Poor mental health among employees directly damages business performance, new research from the Reward and Employee Benefits Association (REBA) and insurer AXA Health shows.
The research, released this morning, reveals 95% of respondents to REBA’s Employee Wellbeing Research 2021 reported that a high pressure/high intensity work environment for employees is a key business risk, with 50% classifying it as high risk.
With the additional threat posed by Covid, despite a tough economic climate, 47% of organisations expect their wellbeing budgets will rise in 2021.
The findings also reveal a 69% increase in use of virtual GPs compared with 2020, a 60% rise in the number of employers offering a wellbeing app and 30% growth in those offering a dedicated health and wellbeing website.
REBA found that nearly half of employers (47%) say the biggest barrier to understanding the effectiveness of wellbeing initiatives is a lack of key performance indicators to measure them against, with only 19% of private sector respondents saying that their wellbeing strategy is closely linked to business strategy.
Nearly two thirds (63%) of respondents identified improving the inclusivity of their wellbeing strategy as a key priority for 2021, and over a third (38%) said that they will be introducing new benefits to address emerging needs.
Commenting on the findings, Debi O’Donovan, director and co-founder of REBA, said: “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on employee wellbeing has been enormous. It has brought risk to the fore across all areas of wellbeing – physical, mental, financial and social – and magnified issues such as high pressure work environments which were already damaging employee health even before the current crisis…
“While a small number of employers have a strong lens on inclusion across their wellbeing programmes, our data shows that there will be an increased focus during 2021. The pandemic has widened existing socio-economic disparities between different groups in the workforce. That could have a long-lasting impact on employee engagement and productivity, and employers need to address this now through their wellbeing programmes and workplace culture.”
Soraya Chamberlain, corporate director for AXA Health, added: “Today’s wellbeing programmes are being asked to offer both breadth and depth in supporting people risk. This report highlights that clear, collaborative and sustained strategies will bear the best results, especially where organisations tap into valuable tools and resources, in particular, their line managers, who play such a vital role in their programmes’ success.”
