Employee Health vs. Occupational Health: What’s the Difference?

One thing company leaders should always keep in mind is that their organization is only as strong as its people. No matter how great your product or service offerings are or how well-crafted your marketing campaign is, if your workforce is unhealthy, stressed, or overworked, it will affect your bottom line. 

Today, companies can’t afford to overlook the value of worker health, safety, and well-being can’t afford to be overlooked, and they can’t operate in silos. Companies must envision what having healthy employees means in different contexts, both within and without the organizational walls. To do so, they must examine both employee health and occupational health. 

These terms are often used interchangeably, but they do have distinct differences. Below, we’ll review employee health vs occupational health and discuss how they compare, differ, and work together. 

Employee Health vs. Occupational Health: What Are They? 

While these two health-focused workforce components share a similar goal of enhancing employee well-being, they achieve this in distinct ways. Being knowledgeable about how they differ is crucial to creating and implementing successful wellness programs. If leaders in human resources fail to understand their distinctions, inefficiencies, overlaps, and even costly compliance issues can occur. Let’s dive into what each of these initiatives is. 

What Is Employee Health? 

When companies make efforts to accommodate the overall physical, mental, and emotional well-being of individual workers, that’s referred to as employee health. Financial well-being is also gaining popularity, with nearly 80% of employees viewing financial wellness programs as an essential benefit. 

Human resource professionals focusing on employee health spend a lot of time searching for, promoting, and managing health and wellness initiatives. This may look like: 

• Providing access to various programs, like onsite fitness classes.
• Identifying ways to support work-life balance, such as flexible working hours.
• Assessing ways to promote healthier behaviors and lifestyles, such as smoking cessation solutions, offering healthy snacks, etc. 
• Recommending healthcare services and resources, like mental health support groups, financial planning workshops, health screenings, and more. 

In brief, employee health primarily focuses on enhancing various aspects of employee well-being. 

What Is Occupational Health? 

While employee health adopts a more holistic approach to addressing employees’ well-being needs, occupational health focuses on reducing risks associated with the workplace environment. Every job, whether your staff are working from home or bedside nursing, has potential hazards, and it’s the employer’s responsibility to mitigate them. 

Occupational health teams play a vital role in determining how organizations can promote optimal work conditions and help employees avoid work-related injuries and illnesses. To achieve this, they often do the following: 

• Routinely completing risk assessments 
• Offering training on workplace safety procedures for each role 
• Designing and administering occupational health and safety protocols 
• Detecting and managing harmful workplace exposures, including chemicals, extreme temperatures, or ergonomic risk factors, to name a few. 

Essentially, this branch of public health ensures that employees can safely complete their job functions, as they have a right to do so under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA, also shared with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration).  

The Purpose of Employee Health vs. Occupational Health

As a leader, you might wonder what the true motive is behind these types of programs. On a surface level, it’s clear that they’re both designed to protect employees, but it helps to understand the “why” to gain a better understanding of their real intent. 

Therefore, we’ll delve into the purpose behind both of these fundamental workplace initiatives so that you understand why they’re crucial to the success of your organization. 

The Importance of Employee Health

Most American employees spend at least 30% of their time at work, which translates to approximately 90,000 hours over the course of their lifetime. This is a substantial number, highlighting the significant impact employers can have on the health of their workforce. 

Because employees dedicate a significant amount of time to work, they desire more than just compensation in return. In fact, 82% of employees expect organizations to provide well-being offerings. Furthermore, employees’ expectations for more employer well-being resources have increased, with 63% reporting they’d change jobs for better benefits. 

One study shared that wellness programs “enhance awareness, change behavior, and create environments that support good health practices.” Therefore, one clear purpose of employee health programs is to enhance the overall well-being of their employees, both inside and outside the workplace. However, another purpose can’t be overlooked: to attract top talent, enabling them to remain competitive. 

Occupational Health in Practice

Workplace injuries affect both employers and employees in a significant way. For employees, it could result in lost wages, medical expenses, physical pain and/or limitations, and even mental health concerns. While employers, on the other hand, may have to deal with workers’ compensation claims, reduced productivity, poor employee morale, and potential lawsuits. Essentially, this scenario isn’t a win for anyone. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that 2.6 million nonfatal workplace illnesses and injuries occurred. Most of those reported injuries took place in the private healthcare and social assistance sector, with many of them being respiratory illness cases. Although the number of cases is down compared to previous years, the aim is to continue improving health and safety efforts. 

The primary purpose of occupational health is to prevent employees from experiencing injuries and illnesses within the workplace. 

Employee Health and Occupational Health Program Goals

Each of these programs aims to improve employee well-being, but they measure different aspects to gauge their progress. While these programs are interrelated, they’re also distinct. It’s easy for the lines to get blurred at times for leaders. 

Common Goals for Employee Health Initiatives 

Today, various wellness programs are available, ranging from Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to group fitness challenges. They all offer something different for one’s workforce, but each of them is used to achieve one or more of the following: 

• Decrease the absenteeism rate 
• Boost workforce efficiency  
• Improve turnover and retention rates 
• Enhance employee morale 
• Reduce health insurance claims 
• Attract new employees 
• Decrease the incidence of chronic disease among the workforce 
• Increase wellness program participation rates, which allows leaders to experience the benefits associated with providing them

Occupational Health Initiative Goals

Employers are required to follow the standards set forth by OSHA. Therefore, employers’ goals should primarily align with OSHA’s expectations. 

