost to ill health each year, costing the UK economy £25bn a year in lost productivity.

The RSPH has therefore argued businesses could save more than 20 hours a month per employee of this lost productivity if they used EAPs.

Evaluation of existing schemes showed that EAPs can increase productivity and economic growth by reducing sick leave and improving employee wellbeing, it highlighted.

The RSPH has also called for the government’s Keep Britain Working review to ensure that staff get an appropriate level of health support, no matter the size of business they work for.

The review, being led by former John Lewis Partnership chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield, published its ‘discovery phase’ report earlier this week.

To get this appropriate level of health support, the government should incentivise employers, particularly SMEs, to invest in workplace health, including EAPs, the RSPH added.

RSPH chief executive William Roberts said: “We spend more of our lives at work than anywhere else. They shouldn’t be places that make us sick. Employers have a crucial role to play in ensuring the health of their staff, and employee assistance programmes are a key part of a wider offer of workplace health support.

“Without proper workplace health support, we cannot expect employees to be working at full productivity and will continue to see people leave the workforce because of long-term sickness that could be prevented.

“Everyone stands to benefit from investing in workplace health. If we can transform our workplaces into drivers of good health, then we could unlock a major part of our productivity crisis, improving health outcomes, reducing NHS waiting lists, and growing the economy.

“We cannot afford for people to face worse health outcomes because of where they work. We are urging the government to consider these employees as part of their review into the role of employers in creating healthy workplaces,” Williams added.

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