The Great Return: How to Ensure Retention When Your Employees Come Back to the Office

Whether your business has opted for full return-to-office policies or your workers are still embracing a hybrid model — or you’re an essential business that never had a choice in working conditions when the pandemic hit — keeping your workers connected and engaged is key to employee retention. And if your employees were reluctant to return to the office, it can be a challenge to find a new perk that they connect with on a personal level.

By offering your workers an onsite clinic and easy access to medical care, you may be able to improve employee retention and increase overall worker satisfaction. Read on to learn how an onsite occupational health clinic can benefit your business by directly benefiting your employees.

Ease Infection Fears

Although the spread of COVID-19 has slowed considerably, the flu and other infectious diseases still pose a threat to the health and productivity of your workforce. Especially if you work in close quarters, one infected employee can quickly lead to a temporary crisis of sick days, staffing shortages and decreased output.

With an onsite clinic, your employees can receive prompt testing for their symptoms, and sick workers can be sent home so they don’t spread their illness. Prescriptions for antibiotics also can be filled from an onsite dispensary, or promptly sent to the nearest pharmacy.

To help keep your employees healthy all year round, an occupational health clinic can provide routine vaccinations, including flu shots and COVID-19 boosters, decreasing the chances your workers will catch these illnesses. Without the need to leave work and schedule a separate appointment for these vaccines, you’ll increase worker buy-in and improve overall health at your worksite.

Reduce Injuries

An onsite clinic is convenient in the event of a work-related injury, but it is also an essential piece of your ongoing accident mitigation plan. By having healthcare professionals onsite, you can begin to more easily see patterns to onsite injuries that may require operational changes. Having a set of trained eyes on your jobsite allows for the quick identification of potential hazards, giving you the opportunity to fix them before another accident.

Additionally, the data collected by an onsite clinic, and the reporting they can generate, provides you with long-term and location-based trends that you might otherwise not have access to. Medcor’s industry-wide data collection facilitates a broader view of the inherent risks at facilities like yours so you can work toward a solution or prevention plan that helps you avoid further worker injuries.

Improve Worker Health

Getting access to quality healthcare is about more than just cost. Limited appointments, multiple clinic locations and scheduling conflicts all make it difficult for workers to set up appointments for care during the workday. And when your workers don’t get the care they need for chronic conditions, injuries or even just annual check-ups, they’re more likely to require sick days or FMLA accommodations or to get injured while on the job.

Providing convenient access to onsite care allows your workers to easily schedule their wellness visits, symptom screenings or other medical appointments on their lunch break or before or after their shift. They don’t need to use PTO in order to be seen by a medical professional, making them more likely to receive assessment and treatment early on, before their condition progresses.

Having friendly medical staff that they trust conveniently located at work also makes your workers more likely to follow up on treatment recommendations, keeping them healthy for longer.

You’re also able to advertise your onsite clinic as a perk of working for your company, increasing your recruitment efforts when new positions open up while helping you retain quality employees. The option to take care of their medical needs without having to worry about scheduling and transportation issues could make the difference for potential employees choosing your company. And those employees who already understand the benefits of your onsite clinic are more likely to continue working for you, as they value the service the clinic provides them.

Foster Healthy Habits

Balancing the demands of personal and professional life isn’t easy. Add into that mix trying to implement new healthy habits, such as eating a balanced diet or moving more, and it can feel overwhelming for even the most organized and dedicated of your workers.

Providing an onsite clinic where your employees can go for help deciding what healthy habits they want to tackle, planning how to integrate them into their lives and support to continually improve gives your workers a leg up on their health and wellness endeavors. And when your employees feel supported in their goals outside of work and are given the tools to be successful, they are more likely to stay.

You also can host wellness challenges and events that engage your workers and create a sense of community and camaraderie. When employees feel connected to their coworkers and their employer, they’re less likely to seek jobs elsewhere.

Improve Employee Retention With an Onsite Clinic

Onsite clinics provide a wealth of benefits to your employees while also saving you money in unnecessary health claims. At Medcor, it is our goal to provide insurance-neutral, exceptional healthcare services to our clients. To learn more about implementing an onsite clinic for your business, speak with a Medcor advocate today.