First things first, what benefit to the employee benefits industry is there of focusing on line manager wellbeing specifically?
In short, there’s a strong potential for them to become advocates; leading by example and enabling wider wellbeing among their teams – in other words, happy customers willing to spread the word.
Advocacy is all about trust and loyalty. And in the hugely competitive wellbeing marketplace, customer trust and loyalty is paramount.
That will only come when we as an industry can offer our clients a reason to develop an emotional bond with us, to trust us, to love what we do so much that churn – shifting to a competitor just because they offer a lower price – ceases to become a feature.
The people challenge
Right now, the biggest challenges facing CEOs, according to a Deloitte survey, are all about people.
So it stands to reason the direct managers of those people play a crucial role.
Line managers need to be a coach, mentor, confidant, motivator, engager, morale booster, risk assessor, disciplinarian – and they deserve support too, as our latest research shows.
Recognition for work well done represented the top response from line managers when asked how their personal wellbeing could be improved.
When asked what would help them improve the wellbeing support to their people they first and foremost said “clear direction from the top of the company on purpose and values to better understand how wellbeing fits in” (37%).
Meanwhile, one in three (32%) wanted support and training on how to have conversations and signpost to support services for their teams.
At the same time, line managers seem more inclined to use the benefits on offer – 61% compared to just 46% of employees said they’d used the wellbeing benefits available to them at work.
In other words, they are arguably well placed to lead by example, considering that usage leads to value and value leads to sharing with others.
Three tips for engagement
So, how could the industry better support line managers? Here are our top 3 tips:
- Speak direct to line managers. Share human stories, help them understand where benefits fit in to day-to-day conversations, check-ins and wider wellbeing initiatives.
- Help with stress risk assessments. Take advantage of stress risk assessment support from providers, where available, especially in SMEs where there perhaps isn’t a health and safety or HR function. Help them apply those insights to workload and working practices. Also, to identify where added value services might be put to good and targeted use.
- Share training and toolkit support from insurers. Most insurers now offer bite-size wellbeing training, they can share case studies on what good wellbeing support looks like, and they might offer free access to expert toolkits; for example, helping employers self-create the kind of targeted communication programme that is usually only a reality for big companies with deep pockets.