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29 Mar 2016
by Liz Morrell

Employee Wellness Research 2016: Engagement rather than ROI main reason for wellness strategies

Improving employee engagement, rather than ROI is the primary reason why employers offer wellness strategies within their businesses, according to research conducted by the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA) in conjunction with Punter Southall Health & Protection.

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The REBA/Punter Southall Health & Protection Employee Wellness Research 2016, showed that more than a third (39.4%) of employers said that increasing employee engagement was the number one driver for their organisation’s wellness strategy.

This was in contrast to more numbers-driven reasons such as reducing insurance premiums and claims (cited by only 1.4% of respondents) and reducing absences (8.5% for reducing long-term sickness absence and 4.2% for reducing short-term absence).

Instead organisations are focusing on the benefits that wellness strategies bring on an emotional engagement basis and being seen to be more caring about how their employees are feeling, both physically and mentally, according to the research. Nearly a quarter (22.5%) said that it helped to improve organisational culture whilst 12.7% recognised that it helped them as employers to help retain their most talented staff.

Nearly all (95.8%) included health and safety within their wellness strategies whilst more than three quarters (78.9%) address both mental health and physical activity within their wellness strategies.

Debi O’Donovan, partner at REBA, said the results show the central role that wellness strategies are now playing in business. “Organisations appear to be increasingly looking upon wellness strategies as a great way to engage with their employees and deliver a more rewarding working environment – not only helping them to retain existing staff but also helping them to recruit new staff," she said.

Download a free copy of the 36 page, in-depth REBA/Punter Southall Health & Protection Employee Wellness Research 2016