Why Corporate Health Screening Packages Are a Win-Win for Employers and Employees
Key takeaways:
The benefits of health screening packages for employees include early detection and treatment of medical conditions, improved health awareness, and peace of mind.
While offering health screening packages may not make financial sense for businesses outwardly, the truth is that it helps them save money in the long term thanks to increased productivity and talent retention.
Unlike other providers, NOVI offers fully customizable health screening packages to suit employees' needs and potentially help businesses enjoy cost savings.
A sense of control over one’s health. Early prevention and detection of diseases. Relieves anxiety, etc.
The benefits of corporate health screening packages for employees are self-evident.
What's less apparent, however, is why businesses happily provide health screening packages — that could seem like unnecessary cost — for employers. Well, here's the truth. While it may not seem like it, offering health screening packages is a wise, positive-ROI-generating move for businesses.
Learn why in this article.
Health screening benefits for employees
Before that, though, let’s briefly explore the benefits of health screening packages for employees.
Early detection of medical conditions
Research consistently shows early chronic disease detection (e.g., when there are no noticeable symptoms) results in better treatment, fewer complications, and increased chances of better outcomes.
Case in point?
A large body of evidence has found that early detection and intervention of pre-diabetes could help reduce diabetes incidence by 20% to 89% over 2.4 to 6 years.
Increased health awareness
Even if the health screening results return "normal", some readings may be borderline high and warrant extra attention to prevent progression to full-blown medical conditions.
For example, an employee who notices an LDL (“bad”) cholesterol level of 99 mg/dL (FYI, an LDL level of < 100 mg/dL is considered optimal) may be motivated to adopt new heart-healthy practices, such as increasing their intake of fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats, and striving for a healthy weight.
Enhanced well-being
Health-conscious employees are typically aware that certain serious conditions (e.g., high blood pressure, glaucoma, and lung cancer) could creep up on them — and they’d be none the wiser — because they have no symptoms.
This can cause anxiety because they constantly worry about the “what-ifs?” even if they feel perfectly healthy.
Regular health screenings can give much-needed assurance and peace of mind that everything’s just fine.
Benefits for employers
OK, back to the original, head-scratching-worthy question: why do businesses offer health screening packages for their employees at (seemingly) the cost of greater expenses?
There are five reasons at play.
#1: Higher productivity levels
As mentioned earlier, health screening could help improve employee health outcomes, and that's great news for companies.
That’s because this boosts productivity levels, reduces the number of days of sick leave taken, and minimizes “presenteeism” — a phenomenon where an employee shows up to work unwell that is estimated to cost employers an eye-watering S$12.1 billion annually.
#2: Lower healthcare costs
According to a 2017 report (Aging Workforce: Cost and Productivity Challenges of Ill Health in Singapore) by Mercer and Marsh & McLennan companies’ Asia Pacific Risk Centre (APRC), an aging workforce and medical cost inflation in Singapore are projected to drive up average medical costs per employee from S$946 in 2016 to S$1,973 in 2030.
Health screening packages could help alleviate this financial burden.
How? By enabling early detection and treatment, which are generally less costly than treating advanced stages of a disease, which often necessitate more invasive treatments or hospitalization.
#3: Talent attraction and retention
According to a 2022 survey commissioned by Prudential:
Nine in ten respondents in Singapore said they want their employers to provide healthcare benefits.
60% of employees are willing to join an SME that does so, and 40% indicated they are more likely to stay in a company that gives medical benefits.
In other words, offering health screening packages can serve as a way for businesses to attract and retain the right talent.
#4: Comply with Workplace Safety and Health Regulations
Employers of employees exposed to certain occupational hazards (e.g., asbestos, compressed air environment, and tar) are legally required to send the latter for pre-placement and regular health screenings.
Health screening packages in Singapore
Alright. At this point, regardless of whether you're an:
Employee looking to take charge of your own health or
Employer wanting the best for your employees
… you’re likely interested in checking out the health screening packages available in Singapore — just to get a sense of what they offer and how much they cost.
Here's a comparison table that will help make the information easier to digest. (Note that the following are the most basic options from each provider.)
| What | Includes | Cost before GST (S$)* |
|---|---|---|
| Fullerton health screening | 468 | |
| Raffles medical health screening | 531 | |
| Parkway Shenton health screening | 106.5 | |
| SGH health screening | 391 | |
| NTUC Income health screening (with Thomson Medical) | 34.3 |
Sources:
Raffles medical health screening
Parkway Shenton health screening
NTUC Income health screening (with Thomson Medical)
Information accurate as of time of writing: 17 Oct, 2023.
NOVI Assessment: tailored health screening packages
As you can tell, the cost of health screening packages in Singapore tends to increase with the number of tests included.
You may be thinking, "But not everyone will have the same screening needs — so it wouldn't make logical or financial sense to subject all employees to the same template health screening package … right?"
Exactly.
To better cater to individual needs and enable potential cost savings for businesses, NOVI offers fully personalized health screening packages that allow employees to screen for what's relevant to them.
All packages include a detailed post-screening review so employees know what's needed to maintain or improve their health.
Interested to find out more? Check out NOVI Assessment here.
Psst: if you’re an employer, yes, we do offer special corporate rates for our health screening packages. Get in touch with us via the following to learn more:
Email: sales@novi-health.com
Phone: +65 8600 3628 or WhatsApp us here
