Status: 03/22/2023 12:15 p.m
Companies in Germany are obliged to promote the health of their employees. A study shows that this has only been implemented slowly so far. Above all, mental health suffers.
“Every now and then I get a mass email in which yoga or Pilates courses are offered at a nearby adult education center. To be honest, I don’t know of any other health-promoting offers,” says Karla M. (name changed). She works as a social worker in the youth welfare office in a small town in Saxony-Anhalt. What she describes is still everyday life in many companies and administrations when it comes to health promotion. This is also shown by the study “#whatsnext – Working healthy in the hybrid working world” by the Institute for Occupational Health Consulting.
What is mandatory – and what is voluntary
Employers in Germany are actually obliged to help their employees stay healthy. This is referred to as company health management (BGM). This includes the statutory occupational health and safety and integration management – the latter is about enabling employees who have been ill for a long time to return to their jobs.
Health promotion is voluntary. This can be the yoga class described above, a height-adjustable desk or flexible working hours.
Small budget for big problems
More than 1000 companies and public service institutions were surveyed for the study on the subject of health promotion. Less than a third of the participants stated that they had established a holistic WHM in their organization. Almost nine percent have not implemented any measures so far. A look at money and the question of which financial resources are used to promote health is similarly sobering.
The authors of the study speak of “manageable budgets” in this context. Almost half of the organizations surveyed have less than 10,000 euros or no budget at all. The study also clearly shows that the larger a company or administration, the more offers are ultimately made to employees.
When the head can no longer
It is also interesting to look into the future. Personnel and health decision-makers assume that “hybrid work” and mental health will play an even greater role in the future. Almost 40 percent of those surveyed state that stress at work such as burnout, excessive demands and depression are already of “rather large” or “large” importance in their companies.
When asked what significance burnout and Co. will have in three years, even around 70 percent of those surveyed said so. A topic that also concerns the social worker Karla M. from Saxony-Anhalt: “My superiors are aware of how psychologically stressful our work is, but they simply don’t have the money to support us there.”
“A break is a break”
According to the study by the Institute for Occupational Health Consulting, around 40 percent of employers have offers for stress management. The company Producto is one of them. Claudia Armonies works for the Berlin medium-sized company as an online editor – since 2020 only from her own four walls. “I’ve already taken part in several online courses. It was about mindfulness, time and self-management in the home office, but also nutrition.”
The mother of two reports that in the early days in the home office, she often mixed private and professional life. But that caused stress. “Thanks to the courses, I now know that a break is a break and not there to hang up the laundry.” The 34-year-old says she has been doing much better since she started doing this. “The health courses that my employer offers are good for both sides in the end. Nobody can actually lose.”