Employers continue to increase employee wellbeing dimensions, study finds

A new Gallagher 2023 Physical and Emotional Wellbeing Report says 90% of employers have increase support for one or more core employee wellbeing dimensions

“Today’s workforces consist of multiple generations and people from a variety of backgrounds, and this requires employers to analyze whether their benefit offerings are addressing a wide range of employee needs,” said William F. Ziebell, CEO of Gallagher’s Benefits & HR Consulting Division. “As organizations continue to focus on recruiting and retention as top operational and HR priorities, it’s clear that they’re paying closer attention to important issues, such as flexibility, burnout and inclusive medical coverage.”

Other findings in the survey showed that:

• Employers are investing in employee morale: Providing mental health training for managers, leaders or HR increased by 5 points to 22% and roughly 7 in 10 employers (71%) offer clinical care such as virtual or telephonic mental health counseling.
• Offering more downtime to avoid burnout:25% of employers are allowing time off for mental health and burnout (up from 3 points in 2022).
• Updated paid leave policies are on the rise, but unlimited time off is slow to catch on: Access to new child or parent bonding paid leave has increased 5 points from 2022 to 41%, but only 5% of employers offer unlimited PTO.
• Employers still unsure of specialty drug coverage: Challenges remain in managing specialty drugs (e.g., weight loss, gene therapies, biosimilars), and 48% of employers don’t know or don’t use tactics to manage their use and costs.

Nearly all employers (96%) offer paid time off (PTO) to full-time employees, and more than 4 in 5 (81%) allow employees to carry over days into future years. The ability to help employees meet their work-life integration needs relies on flexible PTO policies. But less than half (47%) include separate vacation, sick or personal days and only 5% offer unlimited PTO.

Nearly 2 in 5 employers (39%) enhanced their medical benefits in 2023, up 6 points from 2022. After base salary and variable compensation, medical benefits received the most attention from employers (39%), up 6 points from 2022. As a result, the use of employee cost sharing and other cost-management tactics is likely to grow.

Related: Are employers doing enough to improve employee wellbeing?

“It is essential to recruitment, retention and the overall wellbeing of employees to serve diverse needs,” said Ziebell. “As such, employers should determine what approaches to coverage and utilization will provide the best results for their employee populations, without driving excessive costs.”