Survey Highlights Need for Oral Health Schemes for Employees May 11, 2009
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According to Simplyhealth’s annual dental survey, 71% of companies agree that they are responsible for the dental care of their employees. However, when it comes to practice, only 56% actually offer dental health schemes. Forty percent of the companies that do offer dental benefits find that these schemes help in increasing employee commitment.
The survey, which was conducted on 255 HR Managers and Directors, showed that 84% of the respondents were concerned that looking after oral health is too expensive for the employees. 64% of HR Managers think introduction of dental care benefits would enhance employee morale, as against 51% in the previous year. 54% of the respondents agreed that providing dental health benefits would help retain staff, and 56% said that these provisions would reduce sickness absence.
The economic downturn is clearly impacting the frequency of visits to the dentist. About 45% of employees said they are keen on dental treatment as bad teeth are impacting their career potential. However, they could not afford the prohibitive costs, and delayed treatment. When treatment is postponed, bad teeth can only get worse, which ultimately demands more expensive, more complex, and more time consuming remedies. As a result, the employee needs to take more time off work.
James Glover, Corporate Director at Simplyhealth, says that cost and complexity are the two major hurdles that the companies face in trying to provide dental care benefits to the employees. He argued that the advantages of providing dental benefits are quite clear both in terms of reduced sickness absence and morale, and thus companies would be well advised to go for such schemes.
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