In scientific words, health is the level of
functional or metabolic efficiency of a living organism. In humans,
it is the ability of persons or communities to become accustomed and
self-manage when facing physical, psychological, or social
challenges.
The
main job of an occupational health advisor is to focus on the link between
health and work. It is their duty to offer good quality support and
advice to managers and HR. These are people who work in a corporate
environment and help employees deal with the stress that comes with
their work and help them keep their health in check. Like for
example, an employee could have a health issue which could hamper
their ability to work or do a particular task. It is the job of the
occupational health advisor to advise them on this and help them seek
the proper medical treatment.
It
is also important on the part of the employer to choose a competent
health advisor for their employees. Here are a few things that one
can keep in mind while choosing their company’s health advisor.
-
You should choose someone who is compassionate and is actually interested in helping out the people in need i.e. your employees. There are many people who take a job like this and then end up being very rude and insensitive towards the problems of the patients. It is always better to choose someone, who is interested in this field. If it comes down to it, you can always ask them to demo-work for a week or so and observe how they are performing and if they are actually good or not.
-
You should choose someone who your employees are comfortable with. If need be, you can choose a female health advisor for your female employees if you think that they may not be able to open up to a male person.
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Their academic credentials should be good, but at the same time, you should see if they took part in internships and such when they were in college. This way you would know that they have a practical knowledge as well, over their theoretical knowledge. Having knowledge about the problem is good, but being able to convey the solution to the patient and being able to help them out is more important at the end of the day, and one does not learn these just by reading the textbooks.
So
there you go. These are some ways in which an employer can hire an
occupational health advisor
for their employees. In many places, there is a mandatory law to hire
one, but every company should have one none-the-less. Helping your
employees keep their health in check while they are working for you
is your job and one should not try to do away with it.
