Affordability was cited as the biggest challenge in supporting the health and wellbeing of staff by 30% of employers, according to new research from Group Risk Development (Grid).
The industry body for the group risk sector’s research was carried out among 503 UK HR decision-makers. It found that 45% of employers do not measure the impact of supporting their employees’ health and wellbeing, while 98% of those that do say it is positive.
Of the 51% who do measure the impact, 42% said supporting health and wellbeing holistically helps them manage absence, mitigating the number and length of absences meaning quicker returns to work, and 39% find it integral to their organisation’s ethos to support employees’ health and wellbeing, which helps them fulfil their business objectives.
Furthermore, 36% said they are more likely to succeed financially as a business when their employees are fit, healthy and engaged in their work, 35% find that when their employees know that they are supported with their overall health and wellbeing, it increases their productivity, and 30% said potential clients are interested in how well they look after staff, as having a good policy in place helps them win clients.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for Grid, said: “Unlike an investment in other business assets, evaluating the business benefits of health and wellbeing support can be more nuanced. That’s why it’s so important that HR teams have measurements in place that demonstrate the worth of their selected employee benefits to ensure they can retain and grow their budget for this type of support in the future.”
“It is down to HR teams and the wider business to not only provide health and wellbeing benefits for their staff, such as group risk – employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness – but to also measure and then demonstrate the inherent value within them.”