New study finds gap between wellness needs of employees and what employers offer
According to employees, benefits that would have the biggest impact on their health include more guidance on exercise, diet and mental health.
Employer wellness offerings are not always aligned with employee health needs, according to the 2021 Workplace Wellness Action Index commissioned by MOBE.
“After a year of radical adaptation, we are moving toward establishing a new workplace equilibrium, and employers must balance changing work models with the needs of employees in this new reality,” said Chris Cronin, CEO of MOBE. “Today, we are seeing a gap between what employers believe their people need, what they are providing and what their team is actually using.
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“As employers increase their investment in health and wellness, it will be even more critical to have confidence in their investment. Most solutions lack the data that a value-based wellness solution offers to provide that confidence.”
Among the key findings:
Workforce well-being is a top concern. Three-quarters of employed adults report facing health challenges outside of work. They’re struggling with the same concerns identified in the 2020 index, and for those with chronic conditions, health concerns only increased.
- U.S. consumers identify a need for more support, saying that benefits offerings that would have the biggest impact on their health at this time are more guidance on exercise (30%), diet (29%), mental health (22%) and sleep (22%).
- The biggest health-related challenges employed adults are facing outside of work include not getting enough sleep (30%), lack of physical activity (30%), maintaining a healthy diet (27%) and increased stress or anxiety (26%).
- Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic had a mixed impact on employee health.
Employers plan to expand wellness investments and offerings, but programs and communications may not align with employee needs.
- More than half of HR decision-makers plan to increase investment in health and wellness benefits overall in 2022.
- However, although employers are concerned about the wellbeing of their workforce and are willing to invest in their health, they perceive different challenges than workers self-report.
Employers want to demonstrate ROI, but the vendor data they analyze might not provide a complete picture.
- Nearly all HR decision-makers report that it is important for health and wellness benefits solutions to be able to demonstrate ROI within 12 months.
- According to most HR decision-makers, when deciding which health and wellness benefits to offer to employees, 80% consider it absolutely essential or very important to both address employees’ individual needs and demonstrate savings for their company’s bottom line.
- Employers are relying on anecdotal feedback to determine benefits success; the top way they determine the value of investment in health and wellness benefits offerings is through positive feedback from employees.
“The data are clear: neither employees nor employers are getting the full benefit of health and wellness offerings,” Cronin said. “As work models shift and employers face another transition, there’s a growing need for tailored health and wellness offerings that make a true, measurable impact on employee health. Personalized, one-to-one guidance that integrates a whole-person approach, as well as data-driven evaluation of program impact can help employers better support their workforce and reach the employees who need health support the most.”
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