FEATURE INSIGHT
Rebekah Haymes, senior consultant at Willis Towers Watson, outlines barriers and solutions Wellbeing schemes
A lthough there is clear willingness from business to make provision for employee health, confusion often prevails around what wellbeing schemes should constitute and how results are measured. As a result, organisational champions often find it tough to achieve buy-in from the relevant stakeholders within a company and, in this respect, wellbeing still suffers from being a relatively new concept. There are, however, steps that can be taken to build on an underlying enthusiasm. In our most recent Staying@Work Survey (‘the survey’) (http://bit.ly/1WWghVL), half of all United Kingdom (UK) employers claimed health and productivity improvements are essential to organisational health strategy, while the rest said they are moderately important. Yet, 83% of UK employers expect their commitment to health and productivity to have increased or significantly increased by 2018. At the same time, demand from employees also appears to be strong. Some 58% of UK workers see health as a priority and 56% believe their employers should take an active role in encouraging employees to live healthy lifestyles. So, the ground is fertile for growth in employee wellbeing schemes if employers can overcome some of the initial barriers that have limited adoption. The survey found, in the UK, some of the most common barriers include fragmented delivery of programmes, lack of actionable data and lack of evidence on returns. These suggest a lack of clarity on what organisations are trying to achieve and the received value of any initiatives put in place. These factors have directly contributed to the difficulties in achieving buy-in for wellbeing schemes, so it is important that any business case must be built on solid intelligence in
order to directly tackle the perception that actionable data is lacking. There are different ways to approach this depending on the amount of data and resource available. It is possible to look at health risk indicators, such as levels of obesity within a workforce, or the prevalence of mental health conditions and musculoskeletal conditions, before comparing levels against national averages. This analysis could highlight areas for focus, allowing employers to delve into issues that appear to be particularly worrying. In-depth analysis might include health screenings, online health risk assessments and health questionnaires to provide a more accurate picture of workforce trends and the problems faced by individuals. This could be supported by information on absence rates and reasons, as well as data from insurance providers. It is then possible to calculate the current impact of absence on a business by looking at daily salary figures alongside absence totals and identify what specific conditions are taking the heaviest toll. It might also be worthwhile to gauge employees’ own views on where support would be most valuable. This might help to identify particular health, lifestyle or financial concerns among the workforce, allowing action to be taken to improve staff morale and boost retention. Once a clear need is demonstrated, it is important to identify what benefits and initiatives will best target problem areas. Communication is key throughout, and the survey shows that improving employee awareness of health and risks and improving employee engagement with programmes are among the top three wellbeing priorities for employers. It is not sufficient to simply promote programme existence. Instead, it is important to create a communications
strategy that looks to change employee behaviour through continued education. This might include regular seminars, bulletins or briefings, covering a range of topics from alcohol consumption to financial planning. The media used needs consideration, too. Face-to-face briefings and email are the ‘bread and butter’ but greater engagement may be gained through use of tablet and smartphone apps or by adding an element of gamification to ignite employees’ competitive spark. This can support a series of targeted initiatives that might include elements such as cycle-to-work schemes, discounted gym memberships, weight-loss schemes or smoking cessation support. Data is not only important in determining which route to take, it should be used to determine the success of chosen initiatives, too. Having established appropriate data sources during the design phase, it is important to establish benchmarks and track performance over time. Often, health risk data may be difficult to obtain as it can be held within silos across different parts of an organisation. This might be overcome by engaging all relevant business departments and stakeholders – including human resources and finance teams, health and safety representatives, external service providers and intermediaries, physiotherapists, in-house occupational health physicians and communications professionals – within a ‘centralised’ health and wellbeing committee to share information. Allocation of appropriate resource is important to the collection and analysis of data for employee wellbeing, but there is no data ‘holy grail’. Instead, it’s a case of making best use of the information available to build a better understanding of business health risks and to enable effective action to mitigate these risks. Ultimately, wellbeing has a clear link with healthcare costs, productivity and employee satisfaction and a more preventative approach can reap significant long-term rewards. n
...growth in employee wellbeing schemes if employers can overcome some of the initial barriers...
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | June 2017 | Issue 31 46
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online