Employers are recognising the importance of a healthy workforce while employees have admitted they would work harder for one who invests in their health.
The results came from Aviva's Health of the Workplace report which also found that the majority of workers believe productivity is directly linked to their health.
But bosses are still ignoring the benefits that can improve their business' absence record despite becoming more attentive to employees health.
However employees said they had too much work to do (41%) and were working longer hours (30%) with a stressful working life (26%).
Perhaps as a result of this, fewer staff are adopting unhealthy behaviours and instead increasing activity.
Only 19% of employees said that they eat unhealthily to help them deal with stress compared to 34% in the 2009 research.
Similarly, just 11% felt that they smoked more - a fall of 7% from the previous study.
This awareness of personal health has meant that almost two thirds (61%) of employees would work harder for an employer who invests in their health, while more than three quarters (78%) believe that productivity is directly related to their health.
And employers have recognised this attitude change as well, with just under half (47%) of business leaders saying that the impact of the recession has made them realise the importance of looking after staff health and wellbeing.
Three in five (63%) bosses now recognise staff concerns that health has a direct effect on productivity - up 10% on last time.
A third (35%) of UK bosses say they'd like to further improve staff motivation and morale over the coming year and a fifth want to improve staff wellbeing.
To achieve this, around a third (31%) of business leaders aim to encourage a better work-life balance and around a fifth (18%) plan to increase spending on health-related benefits.
This could be money well spent considering that nearly half (47%) of workers believe that a good work-life balance is key to their workplace happiness.
But, bosses appear to be missing the importance of the benefit services they offer, with over a quarter (29%) saying they offer the same benefits ‘they've always offered'.
Just 18% said they offer the benefits their staff want, and even fewer (8%) say they make changes to their benefits to help combat the key causes of sickness absence in their business.
