Engage your employees in their health and wealth through benefits

Employers know that a solid benefits offering is a surefire way to attract and retain employees, and their importance to employees has risen dramatically in the past few years due to the pressing economic and labor market challenges. The reason benefits resonate with employees so strongly is because employees’ concerns over their current and future well-being, both health and financial, is key to their everyday lives. Because we sit at this intersection of physical and financial health, we created our Health & Wealth Index, allowing employees and employers to measure, understand and impact this holistic wellbeing approach. Additionally, for the fifth consecutive year, we released the HSA Bank Health & Wealth Index report. This research, with survey respondents ranging from baby boomers down to those in Generation Z, gives employers insight on employee health and wealth engagement and how it correlates with benefits and their plan design.

The 2022 Health & Wealth Index shares findings and key takeaways on benefits usage by age, gender, marital status, health plan type and more. And new this year, the report also designated focus on mental healthcare and engagement amongst surveyed respondents.

We commissioned a third-party organization to survey over 2,000 randomly selected U.S. adults in the fall of 2021. Respondents answered 10 questions about their health plan enrollment status, health practices, ability to pay for health-related expenses, and confidence in their own health and wealth. They received both a health score and a wealth score, which were combined to produce their overall health and wealth consumer index score. This score ranged from zero to 100 with a maximum health score of 44 and wealth score of 56. The higher the score, the better the respondent ranked in terms of physical health and financial health engagement.

Respondents were grouped into four engagement categories of consumer behavior — minimally engaged (0–39 score); moderately engaged (40–59 score); highly engaged (60–74 score); and optimally engaged (75–100 score) — based on their scores. New for this survey, respondents were also given a mental wellness score based on their responses to five questions about their knowledge of their health plan coverage of mental healthcare, engagement in mental healthcare, confidence in mental health, and ability to obtain mental healthcare. These scores ranged from zero to 39.

The traditional health and wealth scores, along with these new mental wellness scores, led to some important findings.

Top findings in 2022:

• The average health and wealth score decreased slightly from last year yet remained well within the moderately engaged category.
• Generation X respondents experienced the largest decrease in overall engagement among age groups.
• The overall engagement of men decreased by three points.
• Respondents with an HSA-eligible health plan remained the most engaged of all health plan consumer categories.
• One in three responded as uncertain in their ability to cover future healthcare costs both in the near term and retirement.
• More than three out of four respondents made lifestyle changes in the past year to improve their personal health.
• More than half of Generation Z respondents indicated they’d pursue a job change to receive better healthcare benefits.
• Respondents indicated that provider network and access to quality care are more important than cost when choosing a medical plan or service.
• Over half of respondents still haven’t used telehealth.
• Baby boomers had the highest mental wellness score across all age groups, while Generation Z had the lowest.
• One in five respondents indicated they weren’t very or at all confident in their overall mental health.
• Younger employees pursued mental healthcare significantly more than their older coworkers.

What can employers do with these findings?

Here are five key takeaways you can use to design benefits that further engage your employees in their health and wealth and possibly shift their scores higher.

1. Offer a modern portfolio of healthcare benefits plans and services that meet employee needs. These benefits should promote preventive care and wellness; provide easy access to mental healthcare; offer convenient services such as telehealth; and feature tax-favored account such as HSAs, FSAs, RRAs and other products that help manage healthcare and lifestyle costs.
2. Familiarize yourself with employee tools, services and support available through your healthcare providers and other benefits vendors. Hold a summit — either in person or virtual — with these providers and vendors to see what and how they promote to employees.
3. Identify your different benefits audiences within your organization. In lieu of solely company wide communications, consider employees such as such as recruits, new hires, new parents and those nearing retirement who may benefit from targeted messages and engagement efforts throughout the year.
4. Offer employees easy access to decision support tools and lifestyle-focused content that can support their needs. Showcase convenient tools such as a healthcare cost calculator to help them plan expenses, and sleep and meditation apps that promote physical and emotional well-being.
5. Tie it together with an integrated, year-round benefits engagement strategy. Benefits communication outreach isn’t simply an annual effort to support open enrollment. It’s a year-round commitment. Take time to develop a strategy that focuses on health and wealth benefits awareness, choices and decisions; healthcare cost savings and planning; mental healthcare and preventive care; life events such as getting married, having a baby and nearing retirement; and generation-based needs.

While the pandemic continues to impact how we live and work, the 2022 Health & Wealth Index reveals that people are still moderately engaged in their personal health and wealth, valuing the many benefits that support them and their families. However, the survey indicated that they are not only willing to take action, but also value the positive impacts that can come through higher engagement in their physical and financial wellbeing. The report also highlights the continuing need for employers to increase employee awareness, understanding and confidence in their physical, mental and financial well-being. This remains a high priority and timely opportunity for you as you seek out new ways to attract and retain employees.

Kevin Robertson is CRO with HSA Bank.