Burnley businesses called upon to ensure staff are healthy and happy

Physiofusion is asking employers to ensure their staff are healthy and happy ahead of a return to workplaces as we enter a post-COVID era.

The bespoke physiotherapy firm based in Burnley, Padiham and Bolton has said its corporate clients have seen a 25 per cent increase in sickness rates, whether it’s due to people suffering from the side effects of COVID or due to anxiety about the situation.

Thomas Wilcox, marketing executive at Physiofusion, said that they have noticed women in their 40s and 50s particularly suffering from the effects of coronavirus.

“We simply could not find a service out there to help our patients who were struggling to return to full health following a COVID diagnosis. So, we decided to upskill and create the service ourselves!

“We spent over a month training and researching and established our COVID rehab service. Physio is so much more than physical recovery – our service includes nutrition and mental health as a holistic approach is required for someone to make a full recovery, whether it’s from illness or injury,” he explained.

Businesses are urged to use the free Ask a Physio service to get advice on creating a happier and healthier workforce, bring down absence rates and improve productivity during these unusual times.

However, the Burnley company is happy to help organisations from further afield. Prior to the pandemic, Physiofusion toyed with the idea of whether online physio would work, and whether or not this service would be popular or even useful. The subsequent lockdowns forced this idea forward and Physiofusion were pleased to see 60 per cent of its regular clients move to its online services, as they managed the business through the pandemic.

Around 30 per cent of their clients are now corporate, with the remainder private patients. Word of mouth between both have meant that clients from as far as Africa, France and Holland were soon tapping into the expert advice and online physio services all the way in Burnley.

“We’ve had record months for the past three months, which we are of course delighted with. We believe a lot of this is custom from us providing free support sessions, webinars and a Facebook messaging service throughout lockdown. We made the decision to take a chance and continue our marketing spend during the pandemic, as it was important to us that were still able to help as many people and businesses as possible, and we’re delighted that we are seeing them return to us for paid services.

“It’s important that employers get it right early with staff returning to work following furlough and working from home privileges. There will be many physical and mental health hurdles to overcome that we have never faced before, so the importance isn’t to be overlooked. Employees dealing with long-COVID sicknesses can be unable to work for months, not just weeks,” Thomas added.

Physiofusion offer retainer-free services, meaning their support is available for local businesses as and when they are needed.

It’s always great to see a local business and Burnley Bondholder doing well and it’s great news that they’re flying the flag for Burnley and Padiham far and wide.