Hiring, happiness and mental health: the new benefits frontier

Compared with just two years ago, what people want from work is all but unrecognisable.

Pre-Covid-19, it was fairly easy to sketch out the employee experience – someone came aboard, they advanced in their career and, eventually, moved on. Now that simple sketch is more of a scribble. The landscape is as complex as it is varied.

Today, four in 10 London workers would take a pay cut if it meant they could work from home full-time, according to a survey by Hitachi Capital. And more than half of global employees would quit their job if not given post-pandemic flexibility.

The remote work trend began before the coronavirus, yet nothing fast-tracks a concept quite like billions of people doing it en masse. And the same acceleration is true of workplace mental wellbeing.

Thankfully, many forward-thinking organisations were already alive to the power of a proactive mental health strategy.

Employee experience and mental health

Change is coming. Nearly eight in 10 employers say employee mental wellbeing is now a top priority for their company, according to a Rockefeller Foundation study, and as expectations of employee experience and workplace mental health continue to evolve worldwide, it’s important to approach each of these with the other in mind.

In other words, mental health should be at the core of the employee experience. And the employee experience should be front of mind when a company shapes a truly proactive, whole-person mental health programme.

Finding and joining your company – and even before

People who might become your job candidates are forming an opinion of you even before they visit your career site. They already know something about you. They already have a perception about your brand in the market or as an employer, all based on what they’ve read in the news or on social media or heard from friends.

Of course, the ante is upped once they visit your career site. And the employee experience gains greater weight as they move through the process all the way to a final job interview. Potential employees are continuously forming their opinion of your company – who you are and what you stand for. And they share those opinions.

Hiring is easier, costs less, and is faster with a strong employer brand

• +31^% higher InMail acceptance rates among recruiters at companies with a strong employer brand versus those with a weak employer brand (based on an index of every company on the LinkedIn network)

• -43^% lower cost per hire among companies with a strong employer brand vs those with a weak employer brand

• +20^% faster rate of hire among companies with a strong employer brand vs those with a weak employer

Particularly post-Covid-19, making a good impression and snagging top talent requires more than a career page filled with employees playing table tennis in the company break room, or even offering a highly competitive salary.

Here are four key reasons why creating a great employee experience during the recruiting and hiring stage is more important today than at any time in recent history – and why a corporate wellbeing strategy that moves the conversation beyond a binary notion of employees with a mental health ‘problem’, versus those who are flourishing, can make a difference.

1. The labour shortage and hiring challenges

Several trends that are outside the control of companies and are incredibly hard to overcome have contributed to a perfect storm of staff shortages throughout the UK.

• The labour shortage has led to growing calls for government intervention, as recruitment is hampered by a combination of post-pandemic shortfalls and Brexit rules.

• Worker shortages have left UK service stations empty, created gaps on supermarket shelves and are forcing farms to cull livestock.

• The five occupations most affected by worker shortages, according to Recruitment and Employment Confederation data, include HGV drivers (100k+), Nurses (79k+), programmers and software developers (68k+), care workers (49k+), and primary and nursery teaching professionals (30k+)

2. The rise of the remote workforce and workplace expectations among job candidates

Statistics show an overwhelming desire among working professionals and others to continue working remotely post-pandemic.

3. The heightened expectations for companies to demonstrate a culture of caring

The importance of creating caring cultures has moved centre stage among job candidates and new employees.

Research shows that healthy employees are happier, more productive and more engaged than unhealthy ones. Companies with a healthy culture also see less turnover and lower levels of absenteeism.

Part of creating a culture of caring is addressing the increased demand for programmes and benefits that until fairly recently were considered nice-to-have add-ons to the traditional “core” benefits – medical, dental, and vision. A 2021 study by Willis Towers Watson of 446 employers found 94% consider non-core or ‘voluntary’ benefits part of their value proposition. That’s a huge increase from 33% who felt the same way in 2018. And the options have mushroomed.

• 75^% of employees are more likely to stay with their employer because of their benefits package.

• 87^{% of}UK workers want their employers to care about their mental health.

• 1-1-1 The Salesforce philanthropic model for donating: 1% of business revenue, 1% of product, and 1% of employees’ time to the community.

• 50^% of consumers are willing to pay more for a product or service if the business prioritised sustainability.

• 61^% of investors consider corporate social responsibility a sign of “ethical corporate behaviour, which reduces investment risk”.

• 87^%Believe employers should offer volunteer programmes.

4. The need for a new attitude toward hiring and what that means for HR professionals

The pandemic and today's challenges have put new emphasis on a central concept of effective HR: recognising that employees are a company’s most valuable asset.

Good HR leaders choose candidates they know will be an excellent fit, then support their success by providing relevant and effective training. An attitude of inclusive hiring – ensuring processes are fair, consistent, objective, and transparent – heightens the employee experience, enhances hiring decisions and contributes to building a diverse workforce.

A new attitude toward hiring also means being open to the huge talent pool of remote employees and embracing a version of the hybrid work model.

Read the full report – The employee experience, mental health, and the post-Covid-19 workplace.

The author is Sam Musguin-Rowe from Unmind.

This article was provided by Unmind.