Workplace wellbeing: are we just wasting our time?
As employee wellbeing strategies bed into our organisations, it is perhaps right that after such rapid growth and disruption, we stop to question where we are and what might need to change.
A moment for wellbeing recalibration
The now infamous Oxford study into common workplace wellbeing initiatives has had a profound effect. This study found that almost all of the most common workplace wellbeing initiatives were a complete waste of time. While the study is not without its problems, it has perhaps encouraged a much-needed moment of pause and reflection that is important.
The fact that we don’t see wellbeing at work as a way of creating better businesses, is maybe why it fails. Workplace wellbeing is all too frequently seen as something to mitigate risk, rather than a way to optimise the workforce. HR and wellbeing leaders also face the challenge of tight budgets, confusion over who owns wellbeing, and a stream of internal global wellbeing roles being made redundant of late. We need a rethink.
Benefits are wellbeing
The wellbeing experience is disconnected from the benefits experience. Rarely do I see wellbeing teams working closely to design benefit schemes. Often the work laid out by reward and benefits teams is duplicated by wellbeing teams. This is something I think is a big mistake and is behind some workplace wellbeing failings.
For four years in Benefex’s global industry research, employees and employers have said they see benefits and wellbeing as going hand in hand – or even as being the same thing. In its 2024 research report, Benefex found that 84% of employees globally said that wellbeing was the most important pillar in a great experience at work. But almost all of them pointed to the benefits they are offered as the best way to do this. Employees globally also saw wellbeing as core to the employee value proposition, with almost every country we surveyed reporting that benefits needed to support wellbeing. More than four-fifths (88%) of employees said that the benefits and perks an employer offers directly impacts wellbeing.
Aside from the various apps, health initiatives and awareness campaigns, it’s the benefits that kick in when employees need support that are often behind good workplace wellbeing. The important and critical role benefits play in ensuring workplace wellbeing isn’t a waste of time is too often lost.
Prove it – demonstrating the strategic value of benefits and wellbeing
I want to find the secret to better benefits – and better and more worthwhile workplace wellbeing. I want to make sure we don’t waste our time and surface the evidence that proves how benefits can create workplace wellbeing success. Some of the findings I discovered through my research include:
- Employees who cycle to work are less likely to be prescribed drugs for anxiety or depression
- Dental insurance drives down instances of cardiac arrest
- Health insurance is a significant determiner of happiness
- Health screening saves more than 100,000 lives a year
- Income protection policies lead more employees to talking therapies
A strategic integration of employee benefits and wellbeing is where the research led me. Together benefits and wellbeing are symbiotic and immensely effective. Employee benefits should sit front and centre of your reward and wellbeing strategies. However, just 29% of employers say wellbeing is fully integrated into their benefits strategy. The time has come for us to really commit to this integration.
The ‘Health Hextad’
When we bring benefits and wellbeing together, we can see that workplace wellbeing isn’t a waste of time. We can confidently link these combined strategies with something I call ‘The Health Hextad’.
Strategic benefits clarity: directing wellbeing for growth
When we strategically integrate employee benefits with our wellbeing strategy, we get:- Higher total shareholder returns
- Better overall firm performance
- Higher corporate valuations and better company reputation
- Our resistance to volatility improves
- Profitability is higher
- And stock market performance is better
When we use employee wellbeing benefits and initiatives not just to mitigate risk or reduce sickness, but to optimise our people – we get the ‘Health Hextad’. The higher someone’s wellbeing at work, the greater their productivity. The economic return of improving employee wellbeing could be the equivalent of £6,000 per employee, per year.
The bottom line: Individual wellbeing is linked to profitability. Wellbeing benefits lead to higher organisational innovation. Employee benefits motivate, engage and help retain employees.
A strategic integration of employee benefits and wellbeing amplifies human capital potential. We know from the evidence that high growth companies place benefits at the centre of their wellbeing strategy; highly profitable companies offer more highly sought after wellbeing benefits like health insurance; thriving organisations offer more benefit choices.
Your benefits team will see you now
The evidence tells us just how impactful wellbeing benefits are to the health and prosperity of our people and our organisations. While common wellbeing initiatives are starting to be called into question, reward and benefit teams continue to flourish. Demand for benefits like health insurance has never been higher. And while some wellbeing teams are losing investment and interest from their leaders, reward and benefit teams are receiving unrivalled board attention and investment.
Workplace wellbeing isn’t a waste of time, but who owns it, and how it is integrated is an important part of securing its future.
Watch Gethin’s session at the recent REBA Wellbeing Congress.
In partnership with Benefex
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