Overview and key points
An effective benefits package that addresses the financial, physical and mental wellbeing of your people, will also promote a culture that boosts both engagement and productivity.
Key takeaways
When we meet with clients and talk with them about how to tackle and manage these “people-related risks”, the conversation inevitably centres on how to win the war for talent. It’s more important than ever to review your current benefits by asking yourself a few killer questions, and if you’re new to employee benefits, it’s a good place to start:
- How are your people engaging with your benefits? Are they appropriate for, and valued by, your team?
- Are they balanced across financial, physical and mental wellbeing?
- Are you receiving the expected value from your investment?
One of the key challenges many clients face is around their people – how to keep them engaged, how to encourage them to adopt a healthy lifestyle that will enable them to perform at their best, and ultimately how you can foster their advocacy for your business. Whether it’s managing the challenges of working from home, recruiting, and retaining top talent (including remuneration), promoting work-life balance, managing work related absenteeism, or providing development plans for your top talent, ensuring you provide a positive employee experience is one way to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to your people risk.
Creating balance in your benefits package
Financial wellbeing
Financial pressures can often be the root cause of stress, impacting overall health, relationships and even performance at work. Research by Aegon found workers’ poor financial wellbeing costs UK employers £1.56billion annually due to ill health-related absenteeism. From a business owners’ perspective, increasing the wage roll may not be feasible. However, businesses can provide support in other ways which are both cost effective and provide valuable support for employees. For example, Health Cash Plans help to cover the cost of routine healthcare and employee discount platforms offer tangible savings at many high street retailers.
Physical wellbeing
The correlation between physical wellbeing and our ability to perform at our best has been well documented. According to YuLife, 80% of chronic disease today is attributed to lifestyle. Did you know there are many benefits that an employer can provide to support their people to get up, get out and get active? From private medical insurance, to promptly diagnose and treat a condition, allowing your employee to return to their routine, to dental insurance that supports oral health, and gamifying apps that encourage and track activity – all of which will help your team bring their best selves to work.
Mental wellbeing
Whether you’re a team leader, a school teacher, or a doctor, demands on employees have reached an all time high. Keeping an eye on their mental wellbeing has become part of the job description of a leader today. The good news is, there are many tools available providing access to wellbeing support for your people. Employers who actively work to create positive, healthy workplaces feel the benefits in the long run. For example, Employee Assistance Programmes provide easy access to counselling services, and there are many apps providing mindfulness exercises, to name just a few.
Taking a balanced approach to designing your benefits package, and ensuring to address these areas is a great step to creating an engaging and attractive workplace culture that will attract and retain top talent – and that’s something every business could use today!
Reach out to our benefits experts to discuss how you can boost engagement and productivity in your team!
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