Almost a third (32%) of employers stated they signpost support on demand, according to Everywhen.
The research conducted by Opinium for Everywhen among 500 HR decision-makers across the UK found that 13% of all employers, and nearly one in five SME employers (19%), state they do not actively encourage use of support at all.
But the research also indicated a varied mix of approaches and tactics used to encourage engagement among many businesses.
This includes 30% of employers producing wellbeing calendars of events and awareness days and 29% of employers using the company intranet to promote support, with a quarter (25%) having apps or an employee benefits platform.
Around a quarter (23%) of companies have health and wellbeing champions and 19% use ‘lived experiences’ to help make support more personal and approachable, 21% run in-person events with health and wellbeing specialists and 17% use providers/suppliers/advisers to help with their in-person events, and 21% use advisers/suppliers/providers to help with their written communications.
Large corporate companies (those with 250+ employees) were found to be more likely than SMEs (those with 249 or less employees) to offer every kind of approach for showing the support available, including, for example, 35% of large corporates provide access via apps or a digital platform, compared to 19% of SMEs, 36% of large corporates have health and wellbeing champions, compared to 16% of SMEs and 31% of large corporates offer webinars, compared to 13% of SMEs.
Debra Clark, head of wellbeing at Everywhen, (pictured) said: “Relying on employees to request the health and wellbeing support they need has issues, not least that they may not want to ask for help, and definitely wouldn’t if they do not know what support is available.
“It’s almost a waste of time having benefits in place if no one knows about them.”
“It is good news that a wide variety of approaches are being used to encourage employees to seek health and wellbeing support if and when needed, but generally more employers need to be implementing more methods of communication and promotion to engage with more employees regarding the health and wellbeing support available. This is the best way to ensure that the support in place has a positive impact for the employee and the company alike.”