OK, so this is one of those attention-grabbing headlines favoured by national newspapers but there are actually some interesting figures behind this particular headline.
You see, many workers across the UK spend up to three quarters of their day sat down at their desks and this sedentary lifestyle is a contributing factor when it comes to health issues and workplace absence. Figures suggest that working in this way is potentially as dangerous to your health as smoking … hence the warning.
At Mountain Top Accountants we can see that absenteeism is a massive headache for employers, you only have to look at what’s happening in the travel sector right now to understand that. But we also see that more and more employers are starting to take employee health and wellbeing seriously and part of that is investing in the concept of Fitness at Work and the tax implications of that approach are interesting.
First up you have the well-established Cycle to Work scheme which is an annual tax exemption scheme which allows you to loan employees bikes and equipment with the money being paid back by the employee monthly, as a tax efficient, salary sacrifice. This encourages employees to cycle to work, become more fit and reduce their environmental impact by ditching the car. Tax efficient, healthy and good for the environment, what’s not to love.
Then there’s gym memberships. If you’re large company and want to do something significant, you could build a gym at the office that everyone could use. The equipment and installation costs are tax deductible as is any office improvement work and you could even employ someone to manage it as if they were another member of staff. But before everyone gets excited, the gym cannot be at a residence, even if you are currently working from home.
However, if you’re slightly smaller, your best bet is to pop along to a local gym and negotiate a corporate deal which is often 20-30% cheaper than normal rates. The membership can be done as ‘Benefit in Kind’ (BiK) or what’s known as ‘Making Good’. There are no particular tax benefits to this, just the saving on the standard gym cost but of course it does mean that you have employees that are healthy and happy and what it is they say, ‘happy staff leads to happy customers’.
Talking of ‘happy staff’, it was only last year that the Government produced a report into the mental wellbeing of employees under the name ‘Thriving at Work’. The report not only highlighted the fact that poor mental health cost the UK economy between £74bn and £99bn a year, but it also highlighted tax efficient ways in which employers can support their staff and start to tackle the issues.
There’s Mental Health First Aid Training, Annual Medical and Health Checks, Counselling and Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP’s) which covers issues such as Stress, Problems at Work, Harassment and Bullying, Career Concerns and even Bereavement. The support is out there and accessible for companies while the tax efficient status is there to promote and encourage usage.
So, there it is, in this world where good staff are increasingly hard to come by, isn’t it time that employers started to look after the good staff that they already have? One of those ways is to be much more conscious of their health and wellbeing and truth is, it can be much more tax efficient that you might initially think.
So, if you are interested in talking to us at Mountain Top about how we can help ‘you’, help your ‘staff’, then please feel free to get in contact on 01752 914214 and remember, very few people get to the top of the mountain without any help.
