Employee stress spurs employer spending on pricey well-being perks
Employers are trying everything from fitness trackers and luxury family vacations to increased time off to ease employees' stress.
Stressed employees are on the receiving end of more spending by their employers on all sorts of perks aimed at lessening that stress level.
That’s according to a report from workforce performance company CR Worldwide, which also says that as younger employees report increasing stress levels, bosses haul out the checkbook to pay for employee “rewards”—everything from fitness trackers and luxury family vacations to increased time off, instead of costly gadgets unrelated to wellness.
In fact, the report adds that average U.S. corporate spending on employee rewards ballooned by 67 percent in 2019. And no wonder; it’s getting pricey. U.S. spending on rewards for sales teams, according to the report, has also tripled just in the last year, from $103 per head to $353 per head.
Related: 2 trends that will transform employee rewards programs
Since spending more time on the job isn’t doing productivity any favors, bosses are instead lessening the hours workers have to spend on the job—with the three most frequently issued rewards for U.S. employees last year an extra full-day, half-day and 10-hour vacation.
And about those luxury family vacations? The three most expensive rewards for top-performing employees included Luxury Five Night Cruise for Two, an Orlando Family Dream Vacation and a Napa Valley Wine and Dine Mini Break.
Among the top 10 health-related perks granted to employees, aside from the above-mentioned fitness trackers, are such wellness-related trinkets as water bottles, but more is being spent on “experiential” rewards than doodads as corporate higher-ups keep in mind OECD research that indicates, according to the report, “how long working hours can lead to lower output by increasing stress, while those that offer better work-life balance enjoy higher rates of productivity.”
Companies are also increasingly using employee data to craft HR policies and programs that are more personalized. In fact, 38 percent of enterprises now use automated real-time systems to track and reward employee performance—resulting in such employer-provided perks as free life coaching and “nap rooms.”
“Employers have been offering gyms or chill-out spaces in the workplace for a few years now, but new data shows that corporations are increasingly investing in employee well-being outside the workplace by offering rewards from extra time off to luxury cruises,” says David Gould, CEO at CR Worldwide.
Gould adds, “This reinforces recent evidence of the widening scope of ‘corporate wellness’ initiatives, from employee counselling services to international retreats. The main drivers include a growing need to recruit a younger workforce that believes companies should care about their overall well-being, as well as the pressure to counter rising workplace stress, which has an impact on productivity.”
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