More than eight out of 10 (82%) micro, small and medium-sized (SME) employers said they provide access to one or more insurance-based health and wellbeing employee benefit, according to new research from Canada Life.
A sample of 550 HR decision-makers at SMEs, with one to 249 employees, were surveyed to understand their attitudes towards insurance-based employee benefits for managing worker wellbeing.
However, some of the benefit services that get strong positive feedback for reducing workplace absence and supporting worker health and wellbeing have low take-up. This differs when SMEs are asked if they agree the services they offer are effective for supporting employee health.
Almost all (96%) of respondents that provide access to online fitness and nutrition programmes agree they are effective at reducing workplace absence and supporting employee health and wellbeing, followed by phone and video GP appointments and private medical insurance (PMI), both at 92%.
Nine in 10 (90%) agreed that virtual mental health counselling or self-help online stress management tools make a difference, as do occupational health services (90%). Meanwhile, 88% agreed that group critical illness and group income protection plans are valuable when employees face ill-health.
However, the number of SMEs that offer these benefits is much lower. A quarter (28%) offer virtual mental health counselling and online self-help stress management tools, along with PMI (27%), annual health checks (26%), employee assistance programmes (21%), group critical illness insurance (20%), occupational health (16%), group income protection insurance (14%), phone and video GP appointments (12%), and online nutrition and fitness programmes (10%).
Chris Morgan, head of proposition and product strategy, protection at Canada Life, said: “Small businesses depend on a healthy workforce, when employees are unwell, the impact on productivity can be significant. It’s encouraging to see some SMEs are investing in health and wellbeing benefits, but it’s vital they regularly assess whether these benefits are effectively supporting their employee’s health and workforce productivity.”
