Here is an overview of what the data tells us.
The gap is closing – at least partially
The good news revealed in our 2021 survey is that the gap is closing between what employers say and do about health and well-being benefits and what employees want and expect. Solid majorities of workers say their employer has taken action to improve existing health and well-being programmes and to ensure people understand the health and well-being support on offer.
At the start of the pandemic, employers began placing more focus on health and well-being benefits, and on communications about those benefits, and employees have noticed. In our latest survey, 56% of workers said their employer has taken steps to improve existing benefits programmes and 40% said health and well-being support has improved in the last 12 months.
In this year’s survey, an increasing number of workers gave positive ratings to support for posture, musculoskeletal disorders and other physical conditions, perhaps because many employers sought to educate their employees about healthy ways to work at the kitchen table. Specifically, 86% of employees said access to physical health support was good or adequate, compared with 77% in 2020 who said support for physical issues was good.
The picture with mental health support is not so rosy. In 2020, 52% of office-based workers said their company’s support for mental health was good; this year, less than half that number (25%) said action taken by their employer to address mental health in the workplace has been good, signalling a return to pre-pandemic levels.
In many ways, employers have taken two steps forward but one step back since the pandemic began. Given employees’ shifting values and today’s war for talent, this seems a risky position for organisations to adopt.
- Listen to our War for Talent two-part podcast: Part 1 and Part 2
“We know from our previous research that businesses across the world have notably increased their support for employee health and well-being over the last 18 or so months, and have become much more sensitive to the stress, anxiety and other pressures people face on a daily basis.
The good news is that most businesses are now more supportive of their employees’ well-being; a key challenge is ensuring employees are aware of and feel empowered to use the support and resources available to them. Another challenge will be making sure that employers’ attention to and support of factors critical to employee health and productivity don’t go ‘back to normal’ as the current crises wanes.”
Derek Goldberg, Chief Executive Officer APAC, Aetna International
More can and should be done
Issues surrounding communications run through our data. Employees recognise this as a critical missing element of health and well-being support, access and utilisation. When asked what support is lacking, workers cited better communications around available support (45%), a central benefits hub (40%) and regular updates on how to access support (38%).
Most employers need to do more when it comes to showing employees how to use their benefits. Almost half of respondents (45%) said they would be more likely to use their benefits if those benefits were properly introduced; 26% don’t know how to access their benefits. Moreover, 44% said they would profit from proper training on how to access and use the benefits available – and 44% would like to see managers trained to help them better deal with employee well-being. In this way, employers can ensure they’re helping individuals to make the most of their benefits, to find the ones most relevant to their individual needs and circumstances, to understand what to expect from the process, resource or service, and to address the root cause of their health or well-being issues.
It’s apparent that employees want more of a personalised approach by their employer. Other research we have conducted has revealed that more than half of expat workers (52%) regard tailored plans as more important since the start of the pandemic.
Our Polarised Perceptions research also found that 41% said that communicating with them personally about their needs and overall health would improve their well-being. And 35% said they want to be offered more health support that can be personalised to meet their individual needs. More than half of workers did say their employer shared clear information on how to access health benefits and support, but 47% said the information only related to COVID-19.
This suggests that the increased focus on health was incident-specific and will be short-term in nature, perhaps undermining people’s belief that their employer really cares about their health and well-being. Adding weight to that argument is the fact that more than a third of workers said that increased physical or mental health support or training that their employer promised hasn’t materialised as expected.
“Now is the time for businesses to build upon the good work they’ve already started and make sure their strategies and internal culture are supportive of whole-person health – covering everything from physical health to an individual’s mental and emotional well-being.
Employers must also make sure that communication and support is visible and available to everyone – regardless of their position, location, working status or personal circumstances. Not only is this the right thing to do, it could also have significant implications for productivity, recruitment and retention.
The pandemic has made many employees reassess their priorities and the hunt for talent is becoming increasingly competitive. This is a trend that will almost certainly continue into next year, possibly longer. When it comes to finding and retaining the best people, companies that do not prioritise, value or respect their employees’ well-being will simply be left behind.”
David Healy, Chief Executive Officer EMEA, Aetna International
Culture is king
Today, it’s increasingly evident that enhanced tailoring of benefits is required at both an individual level as well as a population level. This applies to all the factors that help define the culture of an organisation, including workplace policies, health and well-being, communications, employee engagement and opportunities for upskilling and career progression.
In our survey, we saw significant variations in the responses of different groups of workers. For example, full-time and office-based employees were more likely than part-time and home-based employees to rate communications positively, perhaps an indication that part-time and home-based workers miss out on face-to-face briefings, important communications and notices posted in the office.
Similarly, older employees and those in more senior roles were more likely to feel their employer cares about health and well-being than younger, lower-salaried employees; this could be because they get ‘gold’ benefit packages or because, as our data shows, they are generally more trustful of their employer.
Similar results across a number of questions suggest that responses may be coloured by employees’ more general perceptions of their organisation, which highlights the importance of taking a holistic approach to corporate culture.
Employees also need more faith in the confidential nature of benefits, with 30% saying they’re worried their career progression could be impacted if HR or management were to find out they are struggling. Smaller but still significant numbers say they are worried about colleagues’ perception of them (21%) and about who has access to their personal health data (19%).
Our previous ’Digital health dilemma: Is technology keeping workers healthy or making them ill?’ study carried out in 2020 showed that when workers are clear about the ownership, privacy and applications of their data, they are more willing to trust their employer with that data. For example, 80% of global employees surveyed said they would be happy for their employer to use their anonymised health data to improve health and wellness benefits across the company.
In our 2019-2020 study, we found that between 40% and 50% (US and UK vs UAE and Singapore) of employees found it hard to talk about their mental health at work. Employers have an opportunity to continue to break down stigma and encourage a positive, open culture of well-being in the workplace.
We don’t know what the long-term effects of the pandemic will be on our mental health because we’re still in the thick of it. Similarly, we’re facing the unknown with the effects of long COVID – also known as long-haul COVID and Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC) – and the toll the last few years have taken on our physical health. So, it stands to reason that organisations should continue to support both mental and physical health, particularly as 45% of employees say that communications about health and well-being make them feel that their employer really cares. And that more than one in three employees agree that employers say they will support mental or physical health or invest in training but that there is no real action or evidence of this.
Organisations that develop a culture of well-being and trust have the potential to inspire more loyalty and achieve better employee benefit utilisation and health outcomes than those that do not. This can be achieved by:
- Soliciting employee engagement in the shape of health and wellness provision (particularly for different ages and genders)
- Stamping out career-related fear in relation to utilisation
- Implementing sustained meaningful communications about physical and mental health
- Offering clear training and guidance on access to benefits
- Transparency around data ownership and benefit utilisation confidentiality.
“A culture of well-being is really about building that working environment that encourages and promotes the well-being of all of our employees. And it’s about thinking of ways for employees to be healthier at work and then helping them to create those healthy habits that are beneficial, not only from a professional point of view but from a personal point of view.
Addressing and improving workplace culture is critical. After all, you can have a health and well-being programme that perfectly meets the needs of all employees, but if the root cause of the issue is a toxic corporate or team culture or line manager, you will be fighting an uphill battle.”
Adele Mackenzie-Smith, Senior HR Leader, Aetna International