pre-employment physicals: why a healthy employee should matter to you

August 12, 2024

We get it—no one likes to go to the doctor. But when a potential employee is being considered for a new job, it’s always a good idea to have them get a pre-employment physical to make sure they’re healthy and ready to start off on the right foot. MedExpress offers physicals and wellness exams that get them in and out on their own time and allow them to take control of their health.

Why Do My Employees Need a Pre-Employment Physical?

Physicals are a great tool to measure an employee’s health. We offer many types of physicals, including pre-employment, return-to-work, Department of Transportation (DOT), and general wellness exams. Studies have shown that pre-employment physicals can help you save money due to fewer accidents, injuries, and worker’s compensation claims—in fact, one study found that over $18 may be saved for every $1 spent towards pre-employment screenings.¹

A pre-employment physical, also known as a pre-placement test or human performance evaluation (HPE), is important because it gives both you and your employee confidence that they can perform a job to the best of their ability. Sometimes, a pre-employment physical can identify potential illnesses or chronic conditions that could prevent someone from performing the job adequately. Pre-employment physicals can be especially important for people with an existing chronic condition, as they can indicate whether the current management program is effective.

Pre-employment physicals can also provide you and your employee with a baseline to track health over time or after an injury.

What Does a Pre-Employment Physical Look Like?

A pre-employment physical examines many health components, including:

• Vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature
• Abdomen health to determine liver, bowel, and other organ functionality
• Skin appearance to determine if there are signs or symptoms of other underlying illnesses
• Heart and lung exam

You also may want to supplement your employee’s pre-employment physicals with additional testing such as:

• Drug and alcohol screenings
• Vision testing
• TB testing
• Titers
• Labs

These additional tests provide accurate measurements of your employee’s wellness and ensure essential factors such as vision and hearing meet job requirements.

How Can My Employees Prepare for Their Pre-Employment Physical?

While an employee can’t change their health overnight, they can prep themselves for the physical by getting together a few things:

• Paperwork you’ve given them detailing what services they need, including lab orders if necessary
• Aids they might need such as glasses, hearing aids, etc. for additional tests
• Valid form of ID such as a driver’s license, state or federal ID, or an employer-issued badge
• List of medications, past surgeries, medical conditions, and allergies

What Other Ways Are There to Measure My Employee’s Health?

Health doesn’t start and end with a pre-employment physical. There are other ways to gauge an employee’s wellness, including a biometric screening. Biometric screenings are similar to physicals in that they measure physical characteristics such as height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure, but they also account for other indicators such as lipids and glucose levels. These indicators are important to determining your employee’s level of health, and can provide important insights into early detection of diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

Body metric testing is another way to determine physical health. Not quite a physical, a body metric test measures key vitals and body measurements such as height, weight, BMI and blood pressure to form a general composite of someone’s fitness. MedExpress offers both biometric screenings and body metric tests that can help you make informed decisions about your employee’s basic health and wellness.

How Can I Learn More?

MedExpress’ employer health services can benefit you and your employees through a variety of programs, including on-sites and customized solutions that best fit your needs. For more information, click here or call (833) 317-9192.

Originally published October 2019. Updated August 2024.

Reference:

1 The University of Illinois at Chicago, Occupational Therapy Department: Cost-effectiveness of a prework screening program for the University of Illinois at Chicago physical plant. Accessed September 6, 2019.