Physical Health and Work Performance: A Healthy Employee Enables a Healthy Work Environment

Physical health is very important in today's work place. In today's high end technology world it is necessary to work smart and possess great skills. There are many important jobs that require good skills and significant amount of strength to be able to perform at the high level. Physical health and work performance go hand in hand. Mental and physical health plays a very important role for an employee's growth and productivity. It helps to improve the efficiency of the employee, leading to better performance. Good physical health of workers helps in long-term cost benefit saving. Job performance can be predicted through physical health and physiological wellbeing. The productivity can be increased by good physical health of the workers. A company has comparatively higher percentage of educated and skilled workers, and by implementing an up-dated Industrial Safety Program, there can be a noticeable reduction in major accidents in the factory areas too. Physical health and work performance of the employee are directly related. Healthy work environment will help in improving his productivity. It helps in giving job satisfaction to the employees. It is used to motivate the employees to work better and in safer manner i.e. work hard and play safe. It helps to reduce the expenses on medical aid. It also helps in reducing the labor turnover rate. Safety of the employees is one of the major concerns of the company. Consequently adequate attention to the aspect of Industrial Safety and Hygiene for improving the production has been given in the last few years. As brought out earlier, it has formulated a well defined healthy environment, has constituted a safety committee and implemented measures for prevention of accidents and fire. All statutory provisions are being followed. A number of non-statutory provisions are also incorporated to improve professional environment. In the present industrial environment most of the management of industrial organizations has realized the importance of physical health and work performance and is paying much more attention to healthy working environment than ever before. The statutory provisions made by the government, awareness of the workers and the employers about the importance and advantages of good hygiene for good and healthy working condition which has to be improved, developing healthy working conditions for the employees in the industrial organizations. Unsafe conditions must be removed and unsafe act totally avoided. That would prevent accidents and thus ensure safety of the employees and that of the plant and machinery. There is a need for management to have a sincere and humanitarian interest in their employees. They must implement a good safety program in their factories. When top management supports good safety program on humanitarian grounds, it contributes towards increased production, lower costs and better profits. There is no doubt that companies have realized its motive of physical health and work performance being inter related by providing a safe and labour friendly environment. In fact, companies have used this as a tool or means to keep harmonious industrial relation. Improvement in physical health aims at the promotion of the workers physical, mental and social wellbeing. It will also help to improve the physical health and work performance of the employees resulting in increased morale of the employees who are associated with the work environment.