Health Record : A new CV Section?
Work Experience, Academics, Achievements and Health
Increasing trends related to Health issues will be one major concern for the employers in the future. Youth, who are already in the labor force and about to join following studies, are becoming less “qualified” when it comes to the health related performance. Growing up in the age of Globalization, Fast food trends and overactive lifestyles have made the younger generation prone to bad habits. This has lead to an increase in both commutable and non- commutable diseases among the millennial's and Gen Z’s.
Millennial's — who in 2017 were ages 21 to 36 — were overall in good health that year, according to Blue Cross’s data analysis of 55 million commercially insured millennial's. But around age 27, millennial's’ health began to decline — and trends suggest the downturn may be more than what could be expected from normal aging
-Time, 2019-
Hiring a young employee is considered as an investment for a company but this process might get complex due to the possibility of hiring someone whose health is deteriorated if not about to be. It is also possible that the person will be unaware about their actual health status and what could go wrong in the future as well. Furthermore when it comes to the hierarchy of “interview — importance”, Health often ranks below and may not be even concerned when it comes to fresh graduates compared to that of experienced recruitment.
One way, probably the not the ideal, to mitigate this risk is to incorporating a detailed health report i.e. a Full Body report along with the CV. So that the employer is aware about the complete “physical” health status of the potential employee. But this could be deemed discriminatory due to few reasons ;
- Not all the people with potential health risks will be prone to chronic diseases given that they control their eating and life habits
- This would be seen as denying of opportunity solely based on the one criteria and can be considered an extension of discrimination against gender.
Therefore companies should not and can not be following the above method when recruiting employees, but find a solution or a middle ground that will benefit both of them. It is possible to understand the current and potential health issues a person has, not to discriminate but to corporate with them and help while they support the company through their work, in other word creating a “win-win” situation.
Role of Insurance will be key in this process as that will support to mitigate the risk to the company while ensuring the well-being of the employee. Thus it should not be regarded as a unnecessary strain on the bottom-line, but more as a social responsibility.
And of cause, it is not just the physical health, but also the mental health that should be cared for by an Employer when recruiting.
