Employee Wellness Research 2016: wellness spending on the rise

However nearly a quarter of those organisations without a wellness strategy in place believe they can provide wellness initiatives without any additional spend, according to the report.  

The research shows that overall more than a third (38.5%) of those surveyed in the research reported higher spending in 2015 than in previous years and nearly half (46.8%) of employers plan to increase spending in the wellness arena yet further in 2016.

Budgets are an issue however. Organisations with a defined wellness strategy are more than twice as likely to have a dedicated wellness budget than those without. Two thirds of employees without a formal strategy still invest in the health and wellbeing of their employees but such investment is at a lower level.

More than a quarter raid other budgets

Just over a quarter (28.4%) take their wellness spend from another budget – usually HR, benefits or central reward – whilst 14.9% run their wellness budgets on a cost neutral basis.

Worryingly the research showed a hesitance to invest for some with more than a quarter (26%) of organisations without a strategy in place thinking they can provide wellness initiatives without incurring any additional expense whilst nearly one in five (18.8%) say that they do not spend anything on wellness at all.

For those with a wellness strategy in place median annual spend was between £26 and £50 per employee compared to a spend of between £1 and £25 per employee for those without.

“With the anticipated increase in wellness spending for 2016 organisations need to look again at their budgets to understand how they can best deliver wellness strategies for their employees,” said Debi O’Donovan, director at REBA.

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