Employee Health Risk Assessment (HRA) in India

What an employee health risk assessment measures

The HRA looks at the factors that drive most long-term illness in Indian workplaces. It does not diagnose disease; it estimates risk and points each person to the right next step, whether that is a checkup, a consultation or a change in habits.

• Lifestyle: physical activity per week, hours spent sitting, tobacco in any form (smoked or chewed), alcohol and sleep duration and quality
• Diet and nutrition: meal patterns, fruit and vegetable intake, sugary drinks, fried and outside food
• Vitals: height, weight, waist, blood pressure — with BMI interpreted on Asian-Indian cut-offs
• Diagnostic results (optional): fasting sugar, HbA1c, cholesterol and other values from a recent report
• Medical and family history: existing conditions, medicines, and diabetes or heart disease in close relatives
• Mental wellbeing: stress, mood and sleep indicators, asked sensitively and kept confidential
• Work and occupational factors: shift work, screen time, physical load and role-specific exposures
• Women's health questions shown only where relevant

Why Indian BMI cut-offs matter in an HRA

South Asians tend to develop diabetes and heart disease at a lower body weight than Western populations, so an HRA built on Western BMI bands under-reports risk in Indian employees. Our assessment treats a BMI below 23 as the optimal band and flags 23 to under 25 as moderate risk, in line with Asian-Indian guidance, and adds waist measurement where it is available. An employee who would be called 'normal weight' elsewhere may therefore see an early warning — which is exactly the point of a preventive assessment.

HRA versus annual health checkup

An HRA and a checkup answer different questions. The HRA asks how someone lives, sleeps, eats, feels and works, and estimates where that is heading. The checkup measures what is happening in the body now — blood sugar, lipids, liver and kidney function, blood pressure. The HRA is quick, cheap and reaches everyone, including remote staff; the checkup is clinical and confirms risk. Used together, the HRA decides who needs which tests and the checkup grounds the HRA score in real values.

What the HRA does not do

• It does not diagnose disease or replace a doctor's examination
• It does not decide anyone's fitness for a job — statutory fitness opinions come from medical examinations
• It does not share individual answers with HR, managers or insurers
• It does not use Western BMI bands that under-report risk in Indian employees

HRA alongside factory and pre-employment medicals

In plants, the HRA works well as an assisted add-on to the periodic factory medical checkup: workers complete it at the camp while waiting for tests, and the combined result covers both job-related exposure and lifestyle risk. For new joiners, the pre-employment medical decides fitness for the role, while an HRA a few months later starts their personal prevention plan. The two are kept separate so lifestyle answers never influence hiring decisions.

Running an HRA across several cities and shifts

Multi-site employers usually launch the HRA in one week everywhere, with a site champion in each location who answers questions and reminds teams. Office staff get the link by email or chat; plant and site teams complete it at an assisted desk during shift change or at the checkup camp. Results arrive in one dashboard, split by location, department and shift, so HR can compare sites without combining spreadsheets. Small groups are merged automatically so no one can be identified.

Because the HRA is the starting point of the wider programme, we suggest planning the follow-up before launch: which checkup panel each risk group will be offered, which three sessions will run in the next 90 days and when the repeat assessment will happen.

How employees take the HRA

Employees take the assessment on their phone or laptop through our free online HRA tool. It takes about five minutes, works in a browser without installing anything and can be completed in parts. Diagnostic values are optional: employees can skip them, enter them from a recent report or add them later after a checkup camp. Each person gets a plain-language personal report straight away — their risk areas, what is already going well and a 90-day action plan they can follow.

For factory and site teams without regular computer access, HR can run the HRA at a checkup camp or a health talk, with our team helping workers fill it in on a shared tablet in their preferred language.

The employee's personal report and 90-day plan

• An overall risk score with the main contributing factors explained simply
• Separate views for lifestyle, diet, vitals, diagnostics, history and mental wellbeing
• A 90-day action plan with small, specific steps — for example a walking target, a sleep routine or a follow-up test
• Suggested next steps inside the platform: a doctor consultation, a diet plan, a checkup or a wellness session
• The option to repeat the assessment later and see how the score has changed

The HR aggregate report: what it shows

HR and leadership receive an anonymised company report, never individual answers. It shows participation, the spread of employees across low, moderate and high risk, the most common risk factors, and how these differ by location, department, age band and gender where group sizes are large enough to keep people anonymous. It also lists recommended actions — which checkups, sessions and follow-ups would address the biggest risks — so the report leads straight into a plan.

Our guide on reading the aggregate HRA report explains how HR teams turn the findings into a 90-day programme.

Privacy and the DPDP Act

An HRA only works if employees answer honestly, and they only answer honestly if they trust the process. Consent is collected before the assessment. Individual answers and reports belong to the employee. HR sees aggregated results only, with small groups suppressed so no one can be identified. Data handling follows the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and no individual's data is shared with an insurer or broker. Saying this clearly in the launch message is the single biggest driver of participation.

Linking HRA results to checkups

The HRA tells you who is at risk; the checkup confirms it. Employees with high sugar, BP or lipid risk can be prioritised for a corporate health checkup, and HR can choose package contents based on the risks the report shows rather than buying the same panel for everyone. When checkup results come back, they feed into the employee's HRA so the score becomes clinically grounded.

Linking HRA results to wellness sessions

The aggregate report is the best brief for a wellness calendar. If sitting time and low activity dominate, plan movement, desk yoga and fitness sessions; if stress and sleep scores are high, plan stress management workshops and sleep sessions; if tobacco use is common on the shop floor, plan quit clinics in the workers' language. The next HRA then shows whether those sessions moved the numbers.

HRA for different workforces

• Corporate offices: sitting time, screen time, stress, sleep, weight and early metabolic risk
• Factories: shift work, tobacco, BP, sugar and physical load, often run alongside a factory medical checkup
• Construction sites: tobacco, alcohol, hydration and BP, assisted at the labour camp or site office
• Field sales and distributed teams: fully online, with partner labs booked by PIN code for follow-up tests

HRA for insurers and brokers

Group health renewals are usually discussed on past claims alone. Aggregated HRA data adds a forward-looking view of risk and a record of what the employer is doing about it. With the employer's agreement, we prepare anonymised group-level insight that can be shared with the broker and insurer. We cannot promise any premium outcome; what the data offers is evidence for a better conversation. Our page on HRA for insurers and brokers explains the approach in detail.

How often to run an HRA

Most employers run the HRA once a year, ideally a month or two before the annual checkup so the checkup can be targeted. Companies running an active wellness programme often repeat it every six months to see progress. Employees can retake it at any time for their own tracking; the company report uses the latest assessment from each participant in the cycle.

Launching an HRA in four weeks

• Week 1: agree goals, groups for reporting and the privacy message with HR and leadership
• Week 2: send the launch message with the assessment link and a short leadership note
• Week 3: reminders by team, help desks at camps or sessions for workers without email
• Week 4: close the cycle, share the anonymised report and agree the first actions

Driving participation

Participation rises when the assessment is short, the privacy promise is explicit, a senior leader takes it first and employees see an immediate benefit — their own report and plan. Linking the HRA to something employees value, such as a free checkup slot or a consultation, helps. Avoid tying it to rewards that pressure people to share data they would rather keep private.