A great deal of large industrial enterprises built in the EAEU back in the Soviet era re- lied on a well-thought-out and tested system of agency-level healthcare, which was based on scientifically sound approaches that enabled to assess employees’ health through the lens of cost-effectiveness. Modern enterprises have a different take on their employees’ health, often using on- ly a few elements of the agency-level healthcare system lacking appropriate monitoring and evaluation. But what is most striking in this context is the lack of a systematic approach to this issue.
Health of the working population in the EAEU and worldwide became a particularly pressing issue during the COVID-19 outbreak. Many enterprises were forced to focus on health surveillance of their employees and their families, increasing financial investments in this area. To some extent, the correct stance of the business allowed to avoid reluctant complete shutdown of industrial facilities and to minimise deadtime due to the employees’ illness and/or forced isolation.
In the post-pandemic period, health safety still remains a pressing issue. Besides, when enterprises urgently faced the issue of economic feasibility of certain measures aimed at protecting the health of employees, the evaluation of mandatory requirements for healthcare and welfare of employees and their families appeared to be extremely important.
In fact, for many enterprises, it all boiled down to how to abide by all mandatory regulations with minimum losses and maximum effect for their employees and, subsequently, to maintain the eco-nomic potential of the industrial facility.
Although initially the legislation in the EAEU member states had common roots, it now varies in terms of approaches to and requireents for health services, with only economic aspects being the cornerstone. It is for this reason that health security is often integrated into the economic security system of an enterprise.
On the other hand, the pandemic clearly showed businesses the relevance of the simple formula for relations with employees, that is “employee welfare — business stability.” Today, employees’ welfare, health and safety issues are split between different structural units of industrial enterprises, with their individual budgets and, at times, subordinate to separate governing bodies.
As a result, two or three structures may perform similar functions, spending the enterprise’s funds, but failing to address the main task of ensuring the sustainable operation of the enterprise.
For instance, many industrial and commercial structures rely on supplementary health insurance and its analogues, while failing to align it with preventive examinations, staff health forecasting, financial well-being and many other factors.
Sometimes insurance is used to replace occupational physicians, one of whose main tasks is to prevent employee ill-nesses while keeping them engaged in production. It is safe to say that in the modern world, enterprises have developed an understanding of and need to establish conditions and take measures to ensure the efficient operation of the “employee-enterprise” system based on health-saving technologies. It is this aim that determines whether the enterprise should introduce the mod-ern health management system.
This enables the enterprise to implement corporate health pro-grammes, cutting-edge healthcare solutions, and preventive medicine, optimise financial and labour resources, forecast the risks of experts’ retirement, and assure mental health.
These factors become a part of the enterprise’s economic model in terms of the principles of occupational medicine and relevant management approaches. Such a model extends numerous benefits not only to employees, but also to their families, fostering a healthy and prosperous environment at the enterprise.
This is even more important in single-industry towns, where one and only enterprise sets the pace of living for thousands of people, in fact assuming a large part of responsibility for their health. This is the reality of day- to-day business for many industrial facilities.
A strong multiplier effect of implementing the health management system is achieved by the enterprise, including, on the one hand, the re-duction of morbidity and risks of financial losses due to poor health of employees, and, on the other hand, improving the business reputation of the enterprise, attracting and keeping employees at work, increasing their engagement and motivation.
Given the current trends in the Eurasian labour markets, non-financial incentives are in many ways becoming essential for industrial workers. To a large extent, such an effect is fuelled by the high-level technologies in the EAEU countries.
In fact, the Union has the capacity to produce all the necessary equipment — from preventive medicine systems to state- of-the-art diagnostics and treatment systems which can be used autonomously, including at remote industrial facilities. A common information and technological system for monitoring and diagnostics tackles the issues of providing prompt healthcare support and monitoring the health of employees and their families.
Given the advancement of technologies, this approach allows to rely on mobile solutions with the aim of using mobile complexes in remote and hard- to-reach areas. A key element of a modern healthcare service at enterprises involves tele-health technologies that allow the healthcare service to engage highly qualified specialised experts in the work of the enterprise without diverting the employees from their work for long and providing them with the necessary assistance.
