Both employers and employees think health and well-being are important, but there's a big disconnect between boss and worker when it comes to well-being programs offered by the former. The boss thinks they're working; the worker begs to differ.
According to the Global Benefits Attitude Survey from Willis Towers Watson, while 56 percent of employers believe that the well-being programs they provide to employees are working, encouraging their workers to live a healthier lifestyle, just 32 percent of employees agree.
Instead, although 65 percent of workers say that managing their health is a top priority, 54 percent also say that their employers should financially reward them for living a healthy lifestyle. And although employers have been using this approach via programs that provide significant financial incentives, thinking their employees have bought into it, that's definitely not the case.
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An increasing number of employees say that they'd participate only if they're offered incentives: 46 percent now, compared with just 35 percent in 2011. Employers are looking for new ways to engage employees, since existing methods aren't working very well.
"More employees are looking at financial incentives as an entitlement, which means it can be difficult for employers to take the incentives away. Yet, our research and experience show these rewards are not effective except when used in specific ways, such as discrete tasks that offer an immediate payout," Steve Nyce, a senior economist at Willis Towers Watson, says in the report.
Nyce adds, "We suggest that employers rethink how their programs are designed and incented to create longer-term behavior changes. Employees do not want to be told what to do; rather, they want to be supported with programs that lead to improved well-being. It's an essential balance that's not very easy to achieve."
One alternative approach involves technology, with the survey finding that three in five employees use technology to manage their health. While 41 percent use wearables to monitor fitness activity or sleep, 30 percent use technology to track eating habits.
And while online tools definitely help, an approach that's popular among employees is employers who design the workplace environment "to make it easier for employees to stay fit, eat well, breathe fresh air and address stress," says the report. In addition, many employers are also offering onsite or near-site services—and that's a definite positive.
According to the report, "providing onsite or near-site services is valued so highly by employees that they respond positively to their employer's broader well-being initiatives as a result." In fact, 58 percent of employees whose employers offer onsite or near-site well-being programs agree their employers' overall initiatives meet their needs, compared with only 25 percent of workers whose employers don't provide such programs.
What's more, those onsite or near-site services are popular even among employees who don't actually use them. According to Nyce, "Onsite services and activities have a halo effect by generating positive perceptions and engagement around other aspects of an employer's health and well-being program, even for those not directly affected or even using those services or activities. This is a critical component for employers that want to build a healthy workplace culture."
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
