MHF manuals help boost men's health at work

Men's health can be improved by simple measures that any employer can take - that is the lesson of new research into the Royal Mail's recent drive to reduce absenteeism.

A report by the LSE found that the company, which employes 180,000 people, 85% of whom are men, achieved significant reductions in absence between January 2004 and May 2007. The reduction - from from 7% to 5% was the equivalent to an extra 3,600 employees

in work. Parcelforce Worldwide alone reduced absence from 7% to 4.5%

between January 2004 and May 2007 equivalent to an extra 104 employees in work.

Raising the health awareness of staff formed an important element of

the Royal Mail's approach and Men's Health Forum booklets - in the format of Haynes' car maintenance manuals - were used to help achieve this.

MHF president Dr Ian Banks said: 'A first class result from Royal Mail showing conclusively that workplace health interventions make sense. Once again the effort to "go where men are" while also addressing the better delivery of services has proven its worth'.

The LSE calculated that if the 13 sectors in the economy with the highest absence rates followed Royal Mail's example, the resultant reduction in absenteeism would be worth £1.45 billion to the UK economy.