Comprehensive tele-health solutions proved their worth in the pandemic and today offer efficient end-to-end business solutions that, among others, address the employees’ mental health. The economic impact of introducing health management systems may be measured in clear monetary terms, and in many ways is achieved by reorganising the management system and increasing the performance of the enterprise’s services. In fact, some experts estimate that each ruble invest-ed in a health management system can generate three to five roubles of profit in the long run.
And annualised cost savings may reach 10—30% of those incurred in the previous period. This vision suggests that the issue of employee health should be treated in terms of investment potential, which makes it possible to create a separate and unique niche for banks and insurance providers operating in industry. It goes without saying that every enterprise has its own circumstances, which demand a sound expert approach and targeted solutions.
In fact, the audit leads to the enterprise issuing a health certificate, which reflects the real situation, identifies vulnerabilities and strengths, allows to predict certain events influencing the economic performance of the enterprise. It is the AIenabled prediction tool that opens new opportunities for many enterprises to form an objective plan for replacing personnel and recruiting new ones. Thus, it becomes possible to minimise the probable lapses in production associated with dropouts of particularly skilled professionals.
The EAEU recognises different approaches to employee health at industrial facilities, which is regulated by various structures. Business associations play a vital role in shaping common principles in business activity. In Russia, for instance, it is the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs which is significantly contributing to the healthy environment in industry. Its working bodies at different levels discuss the health of the working population and form proposals to be elaborated by the relevant ministries and legislative bodies.
A consolidated approach within the EEC framework could shape common principles for the system of occupational medicine, which would ensure that for a number of countries the mechanisms for working with experts, including those with a narrow profile, are understandable. This experience could be further broadened and proposed as an efficient mechanism for industrial development in those BRICS countries that also face human resource and employee health challenges.
Moreover, common approaches to the health of the working population could become a driver for the development of a large range of different healthcare and management technologies. In this context, the exchange of experience, search for the most successful practices and technology solutions should be man-aged by a unified structure based on universally recognised and clear final decisions and proposals. In summary, the review allows us to outline the main approaches to the development and implementation of efficient health management programmes, and to reiterate that the use of corporate health promotion programmes is beneficial not only to employees and the enterprise’s management, but also to the state as a whole.
And in this respect state support of enterprises that run such programmes, in particular small and medium, is vital. State preferences can significantly affect both the increasing number of employers using employee health promotion programmes, as well as the improving health trends in the Russian Federation and abroad. As a coordinator in various areas of social and business relations, the IOEC also assists in the development of industry. Consequently, the issues related to the implementation of advanced technologies in occupational medicine, supply of medical equipment, training of professionals and strengthening their status, legal assistance and the establishment of a unified Eurasian information environment are within the scope of activities of the IOEC Committee on Medicine.
In the post-pandemic period, health safety still remains a pressing issue. Besides, when enterprises urgently faced the issue of economic feasibility of certain measures aimed at protecting the health of employees, the evaluation of mandatory requirements for healthcare and welfare of employees and their families appeared to be extremely important.
In fact, for many enterprises, it all boiled down to how to abide by all mandatory regulations with minimum losses and maximum effect for their employees and, subsequently, to maintain the eco-nomic potential of the industrial facility.
Although initially the legislation in the EAEU member states had common roots, it now varies in terms of approaches to and requireents for health services, with only economic aspects being the cornerstone. It is for this reason that health security is often integrated into the economic security system of an enterprise.
On the other hand, the pandemic clearly showed businesses the relevance of the simple formula for relations with employees, that is “employee welfare — business stability.” Today, employees’ welfare, health and safety issues are split between different structural units of industrial enterprises, with their individual budgets and, at times, subordinate to separate governing bodies.
As a result, two or three structures may perform similar functions, spending the enterprise’s funds, but failing to address the main task of ensuring the sustainable operation of the enterprise.
For instance, many industrial and commercial structures rely on supplementary health insurance and its analogues, while failing to align it with preventive examinations, staff health forecasting, financial well-being and many other factors.
Sometimes insurance is used to replace occupational physicians, one of whose main tasks is to prevent employee ill-nesses while keeping them engaged in production. It is safe to say that in the modern world, enterprises have developed an understanding of and need to establish conditions and take measures to ensure the efficient operation of the “employee-enterprise” system based on health-saving technologies. It is this aim that determines whether the enterprise should introduce the mod-ern health management system.
This enables the enterprise to implement corporate health pro-grammes, cutting-edge healthcare solutions, and preventive medicine, optimise financial and labour resources, forecast the risks of experts’ retirement, and assure mental health.
