Employee Benefits poll: More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents think that employers should offer incentives for all employees to adopt healthy behaviours.
A straw poll of www.employeebenefits.co.uk readers, which received 61 responses, also found that 13% of respondents feel that employers should provide incentives for some staff in order to encourage healthy behaviours, while 8% do not believe such incentives should be offered at all. A minority (2%) do not know whether incentives that award employees’ healthy behaviours should be offered or not.
The 2017-2018 Global benefits attitudes survey, published by global risk management, insurance brokerage and advisory organisation Willis Towers Watson in February 2018, found that 33% of UK employees believe their employers should pay them for keeping healthy. Meanwhile, 34% of British employees claimed that they would only participate in their organisation’s health initiatives if there was a financial incentive to do so. This was an increase from the 26% of respondents who said the same in 2013.
The research also found that 70% of UK respondents do not believe that wellbeing-related rewards, such as health screening, physiotherapy treatment, gym or sports club membership and spa days, meet their needs.
However, this view varied when the research considered a more global perspective. A quarter (25%) of respondents based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) believe that employer initiatives have encouraged them to live healthier lives, compared to 40% of respondents living in Asia Pacific regions, 37% of respondents in Latin America and 31% of North American respondents.
