British businesses remain reluctant to invest to a gap in guidance and a lack of incentives, according to Norwich Union Healthcare's latest "Health of the Workplace" report.

He research found that 64% of businesses believe that employee wellbeing has a direct impact on the productivity levels of their workforce. However, 33% of employers don't invest more due to a lack of government incentives and 24% don't know where to access occupational health information - this rose to 43% among small businesses.

The report found that subsidised occupational healthcare (58%) would encourage small and medium sized companies to implement rehabilitation schemes for their staff, followed by tax incentives for small companies (57%) and better partnerships with the NHS for medium sized companies (48%). Better NHS relationships and legislation (51% respectively), followed by tax incentives (49%), would encourage large companies.

It found that sickness absence remains companies' most pressing workplace health concern (40%), followed by ageing workforces for large companies (20%) and a perceived lack of government support and incentives for small and medium-sized businesses (23%).

The research also reveals that employers believe that GPs should be more proactive in terms of helping businesses deal with workplace health, from helping to rehabilitate employees after sickness absence (42%) and being less lenient in issuing sick notes (26%) to being more proactive in communicating with employers directly to discuss employee wellbeing (24%).

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