Workplace Survey Reveals 42% of Smokers Think They Are Healthy

LONDON, August 24, 2011 -

- New data from ORC International reveals regular smokers’ false perceptions of their wellbeing

Figures from ORC International’s recent UK Healthy Workplace Survey have revealed that 42% of regular smokers report to be either healthy or very healthy. Just 17% perceive themselves to be unhealthy or very unhealthy.

The smokers were not the only group with optimistic illusions about their health. In a world where skinny is king and size zero dominates glossy magazine front covers, a worrying 65% of those who describe themselves as underweight would also say they are healthy or very healthy.

Other key findings of the survey include that:

• Only 12% of the UK workforce would consider themselves to be unhealthy or very unhealthy
• 24% of the survey respondents regularly smoke and 41% drink regularly
• 39% would describe themselves as overweight
• 60% do less than 3 hours of exercise per week
• 27% of those who do zero hours of exercise a week would say they are very healthy or healthy

The UK Healthy Workplace Survey was conducted in partnership with former Olympic athlete, Sally Gunnell OBE. Sally is promoting her initiative to bring healthy living into the workplace and commissioned this research to gauge the attitudes of UK employees towards wellbeing at work.

Sally Winston, Employee Engagement Expert at ORC International comments: “Views on health don’t match the reality of behaviours. Employers can play a role in helping individuals to become healthier, through education, communication and by providing access to a range of healthy workplace initiatives. Our research highlighted a definite link between engagement and wellbeing. It suggests that if employers show staff that they care about their wellbeing, they are likely to be better engaged, committed and excited about coming to work.”

ORC International are experts in the employee engagement field. Utilising their 25 years of employee research experience, they have developed a new Healthy Workplace survey tool, due to be launched in October 2011. The tool is designed to enable organisations to gather robust insights into the state of wellbeing in their workplace as well as the needs and desires of their workforces. The data allows organisations to implement tailored, focused wellbeing programmes to help to improve employee engagement.

The survey tool will be available to organisations of all sizes and uses tried and tested methodology and process to deliver insight into the attitudes and needs of organisations.

About the survey

In total 1,011 respondents completed the survey. 61% of respondents are permanently employed in the private sector. 38% are permanently employed in the public sector. 13% work in either the public or private sector and are on temporary contracts. More than half of those who responded (54%) work in an office in a desk based role.  35% work inside but are not generally desk based. 11% work outside. 68% are full time employees. The respondent population is evenly spread by age. 52% of respondents are female, 48% male.

About ORC International

ORC International is a leading global market research firm with offices across the US, Europe and Asia Pacific region. The company has the unique ability to integrate primary and secondary research, competitive intelligence and expert insight to address the business challenges of its clients worldwide. To learn more about ORC International, visit www.orcinternational.co.uk

ORC International Contact:
Ian Hall
Marketing Copywriter
Phone: +44-020-7675-1154
Email: ian.hall@orcinternational.co.uk

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