LONDON, 20 October 2008 – Leading pension, benefits and HR consulting firm Aon Consulting has launched a new Occupational Health (OH) Audit Service to assist employers in actively managing employee health. The OH Audit service reviews every aspect of the existing OH arrangements against key service objectives and best practice to optimize the use of this expert resource.

Aon has introduced the service in response to two clear pressures: First, employers are increasingly concerned with integrating all activities concerned with managing employee health costs and risks to demonstrate a return on investment. Second, OH services are changing and whilst there are now more innovative delivery methods and service configurations now available in the market, many OH service providers still fall short on basic performance and delivery expectations.    

In a report earlier this year on Britons’ health at work, Dame Carol Black, National Director for Health and Work, urged the Government to promote greater use of OH as a critical resource to improve productivity through better employee health management: “The benefits of health and well-being extend far beyond avoiding or reducing the costs of absence or poor performance, it requires a changed perception of health and well-being, and a willingness from both employers and employees to invest resources and change behavior.” 

Aon’s Audit Service is undertaken by an independent and qualified occupational health consultant and includes:  

• Review of key service objectives against most pressing and changing business needs
• Review of all policies, procedures and contractual arrangements
• Review of all management information against; key performance indicators, benchmarks and service level agreements 
• Assessment of the quality of clinical recommendations and their commercial application
• Comparison of user stakeholder feedback to assess overall efficiency and effectiveness of the service (are metrics measuring the right things?) 
• Recommendations to optimize use of the existing OH resource and services
• Exploration of additional services (including alternative delivery options and providers where appropriate)

Alex Bennett, head of health consulting at Aon Consulting said: “Following the successful introduction of our Occupational Health Service last year we have seen increased demand from our clients and the new Audit Service has been developed to respond directly to the specific needs of employers.  There is a growing recognition that the promotion of better health adds value to organisations through increasing productivity and consequently profitability.”

Charlotte Bray, OH Consultant at Aon Consulting said: “This new service will identify opportunities to increase the impact and positive influence that OH professionals can bring to organizations overall health and well-being efforts to increase productivity and maximize the return on investment.”      

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For more information contact:
Josephine Corbett / Leo Wood
Josephine.corbett@fd.com / leo.wood@fd.com
0207 269 7250 / 7137

David Skapinker
020 7505 7478
David.Skapinker@aon.co.uk
http://aon.mediaroom.com

About Aon Consulting
Aon Consulting is a leading human capital consultancy, helping organisations of every size to attract and keep the employees they need. We advise on all aspects of employment, including health-related insurance and risk; employee compensation and pensions; human resource strategy planning; job design and change management; and staff assessment and legal issues. Aon Consulting is a division of Aon, one of the UK’s largest insurance brokers and providers of risk management services and a major force in reinsurance and the UK human capital consulting market.  Aon Consulting Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting. Through its 36,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon readily delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Our industry-leading global resources, technical expertise and industry knowledge are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Aon was named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008 Insurance Survey. In 2008, Aon ranked highest on the Business Insurance ranking of the world's largest insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues. Aon also was ranked by A.M. Best as the number one insurance broker based on brokerage revenues in 2007 and 2008, and was voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary, and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007 and 2008 by the readers of Business Insurance. For more information on Aon, log onto http://www.aon.com/.

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Aon Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in respect of insurance mediation activities only.