These factors become a part of the enterprise’s economic model in terms of the principles of occupational medicine and relevant management approaches. Such a model extends numerous benefits not only to employees, but also to their families, fostering a healthy and prosperous environment at the enterprise.
This is even more important in single-industry towns, where one and only enterprise sets the pace of living for thousands of people, in fact assuming a large part of responsibility for their health. This is the reality of day- to-day business for many industrial facilities.
A strong multiplier effect of implementing the health management system is achieved by the enterprise, including, on the one hand, the re-duction of morbidity and risks of financial losses due to poor health of employees, and, on the other hand, improving the business reputation of the enterprise, attracting and keeping employees at work, increasing their engagement and motivation.
Given the current trends in the Eurasian labour markets, non-financial incentives are in many ways becoming essential for industrial workers. To a large extent, such an effect is fuelled by the high-level technologies in the EAEU countries.
In fact, the Union has the capacity to produce all the necessary equipment — from preventive medicine systems to state- of-the-art diagnostics and treatment systems which can be used autonomously, including at remote industrial facilities. A common information and technological system for monitoring and diagnostics tackles the issues of providing prompt healthcare support and monitoring the health of employees and their families.
Given the advancement of technologies, this approach allows to rely on mobile solutions with the aim of using mobile complexes in remote and hard- to-reach areas. A key element of a modern healthcare service at enterprises involves tele-health technologies that allow the healthcare service to engage highly qualified specialised experts in the work of the enterprise without diverting the employees from their work for long and providing them with the necessary assistance.
Comprehensive tele-health solutions proved their worth in the pandemic and today offer efficient end-to-end business solutions that, among others, address the employees’ mental health. The economic impact of introducing health management systems may be measured in clear monetary terms, and in many ways is achieved by reorganising the management system and increasing the performance of the enterprise’s services. In fact, some experts estimate that each ruble invest-ed in a health management system can generate three to five roubles of profit in the long run.
And annualised cost savings may reach 10—30% of those incurred in the previous period. This vision suggests that the issue of employee health should be treated in terms of investment potential, which makes it possible to create a separate and unique niche for banks and insurance providers operating in industry. It goes without saying that every enterprise has its own circumstances, which demand a sound expert approach and targeted solutions.
In fact, the audit leads to the enterprise issuing a health certificate, which reflects the real situation, identifies vulnerabilities and strengths, allows to predict certain events influencing the economic performance of the enterprise. It is the AIenabled prediction tool that opens new opportunities for many enterprises to form an objective plan for replacing personnel and recruiting new ones. Thus, it becomes possible to minimise the probable lapses in production associated with dropouts of particularly skilled professionals.
The EAEU recognises different approaches to employee health at industrial facilities, which is regulated by various structures. Business associations play a vital role in shaping common principles in business activity. In Russia, for instance, it is the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs which is significantly contributing to the healthy environment in industry. Its working bodies at different levels discuss the health of the working population and form proposals to be elaborated by the relevant ministries and legislative bodies.
A consolidated approach within the EEC framework could shape common principles for the system of occupational medicine, which would ensure that for a number of countries the mechanisms for working with experts, including those with a narrow profile, are understandable. This experience could be further broadened and proposed as an efficient mechanism for industrial development in those BRICS countries that also face human resource and employee health challenges.
Moreover, common approaches to the health of the working population could become a driver for the development of a large range of different healthcare and management technologies. In this context, the exchange of experience, search for the most successful practices and technology solutions should be man-aged by a unified structure based on universally recognised and clear final decisions and proposals. In summary, the review allows us to outline the main approaches to the development and implementation of efficient health management programmes, and to reiterate that the use of corporate health promotion programmes is beneficial not only to employees and the enterprise’s management, but also to the state as a whole.
And in this respect state support of enterprises that run such programmes, in particular small and medium, is vital. State preferences can significantly affect both the increasing number of employers using employee health promotion programmes, as well as the improving health trends in the Russian Federation and abroad. As a coordinator in various areas of social and business relations, the IOEC also assists in the development of industry. Consequently, the issues related to the implementation of advanced technologies in occupational medicine, supply of medical equipment, training of professionals and strengthening their status, legal assistance and the establishment of a unified Eurasian information environment are within the scope of activities of the IOEC Committee on Medicine.