Britain’s Healthiest Company reveals the 2015 UK Health Map, highlighting the highs and lows of regional workforce wellbeing. The North East of England is home to the UK’s least healthy employees according to Britain’s Healthiest Company, an initiative from VitalityHealth (formerly PruHealth), the insurer that rewards you for being healthy.
The research covering nearly 25,000 employees across 82 companies in the UK* analysed lifestyle, behavioural and clinical risk factors to assess employee health and understand what companies should focus on to improve workforce wellbeing. The factors analysed include weight, diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol intake, mental health, cholesterol, blood glucose levels and blood pressure, as well as how often people attend health screenings. The findings show that the North East has the highest proportion of employees (31 percent) at risk of developing health problems across a number of categories. Within this region, 28 percent of employees have an unhealthy body composition (BMI), 45 percent are not doing enough physical activity, 6 percent show symptoms of depression, 26 percent consume too much alcohol, and 29 percent have elevated blood pressure. The North East also has the highest proportion of employees with four or more risk factors that may affect their health (22 percent).
Conversely, London is home to the healthiest employees with 24 percent the capital’s workers at risk of a health issue. London employees top the tables in terms of nutrition (48 percent at risk compared to Northern Ireland at 60 percent), physical activity (28 percent compared to 45 percent in the North East) and BMI (12 percent compared to 28 percent in the North East).
Overall, 87 percent of British workers have a Vitality (health) Age** that is older than their chronological age, with an average difference of three years and 10 months older than their real age due to unhealthy lifestyles. In comparison, workers in London have a Vitality Age of three years older than their actual age, while those in the North East are five years and one month older. These figures are mainly attributable to lifestyle choices.
Table 1. The UK’s least healthy employees by region
Rank Region percent at risk of health issue
1 North East 30.5 percent
2 Wales 29.2 percent
3 East Midlands 28.1 percent
4 Yorkshire and the Humber 27.7 percent
5 West Midlands 27.6 percent
6 North West 27.2 percent
7 Northern Ireland 26.9 percent
8 South West 26.4 percent
9 South East 26.3 percent
10 Scotland 26.2 percent
11 East of England 25.8 percent
12 London 24.2 percent
Source: Britain’s Healthiest Company 2014
Greg Levine, Director of Corporate Healthcare at VitalityHealth, said: “Health and wellbeing is playing an increasingly important role in how businesses maximise the productivity and happiness of their workforces. Clearly there are some areas across the UK where companies need to do more but if businesses are able to develop a culture in which wellness programmes are integrated into day-to-day life, the benefits for both employees and the company itself will be quickly realised as productivity is improved and the cost of absenteeism is reduced.”
Welsh employees are the most likely in the UK to be current or past smokers (45 percent of employees) and are also the least likely to have had a health screen in the last twelve months (88 percent admit to not having a screen over the last year). Northern Ireland has the largest proportion of employees at risk of health problems due to poor nutrition (60 percent).
Table 2. Regional comparisons by risk factor
Best percent at risk Worst percent at risk
Overall Health London 24 percent North East 31 percent
Obesity rates (BMI) London 12 percent North East 28 percent
Nutrition London 48 percent Northern Ireland 60 percent
Physical activity London 28 percent North East 45 percent
Current smokers Scotland/South East 10 percent Wales 14 percent
Mental health Scotland 3 percent North East 6 percent
Alcohol consumption East of England 15 percent North East 26 percent
Blood pressure Northern Ireland 17 percent North East 29 percent
Four or more risk factors London 9 percent North East 22 percent
No of health screens North West 75 percent Wales 88 percent
Source: Britain’s Healthiest Company 2014
Breakdowns of the regions at most risk of developing health problems from specific risk factors are available on request via the contact details below.
Britain’s Healthiest Company
Britain’s Healthiest Company is the largest national study of employee wellbeing in the UK, giving employers valuable insights into the wellbeing of their workers, benchmarking their results against other participating companies, and celebrating those companies that exhibit best practice in supporting health in the workplace. Companies with at least 50 employees are invited to sign up to participate in the survey which comprehensively evaluates the effectiveness of workplace wellness programmes and the health of the workforce.
The study evaluates lifestyle, behavioural and clinical risk factors at the employee level to assess the health of the workforce, as well as looks at the type and effectiveness of wellness interventions on offer in the workplace. Employees are presented with their Vitality Age and a tailored report for health improvement, while employers are provided with an aggregated view of the health risks of their employees, the productivity impact of those risks, benchmarking information and recommendations to enhance the health of the workforce. The output of Britain’s Healthiest Company can therefore help inform future HR strategies going forward.
While these findings are based on a particular set of companies, they are broadly in line with other health survey findings that have shown regional disparities.
The results of Britain’s Healthiest Company 2015 will be announced in September 2015.
*The Britain's Healthiest Company process comprehensively evaluated the health of both the workplace and workforce, looking at a number of lifestyle, behavioural and clinical risk factors amongst 23,376 employees, together with a broad view of corporate policies, practices and facilities that could directly impact on employee health, across 82 companies. The research took place between 1st March-1st July 2014.
Region Sample
East Midlands 846
East of England 3,236
London 3,447
North East 290
North West 2,208
Northern Ireland 389
Scotland 2,638
South East 4,590
South West 1,950
Wales 612
West Midlands 2,154
Yorkshire and The Humber 1,016
TOTAL 23,376
2014 winners:
Britain’s Healthiest Company – Large (1000+ eligible employees)
1st Nomura
2nd Quintiles
3rd BNP Paribas
Britain’s Healthiest Company – Medium (250-999 eligible employees)
1st adidas (UK) Ltd
2nd Discovery Networks
3rd iris Worldwide
Britain’s Healthiest Company – Small (50-249 eligible employees)
1st Gilead Sciences Ltd
2nd Forrester Research Limited
3rd Grey Matter Ltd.
**The Vitality Age gives people an understanding of the impact their lifestyle is having on their bodies and their true level of health. It assesses how many years of their life a person may lose because of unhealthy living or vice versa, giving a true picture of overall health. It takes into account a number of lifestyle categories and risk factors including BMI (body mass index), cholesterol and blood glucose levels and blood pressure, smoking, alcohol, nutrition, exercise, mental illness. The Vitality Age algorithm is derived from a meta-analysis of over 5,000 studies relating to all-cause mortality, and has been developed in conjunction with leading academics.
