Part 1 of a series of features on how business school students across the world see the role of businesses in employee wellbeing and healthcare

Replying to a Council on Business & Society questionnaire, students among the Council’s member schools representing the five continents provide their answers to how they perceive the role of employers in ensuring workforce wellbeing and health. Future employers take heed!

Q1: How important do you feel it is for employers to be concerned about their employees’ health?

Students were asked to respond with a choice of essential, very important, somewhat important or not important.

An overwhelming majority of students across the globe rank it very important (50%) or essential (34%) that employers be concerned about their employees’ health. When the two categories (very important and essential) are combined, 93% of the Asian students’ rankings of employer concern for their employees’ health is the highest among regions.

• 90% of the Africans rank concern of employers for employee health when the two choices, very important and essential, were combined.
• 86% of both the Central and South Americans, as well as the North Americans, rank concern of employers for employee health when choices, very important and essential, were combined.
• 76% of Europeans believe employers should be concerned about their employees’ health.
• The percentage of students who feel it is not important for employers to be concerned about employees’ health was small, ranging from 0% for the North Americans and Africans to 2% for the other three regions.

Q2: How much impact does the health of employees have on the productivity and performance of the company that employs them? 

…of the graduate business students across the globe indicate that the health of employees has either tremendous impact or a lot of impact on company productivity and performance. There are no significant differences by region.

• The number of students who chose either tremendous impact or a lot of impact is high, ranging from 93% of the North Americans, 93% of the Central and South Americans, 90% of the Africans to 88% of the Asians.

Q3: How important is it that employers provide incentives and disincentives for their employees to adopt healthy behaviors? 

More than half of the graduate business students across the globe indicate that it is very important for employers to provide wellbeing incentives and disincentives for their employees to adopt healthy behaviors. When you add those who feel it is essential for employers to do so, the number jumps to 71%.

• The Central and South Americans are the highest percentage of students who indicate it essential that employers provide incentives and disincentives for their employees to adopt healthy behaviors (36%). The North Americans were close to this number at 31%, then there is a drop to 18% for the Asians followed by 13% of the Western Europeans, and 9% of the Africans.
• The Asians were the highest with the view that it is very important with 61% followed by the Africans at 55%, the Central and South Americans at 54%, the Western Europeans at 48% and the North Americans at 46%.
• The number of students who indicate that it is not important for employers to provide incentives and disincentives for their employees to adopt healthy behaviors is small: 4% overall with a range of 7% for the Europeans to 0% for the Africans.

Useful links:

> Read a related article: Presenteeism: A bad business proposition

> Download the Council on Business & Society Tokyo Forum white paper: Health and Healthcare at the Crossroads of Business and Society

The Council on Business & Society Global Alliance is an international alliance between four of the world’s leading business schools and an organiser of Forums focusing on issues at the crossroads of business and society – The Council Community helps bring together business leaders, academics, policy-makers, students and journalists from around the world. Follow us on Twitter #The_CoBS