Developing wellbeing strategies and initiatives are a fast-growing priority for many businesses. Our wellbeing research with the CIPD found that most organisations are taking some action to promote wellbeing, with two-fifths having a formal strategy1.
Even where there is no formal strategy, there’s likely to be at least one wellbeing benefit in place. 94% of organisations offer one or more health promotion benefit, such as free eye tests or subsidised gym membership. Almost nine in ten offer a form of employee support, including access to counselling services or an EAP, and nearly three-quarters provide an insurance or protection initiative, like PMI or health cash plans1.
With so many options for supporting employee wellbeing, how can you be sure you’re choosing the right benefits, and the right provider? There are some important questions that businesses should ask providers before investing their carefully planned resources.
The first question is around understanding how a provider can help a business address challenges, or achieve goals around wellbeing. This might be making a positive impact on sickness absence, curating an attractive employee deal, or retaining talent.
Reducing absence is a top priority for almost half of employers2 and being competitive as an employer of choice is a major influence on benefit purchasing decisions for 36%1. Whatever the priorities might be, a benefits provider should listen to what the challenges are and help craft a wellbeing benefits offering that is aligned to these.
The next area to consider is how providers can help maximise investment in benefits. For more than two-thirds of organisations, budgetary constraints are a top three factor that influence the decision to purchase wellbeing benefits. And value for money is a key consideration for over a third1.
Measuring ROI of benefits is the most powerful way to demonstrate success, yet just 35% of employers do this2. A benefits provider should be able to work with a business to help identify key performance measures that are relevant to that organisation, and share insights into benefit performance through management information.
The final aspect to ask a potential provider about, is how they can help communicate and promote wellbeing benefits. Engaging employees with benefits is crucial to seeing any kind of return value. Without engagement, a benefits offering can easily fall flat. Yet we’ve found that 56% of employers communicate with staff about their benefits on less than a quarterly basis2.
Some providers are able to share marketing materials to help launch new benefits, but also drive engagement by showing how benefits can support employees in their everyday lives. Commonly, providers’ resources are structured around national health campaigns, such as Mental Health Awareness Week, which can really help gain traction with benefits communication.
1 CIPD/Simplyhealth Health and Well-being at Work 2019 report
2 Simplyhealth Health and Wellbeing Benefits Guide 2017
Armed with this information from wellbeing benefits providers, you’ll be well-placed to choose the right one for your organisation. To help further, we’ve created a guide to building the case for benefits, to help present a convincing story to the business.
Download guide
Developing wellbeing strategies and initiatives are a fast-growing priority for many businesses. Our wellbeing research with the CIPD found that most organisations are taking some action to promote wellbeing, with two-fifths having a formal strategy1.
Even where there is no formal strategy, there’s likely to be at least one wellbeing benefit in place. 94% of organisations offer one or more health promotion benefit, such as free eye tests or subsidised gym membership. Almost nine in ten offer a form of employee support, including access to counselling services or an EAP, and nearly three-quarters provide an insurance or protection initiative, like PMI or health cash plans1.
With so many options for supporting employee wellbeing, how can you be sure you’re choosing the right benefits, and the right provider? There are some important questions that businesses should ask providers before investing their carefully planned resources.
The first question is around understanding how a provider can help a business address challenges, or achieve goals around wellbeing. This might be making a positive impact on sickness absence, curating an attractive employee deal, or retaining talent.
Reducing absence is a top priority for almost half of employers2 and being competitive as an employer of choice is a major influence on benefit purchasing decisions for 36%1. Whatever the priorities might be, a benefits provider should listen to what the challenges are and help craft a wellbeing benefits offering that is aligned to these.
The next area to consider is how providers can help maximise investment in benefits. For more than two-thirds of organisations, budgetary constraints are a top three factor that influence the decision to purchase wellbeing benefits. And value for money is a key consideration for over a third1.
Measuring ROI of benefits is the most powerful way to demonstrate success, yet just 35% of employers do this2. A benefits provider should be able to work with a business to help identify key performance measures that are relevant to that organisation, and share insights into benefit performance through management information.
The final aspect to ask a potential provider about, is how they can help communicate and promote wellbeing benefits. Engaging employees with benefits is crucial to seeing any kind of return value. Without engagement, a benefits offering can easily fall flat. Yet we’ve found that 56% of employers communicate with staff about their benefits on less than a quarterly basis2.
Some providers are able to share marketing materials to help launch new benefits, but also drive engagement by showing how benefits can support employees in their everyday lives. Commonly, providers’ resources are structured around national health campaigns, such as Mental Health Awareness Week, which can really help gain traction with benefits communication.
1 CIPD/Simplyhealth Health and Well-being at Work 2019 report
2 Simplyhealth Health and Wellbeing Benefits Guide 2017
