Two-fifths (40%) of organisations believe they have achieved a culture of wellbeing in 2018, compared with a third (33%) in 2016, according to a study by HR and benefits adviser Buck.
The report, Working well: a global survey of workforce wellbeing strategies, surveyed 252 organisations across 56 countries, and found that 81% of those that do not yet feel they have done so aspire to achieve a wellbeing culture in the future. Only 10% said they did not see the value of investing in wellbeing support.
Almost three-fourths (73%) of employers said they viewed support for total wellbeing as an important element of their reward offering. Two-thirds (65%) aimed to reduce employee absence by creating a wellbeing culture, while the majority felt it was part of either improving performance and productivity (83%) or improving employee engagement and morale (84%).
The top factors influencing employee wellbeing include stress (95%), work-life issues (94%), depression, anxiety and weight-management issues (93%) and access to healthcare services (92%).
Ruth Hunt, a principal in Buck's engagement practice and global workforce wellbeing survey leader, said: "Our findings demonstrate that a failure to creatively invest in employee wellbeing can result in many adverse consequences for the success and sustainability of an organisation.
"A combination of stressors, such as health challenges, relatively stagnant wages, heightened financial pressures and always-on technology are taking a personal toll on employees. Employers are now focusing their wellbeing programming accordingly. Wellbeing has become a popular catchphrase, but the stressors are real and employers can see how employees' wellbeing is impacting the bottom line."
The top programme elements being added by those expanding their financial wellbeing offerings included money management and budgeting tools (66%), financial health assessments (66%), retirement estimating tools or calculators (63%) and financial literacy and skills education (59%).
The survey also found that organisations are increasingly relying on technology to drive efficiencies in benefits delivery. The most popular approaches include predictive analytics (84%), incentive tools and tracking (80%), portal hubs (69%) and decision-support tools (63%).
