While more employers feel greater responsibility for their staff health and wellbeing, the number of firms prepared to formalise a strategy to do anything about it remains unchanged on last year.
This is according to findings from Aon UK’s latest Benefits and Trends Survey which took into account the experiences of 253 HR, employee benefit and reward professionals from across the UK in a variety of sectors.
It found 95% of employers acknowledged they have a responsibility for the health and wellbeing of employees. Notably, while 29% strongly agreed to this in 2021, in 2022 this figure had jumped to 51%. The latest survey also showed 44% agreed they have this responsibility, with only 5% disagreeing or having no view.
However, only 44% of employers had a formalised health and wellbeing strategy, although 32% planned to have one within the next 12-18 months, unchanged from last year.
No dedicated budget
The survey also showed 70% did not have a dedicated budget for a health and wellbeing programme, just 8% measured return on investment of their health and wellbeing programmes, and just 46% had an executive sponsor for their health and wellbeing strategy.
All those employers with a formal wellbeing strategy had dedicated support for emotional and mental wellbeing, with 97% also doing so for physical wellbeing, while 75% provided structured financial wellbeing support. Social wellbeing was also an increasing priority for employers with 62% providing this.
When asked about company-specific data analytics being used to inform and drive their corporate health and wellbeing strategies, employers revealed data is being collected from a variety of sources.
This includes employee assistance programmes (75%), employee engagement surveys (68%), absence data (62%) and occupational health (OH) data (52%), as well as medical, income protection, life and critical illness data (42%).
Mark Witte, principal for health and risk at Aon, said: “This stand-out statistic of 95% of employers agreeing they have a responsibility for their employees’ health and wellbeing is the most notable shift from previous years’ surveys.
“It is easy to draw connections to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the heightened awareness of ill-health, but the word responsibility is important.
“Given the acceptance that the employer has a role to play in supporting employee wellbeing, it is disappointing that this year’s research shows no change in terms of the number of employers with a formal strategy in place or planning to do so in the near future.”
Witte added the fact that just 13% of employers said they do not use health data analytics to inform their wellbeing strategy represented a “clear and positive signal” that most employers wanted to be better informed and have access to more detailed insights to help them make better decisions.
“While the research shows greater activity around employee wellbeing, a strategic approach is critical to creating focus and achieving demonstrable results to build a resilient workforce,” he added.
“The strain placed on human resources teams over the past 18 months is undoubtedly a factor in not seeing greater progress, as priorities and resources have been focused elsewhere.
“However, with investments potentially supporting other key objectives, securing budget, targeted condition management and C-suite sponsorship, it is recommended that employers consider ways to elevate health and wellbeing on their organisation’s agenda.”