REBA research: is the experience of work fit for the future in your organisation?

REBA’s Employee Wellbeing Research 2023 urges employers to question whether their wellbeing strategies will nurture and develop a sustainable workforce for the future. Debi O’Donovan, director of REBA, explores the research findings.

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Given the far-reaching societal transformations we are living through, it follows that our experience of work is changing too. Digital technologies and automation are affecting jobs across all sectors from agriculture, retail and healthcare, through to manufacturing, hospitality and logistics. Desk-based roles are unrecognisable from just a generation ago, with major shifts and greater flexibility in how, where and when employees work.

Therefore, when examining wellbeing, it is essential that employers question whether the current experience of work at their organisation is fit for the future, and whether they have an environment that will nurture a sustainable workforce, and therefore a sustainable organisation, for decades to come.

REBA’s Employee Wellbeing Research 2023, published in association with AXA Health, finds that when aligning wellbeing strategies to objectives that support business sustainability, the vast majority of employers point to creating positive workplace cultures, being an employer of choice and achieving greater diversity and inclusion. However, a substantial minority are putting a heavy emphasis on more fundamental business objectives linked to organisational transformation, skills gaps, as well as increased digital technology and automation.

REBA expects this emphasis on transformation, skills and technology to become more marked, because these key areas also show up as the top three risks affecting employee wellbeing.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents say skills availability versus business requirements is putting pressure on employees now or will do in the near future. More than seven-in-10 say organisational or transformational change is a wellbeing risk now or will be.

Most notable of all, while just under one-in-10 currently see the digitisation and automation of work as a risk to wellbeing, this is set to quadruple, with just over four-in-10 employers expecting it to be a future risk.

Unless wellbeing strategies more actively align to building resilience, workforce planning and developing talent, these risks will remain, holding back change and affecting mental, physical, social and even financial wellbeing.

Demographic shifts are also having an impact on wellbeing strategies. Policies and practices to increase the number of older people in the workforce, the proportion of women in more senior roles, plus moves to retain parents and carers are all linked to the need to fill skills and talent gaps as well as widen the diversity of thinking, innovation and creativity within organisations.

REBA’s Employee Wellbeing Research 2023 shows how these demographic shifts are steering employers to adapt their wellbeing offerings. The proportion of employers addressing age-related physical wellbeing will more than double in the next two years. Given that chronic diseases, from diabetes and cardiovascular disease through to musculoskeletal conditions and many cancers, are often linked to lifestyles that develop from a young age, focusing on age-related physical wellbeing means running preventative programmes among all generations.

The research results also show increasing support for women’s health, with two thirds of respondents already having specific strategies in place and a further quarter planning these in the coming two years. While being a working carer or parent can apply to all genders, it is acknowledged that women often take most of this burden. While fewer than half (43%) of employers currently view carers’ needs as part of their wellbeing strategy, as many as four-in-10 are reviewing the option to include this in the next two years. This is a major shift, driven not only by inclusivity objectives but also by the need to retain talent.

Given the vital role of well-thought out wellbeing strategies to nurture the workforces that create sustainable organisations, it is not surprising that eight-in-10 employers prioritise wellbeing strategies to create a positive workplace culture. The link between the ongoing employee experience of work and the wellbeing of both employees and businesses is incredibly strong.