Employers are prioritising health and wellbeing support for their staff while employees rank financial wellbeing as their most pressing concern, according to research from Willis Towers Watson (WTW).
Its survey of 131 medium and large private sector UK employers found support for mental (72%) and physical (45%) wellbeing was prioritised, in light of declining mental health among employees and a quarter of the workforce suffering from poor physical health.
However, the 6,000 UK employees quizzed said financial wellbeing support was their top area of concern (59%), despite being one of the lowest priorities for employers (24%).
The Wellbeing Diagnostic Survey found UK employers often offered foundational support for financial wellbeing, through life and disability insurance or retirement and savings programmes.
But fewer were providing support in the way of educating employees on the various financial issues they may face or offering personalised financial decision support for spending, borrowing and saving.
Two-fifths of employees (42%) were suffering with moderate or major issues in at least two areas of their wellbeing; the majority of employees (59%) had above average levels of stress, while 40% reported symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Kazune Kozen, clinical and data analytics lead in health and benefits at WTW, said: “Increasing mental health issues have brought employee wellbeing to the forefront of employers’ minds in recent years.
“Companies have been leaning heavily into physical and mental wellbeing to make it a core part of their human capital strategy.
“We know that these investments have improved employees’ perceptions of these initiatives.
“Organisations that are highly effective at employee wellbeing often report better business outcomes, such as enhanced financial performance and reduced employee turnover.
“However, there is a disconnect between the wellbeing areas that employers are investing in and what employees are saying they need help with.”
Falling impact
While employer programmes were found to be helping some employees live healthier lifestyles, the effectiveness of these initiatives overall has fallen from the employees’ perspective since the pandemic, from 38% in 2022 to 27% now.
There was a disconnect between the majority of employers (69%) who thought their wellbeing programmes were important in supporting employees’ health, and the workforce, where only 29% of employees agreed, prompting interest in how employers can better optimise their support to align with employee needs.
However, employers were found to be aiming high, as 35% were looking to make wellbeing a foundational element of their human capital strategy in the next three years, compared to only 8% today.
Additionally, two-thirds of employers (65%) were planning to boost communication about their wellbeing programmes and connect wellbeing to company culture (56%) to raise the bar on employee health and wellbeing.
Gaby Joyner, head of employee experience Europe at WTW, added: “The delivery of wellbeing initiatives is just as important as the content of the programmes.
“Communication, accessibility and creating a connected culture that links back to company and employee values is key to building a stronger employee experience when it comes to wellbeing.
“It’s important that employers focus on getting the right priorities in place to support the varied needs of their workforce, as well as creating an enabling environment that promotes the services they make available.”