Employee Benefits Live 2024: It is beneficial to ensure financial, mental and physical wellbeing are all interlinked in order for employers to offer a range of appropriate employee support, according to Wolseley and The Big Word Group.
During a session titled The holy trinity of financial, mental and physical wellbeing on the second day of Employee Benefits Live 2024, Ant Donaldson, reward manager – benefits at Wolseley (pictured above) and Chris Whiting, global head of people and talent at The Big Word Group, discussed the impact of these three pillars in organisations.
The session, which was chaired by Rashree Chhatrisha, reward director – pensions and benefits at Saga, explored how financial difficulties can sometimes lead to mental and physical wellbeing issues, and that employers should think about what benefits they already have in place and identify gaps where they could offer support.
“The role of leadership in advocating wellbeing is critical. Support should come from the top as this helps to normalise mental health and financial wellbeing conversations and demystify issues. Focus on prevention rather than a cure,” Donaldson said.
In terms of financial education support that employers can offer staff, it is worth bearing in mind that some providers can offer add ons at zero, or a low, cost. For example, Donaldson added that some pension providers offer free financial advice and other benefits providers will run webinars and face-to-face discussions for employees. Meanwhile, some private medical insurance offerings can also include virtual GP services.
The panel also explored how employers can leverage awareness days, because a calendar of events based on these can help to promote existing benefits and get targeted messages out to employees. While Wolseley has a menopause campaign this month to tie in with the day and is offering access to a quitting support app for Stoptober, The Big Word Group is running an online mental health session for World Mental Health Day.
“Awareness days can be great starting points for employers. It’s important to offer the greatest value possible to staff through support, as well as using employee network groups to pivot benefits and gain feedback. By listening to a workforce, employers will then know what to offer them,” Whiting said.
The panel also discussed tailoring wellbeing initiatives to a workforce with different demographic, cultural and personal circumstances, and how best to communicate with these groups and get the message across to them.
“If they use multiple benefits providers, employers should ensure they bring wellbeing support into one place and that there is a central point for staff that is easy to access. Benefits in general need to be easily accessible, more employees prefer to use apps these days, especially younger staff, so the technology in place needs to be adequate,” Whiting said.
