automotive employee health

Why health matters in the Automotive Industry

The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organisations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world’s largest economic sectors by revenue, and in 2016, for the first time in history, over 70 million passenger cars were produced in a single year globally. In Australia, the automotive industry contributes to over 285,000 jobs (Ibis World, 2019) and 186,000 jobs directly in car manufacturing in the UK (SMMT, 2019). Employee health within the Automotive industry is quintessential to the productivity and safety of these hundreds of thousands of employees daily.

What have we found?

Health and wellbeing within the Automotive industry is of utmost importance given the human risk and manual elements surrounding the work. We have provided over 57,600 Health Checks in the Automotive sector across 68 SiSU Health Station installations. A SiSU Health Check measures blood pressure, body mass index, body composition, heart rate, heart age, diabetes risk, height and weight, all within 4-minutes. These self-serve comprehensive Health Checks are always well received due to their confidential nature and non-invasive approach to self-management of one’s health.

Over the last few years working within the Automotive industry, we have found several interesting health trends that are reoccurring across companies. On average, 16% of automotive workers have high+ blood pressure, 49.8% have high+ body fat percentage, 63.8% present a high+ body mass index. We have also seen that 11.4% of the automotive working population smoke. High blood pressure, high body mass index and high body fat percentage are commonly known to lead towards the development of lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes. Active health management that can catapult change towards reducing the risk of these lifestyle diseases.

Health and wellbeing initiatives should be available for all employees across the business, health should be a priority. SiSU Health Group provides the monitoring of staff metrics, also providing additional insight into the trends of employee health, providing a holistic approach towards your health strategy.

How have we helped?

We have helped many of our corporate clients in the Automotive industry to build better health with their staff. Collectively we have seen some outstanding results; blood pressure risk drop by 26.1%, and a reduction in the number of smokers by 20.3%. By working with Health and Wellbeing Managers or HR, we identify and track the areas that ultimately cost your company through poor employee health. Once the risk areas are identified, tailoring health initiatives and employee benefits are more accessible and well-received by an educated and aware workforce.

What you can do

Reducing the risks associated with high blood pressure, body mass index and body composition have shown trends in increased presenteeism, and retention rates and reduced sick leave. Healthier employees tend to be more engaged at work and don’t suffer from ailments such as fatigue, mood swings and side effects associated with lifestyle disease. If you’re looking to build better health within your workplace, contact us today, or for more information view our Automotive Health Infographic.

 

References:
IBISWorld, 2019, ‘Automotive Industry – Australia Market Research Report’, viewed: 10thSeptember 2019, <https://bit.ly/2lHYlUt>

SMMT, 2019, ‘UK Automotive’, viewed: 10thSeptember 2019, <https://bit.ly/2pRQekp>