In Section 5 of the OSH Act, the agency outlines the duties of both employers and employees. For employers, it states that they: 

• Offer employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards known to or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to their employees
• Must comply with occupational safety and health standards that are set by the OSH Act and enforced by OSHA

Now the question might be, what are OSHA’s standards? There are several of them, but here are a few of  them so you have an idea of what to expect.

• Ensuring there’s fall protection, like a safety harness and lifeline
• Preventing exposure to harmful levels of substances like asbestos and lead
• Providing healthcare workers with needles and sharp instruments that have built-in safety features to prevent skin punctures or cuts 

Based on the above, employer goals surrounding occupational health might include some of the following: 

• Decreasing accident rates
• Minimizing the number of OSHA violations 
• Shrinking the number of workplace compensation claims 
• Reducing absenteeism as a result of work-related illnesses and injuries 
• Improving the completion rate of corrective action plans that address identified risks 
• Increasing the percentage of employees trained on risk assessment procedures 

Integrating Employee Health and Occupational Health into Your Facility

It’s not uncommon for departments, like employee health and occupational health to work in silos. In fact, there are even some benefits to working this way, including improved efficiency, quicker decision-making, and stronger colleague dynamics. However, there are also obvious drawbacks to department isolation, such as poor communication, a lack of collaboration, and the potential for stifling creativity. 

Although employee health and occupational health programs have different purposes and goals, the overarching intention is the same: to establish a healthy workforce. Therefore, it only makes sense for these separate entities to find ways to work together to achieve that. 

By doing so, employers may be able to enjoy many of the benefits associated with a healthier workforce, such as: 

• Strengthened employee loyalty 
• Fewer healthcare claims and lower premiums 
• Improved employee turnover and retention rates 
• Reduced rates of absenteeism and presenteeism 

What Does a Healthy Workforce Look Like? 

In a perfect world, a healthy workforce would be one where all employees are free from disease and no injuries occur on job sites. Despite how great that sounds, it’s simply not realistic. A more feasible outlook for organizations is to define what a healthy workforce looks like to them and establish metrics to monitor their progress. This can be done by having leaders from employee health and occupational health collaborate. 

While each industry has its own unique characteristics, from job roles and work environments to the makeup of the talent pool and company culture, nearly all companies should strive for the following to promote a healthy workforce.

Less Occupational Burnout 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is described as a syndrome caused by chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been appropriately managed. Employees who experience burnout may exhibit decreased professional efficacy, harbor negative thoughts about their work, and experience feelings of exhaustion. Research shows that this can manifest into both physical (i.e., heart disease) and psychological consequences (i.e., depression) for employees. 

Employers will feel the effects as well. For example, when nurses experience burnout due to long shifts and demanding workloads, it can lead to a deterioration in patient care and safety. For healthcare systems, this can interfere with reimbursements tied to value-based programs, high turnover, and more. 

Given burnout’s detrimental impact, it’s ideal for employers to prioritize creating a work environment that reduces its occurrence.  

Easy Access to Medical Care 

Many employees have health insurance, but several avoid using it due to high out-of-pocket expenses and transportation barriers. Delaying treatment can lead to more expensive medical services later and poorer health outcomes. Inevitably, this leads to employers having sicker employees who’ll likely require more advanced treatment, resulting in increased sick leave and productivity losses. 

Employers should identify what is needed to make medical care accessible and equitable for their staff. Telehealth solutions, for instance, could be a cost-effective and convenient way to address acute issues. Additionally, by adjusting how healthcare services are utilized (e.g., telehealth vs emergency room), employers and employees can potentially reduce healthcare costs over time. A healthier workforce can lead to more favorable premium rates. 

Lower Rates of Mental Health Concerns

The role of mental health in workplace productivity shouldn’t be overlooked. In 2010, mental health conditions carried a global economic burden of $2.5 trillion, with most of that being tied to lost productivity. 

The employee health department could assist with this by promoting the use of EAPs. Occupational health could also step in by identifying the stressful factors that make it harder for individuals to complete their jobs and then implementing measures to alleviate those burdens. 

Good Physical Health

One of the best signs of a healthy workforce is employees who take a proactive approach to their well-being. This might look like them choosing nutritious meals at lunchtime, participating in employee fitness challenges, and reducing unhealthy habits, like smoking. It could also be them participating in employer-provided weight loss programs, diabetes management workshops, or physical hazard prevention training. 

Research shows that employees with good physical health are more likely to provide optimal performance in the workplace. They also tend to have a better quality of life and a reduced risk of injury and disease than those with poorer well-being. 

Worker Well-Being Is Valuable: The Key Similarity Between Employee Health vs. Occupational Health

As illustrated above, the quality of an organization is primarily determined by the health and well-being of its people. If your company hopes to remain competitive, it’s crucial to take steps to offer comprehensive health initiatives. 

Here, we’ve reviewed employee health vs. occupational health, so you can craft a program that address how these two facets of workforce well-being differ in their approaches. However, we’ve also shared how they can be used together to propel an organization forward. In the future, a company’s success will heavily depend on the effort it puts forth to create a healthy workforce.