5 reasons to revisit health & wellbeing

Is your health & wellbeing programme still fit for purpose? Many UK companies are facing rapid increases in their health costs, but decreasing ROI as they struggle to engage modern workforces in outdated packages and prove positive impact to the business.

Here are 5 reasons you need to revisit your health & wellbeing programme and where to start:

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1) It’s only going to get more expensive

There has been significant change within the UK health and wellbeing industry in recent years, which has caused many companies’ spend to increase significantly year-on-year.

Unfortunately, unless you take positive action, this increasing spend is not going to improve outcomes for the workforce, and is likely to put off employees who don’t want to foot the tax bill.

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2) Traditional scheme design doesn’t suit a modern and future workforce

It’s time for organisations to look beyond traditional, reactive benefits that insure against preventable conditions and start to consider their longer-term strategy and how to achieve real change.

So where do you start? You may not want to or be able to take away all of the benefits you provide today – but you can begin to aim towards a better focused and more sustainable approach to health and wellbeing, by restructuring your scheme design based on your company’s and your employees’ needs.

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3) The old funding models no longer fit

The traditional insurance model no longer suits the needs for many workforces, as costs continue to escalate without any tangible returns on investment.

Typically, companies are moving their health and wellbeing spending in two ways: greater focus on preventative than curative by promoting wellness instead of sickness and ill-health, and giving greater choice and responsibility to employees, such as through wellness funds.

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4) You need to invest in communications & engagement to get value from spend

It’s all very well having an amazing range of health benefits, but there is little value to the company if these aren’t appreciated and used by employees.

Investing in internal communications campaigns to drive engagement is critical to achieving value from spend. Some companies are beginning to use tailored online ‘health hubs’ as a way to direct employees towards appropriate benefits and sources of knowledge.

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5) Technology is key to success

Technology enables you to deliver your strategy to your people, as well as showing them the benefits of your health and wellbeing programme.

It can also provide you with the insight and information you need to prove return on investment back to your business and justify your benefits programme – from capturing metrics around activity, demand and interests, to prompting and facilitating purchases and choices.

Thomsons Online Benefits recent webinar "Are You Gambling on Your Employees' Health & Wellbeing?" goes into more detail on how modern health & wellbeing solutions can proactively address your greatest challenges – click here to listen to the recording.

Luke Prankard is senior health and wellbeing consultant at Thomsons Online Benefits.

This article was provided by Thomsons Online Benefits.