The business case for starting a well-being program

Well-being is a term batted around quite a bit, but what exactly does it entail?

According to Rachel Fellowes, who was named chief wellness officer for Aon in May 2022, wellness encompasses physical, mental, emotional, financial and social dimensions. In the newly created role, Fellowes works to address all aspects of the importance of well-being for not only Aon internally, but for the company’s clients as well.

“Well-being was important before 2020, but the combination of a global pandemic, a rapidly changing economic environment and other factors has elevated its importance to individuals, organizations and communities today,” says Fellowes. “Now, the idea encompasses human sustainability, and ensuring that employees have access to resources across all categories that can help them in and out of the workplace.”

PropertyCasualty360 (Benefits Pro’s sister site) recently connected with Fellows to get more insights into wellness programs, including the business benefits and how to get buy-in from leadership and employees.

What are some of the hallmarks of a top-flight, modern well-being program?

Fellowes: The best well-being programs have a holistic perspective on performance and offer a platform to innovate and evolve over time as the needs of individuals, teams and companies change. In order to effectively develop and expand on benefits offerings, there has to be a way to measure the success of a program, which is why we have the Human Sustainability Index (HSI): a performance tracker for corporate well-being. Measuring well-being helps us understand how we’re doing now and what we need to do in the future to help empower our colleagues to make meaningful changes for themselves, their teams and ultimately the organization.

Are there any outdated notions there regarding well-being that should be discarded?

Fellowes: In today’s environment, our research shows that well-being has become much more than programs, apps, tools and nice-to-have resources to change employee behavior. Well-being is a people and performance strategy, and is increasingly important to organizations around the globe.

Well-being is not a “one and done” task and must incorporate listening, analysis and evolution so that it adapts to the specific needs of each organization’s employees.

In our 2021 Global Well-being Survey, we asked 1,648 companies across 41 countries how they are addressing well-being and the tangible impact that a well-being program has on their business performance. Our research shows that well-being performance within an organization is not directly connected to individual initiatives, only to strong and focused strategies as a whole. Yet of the 87% of companies that have well-being initiatives in place, only 55% have an actual strategy behind them.

What are some of the business benefits of installing a first-class well-being program?

Fellowes: There is a major cost to burnout: the Harvard Business Review reports that burnout adds between $125 billion and $190 billion every year in health care costs, and stress alone accounts for 8% of U.S. health care spend. We continue to feel the impact of the Great Resignation as recruitment and hiring remain big costs, both financially and to human resources. Data from our latest HR Pulse Survey shows that 20% of organizations experiencing turnover attribute it to personal well-being challenges amongst employees.

For the employees who do stay, burnout, stress and a lack of well-being directly impact their abilities in the workplace, and employees can only be their best selves at work if their company takes their well-being seriously. Otherwise, employees will have difficulty concentrating, take longer to complete their work, and have trouble juggling tasks and responsibilities.

We believe that businesses thrive when the communities they serve and the people they employ also flourish. Helping employees feel better, both at home and at work, will drive higher productivity, retention rates and overall happiness within an organization.

What are some ways to get employee and leadership buy-in?

Fellowes: For leadership buy-in, it’s important to have data and measurement tools to showcase the effectiveness of a successful well-being program. At Aon, we shared on our Q2 2022 quarter earnings call that we recorded the highest-ever engagement we’ve ever had from an internal survey and our attrition rate is in line with where it was pre-COVID-19 pandemic. This type of data demonstrates to leaders how the well-being program is working and how it directly impacts the business and its workforce as a whole.

For employee buy-in, colleague communication is critical. Several employees may not actually know what benefits their employer offers or how to access them. A program is only impactful if it’s used, so communicating the organization’s offerings on a consistent and regular basis through different channels is critical. Offering employees a platform to provide feedback also shows that the employer is listening and delivering a well-being program that fits employee needs.

How can small- and medium-sized companies install well-being programs that have an impact? What is the most critical step they should initially take?

Fellowes: Well-being programs will only make a difference if the offerings are relevant to employees’ needs, so the most critical first step is listening. Conducting surveys or providing employees with an opportunity to share what matters most to them will inform the HR team of the pain points their employees are facing. Having a firm understanding of what employees are experiencing and looking for will help the HR team develop a timely and relevant well-being program that reaches its fullest potential.

What are some of the key well-being initiatives Aon is working on?

There has been an increased prioritization of well-being around the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while well-being is something we have always taken seriously at Aon, we understand the importance of continuously enhancing and developing well-being programs to address evolving needs.

Our colleagues benefit from resources that offer personal connections and guidance for individual wellness. For example, employees with children can join parent groups to discuss the intersection of professional and personal lives in remote work environments, and employee assistance programs are available to colleagues seeking extra support. Virtual counseling, wellness apps, videos, and webinars on topics like nutrition, mental health and physical activity provide digital resources for colleagues, ensuring workforce assistance is always available regardless of where work takes place.

Some of our individual initiatives have specific focuses, like our United in Kindness campaign last year, which brought in participation from over 50 countries and focused on colleagues being kind to themselves, to each other and in the community. Other offerings like the Aon United Growth Ownership Plan help to promote financial well-being. More tactical enhancements include increased colleague communications around benefit changes and a refreshed online platform to make it easier to navigate and understand what benefits are offered.

At a time when many organizations are considering how and where work gets done in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we enable our colleagues to deliver their best work for clients from wherever they are best able to do so with our Smart Working model. We also have enhanced our time off policies during the pandemic and implemented firm-wide global holidays for our 50,000 colleagues throughout the year to provide them with extended time to focus on personal well-being.