Less than a quarter (20%) of UK organisations have a fully implemented wellbeing strategy, compared with 29% of global businesses, according to a study from Buck Consultants at Xerox.
‘Working well: A global survey of health promotion, workplace wellness and productivity strategies’ examined strategies across the globe, comparing practices in the UK with those elsewhere in the world. The report collected information from 1,041 organisations in 37 countries.
The survey also found that:
- 25% of UK respondents have had a wellness programme in place five years or over, which rises to 38% of organisations in the rest of the world.
- 34% of UK respondents offer incentives, compared with 90% in the United States.
- There is less emphasis on measuring the success of wellbeing programmes in the UK, with only 38% of respondents doing so, compared with 52% globally, with a lack of resource cited as the main reason behind this.
- 30% of UK correspondents claim to have a strong culture of health today, but at least 73% intend to pursue this in the future.
The reasons that employers decide to establish wellness strategies vary by country. Stress is the main health risk that drives wellness strategies across Europe and Canada, whereas in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, the key driver is safety.
In the US, Australia and New Zealand, organisations often initiate wellbeing programmes to promotephysical activity and exercise. Nutrition and healthy eating were also top drivers across Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Martyn Anwyl, head of health and productivity at Buck Consultants at Xerox, said: “It is interesting to note that a mental health issue, such as depression, factor more in the UK’s wellbeing programmes than other countries globally.
“Wellbeing is a huge area and can be overwhelming to organisations, but employers can understand what the key focus areas are and target those by tapping into data from an employee assistance programme, medical insurance claims, absence records, and surveys.”