Innovation Showcase 2: Mental Health Benchmarking Tool ‘WSI’
Building a Resilient Workforce
Our work with clients highlights a consistent narrative that the modern workforce faces unprecedented challenges, especially in the area of Mental Health. Clients are proactively looking to address these issues but are seeking assistance on how data and analytics can be deployed to help them tackle these challenges at speed. It is also important that these insights can then be clearly articulated as impact not just in the form of general welfare statistics, but also financial impacts on the bottom and top line.
Themes that reoccur in conversations.
- Mental health and burn out have emerged as critical issues impacting both employee well-being and organisational performance.
- Simultaneously employees seek greater work life balance and purpose-driven roles.
- With increasing life expectancy, career trajectories and retirement planning have become more complex.
- It's clear that the workforce requires a holistic approach to employee well-being.
In the session we explored strategies and tools to address some of these challenges and foster a high-performing engaged workforce.
Mental Health Benchmarking Tool ‘WSI’ (Workforce Strategy Index)
Clients know that Mental health programs are no longer a "nice-to-have" but a "must-have" for successful organisations. It is tools such as the Mental Health Benchmarking Tool ‘WSI’ from Aon that they now require to help them establish the insights that trigger informed programs and deliver outcomes with measurable impact. The tool provides a comprehensive assessment based on:
- Global Client Data: Compare your organisation's policies, programs, and practices against industry leaders worldwide.
- International Health Frameworks: Ensure alignment with leading international frameworks for mental health in the workplace.
- Financial Risk Assessment: Identify potential financial risks associated with poor mental health in your workforce.
The WSI provides you with a personalised report displaying benchmarked scores against the industry standards and global leaders. However, the real value comes from the actionable insights in the shape of identified areas for improvement and specific recommendations. Plus with Aon you can also call you client manager any time to discuss these insights and how you might develop an implementation strategy.
Assistance in Building Robust Business Cases
Building a robust business case for investing in mental health initiatives is vital to getting a successful mental health program up and running. Mental Health programs have been shown to help:
- Attract & Retain Top Talent: as Showcasing a strong mental health commitment attracts and retains skilled employees.
- Boost Employee Wellbeing: Promotes a healthier and happier workforce, leading to increased productivity and engagement.
- Reduce Absenteeism: Effective mental health programs can significantly decrease employee absenteeism and presenteeism (which lead to reduced productivity due to mental health concerns).
We have additional tools that help clients build a compelling case. Unfortunately, we did not have time in the discussion to cover all of these but myself and the team would be happy to set up some time if you would be interested in exploring further.
Key Findings
It was invaluable to us to get your feedback and inputs on how these tools may be used in your organisations to help drive a better wellbeing strategy and as a result a more productive workforce. The key findings we took from the session:
- In our discussion with clients there was benefit seen in having external benchmarks and creating inventories for all assets and supports they have. This will help clients to optimise their existing spend to better fit the needs of employees, while continuously improving the support provided.
- There was strong sentiment from clients on the importance of investing in dedicated mental health service.
- There is a focus on updating language relating to mental health support, to address stigmas in the workplace and make supporting mental health part of the culture. For example Coaching rather than Counselling.
- To establish mental health programs that deliver impact it is recognised that programs become a continual part of the operation and reinforced in regular communication and education rather than one-off initiatives.
If you would like to find out more about the tools presented at the open discussion please click the ‘Arrange Meeting’ button provided and we would be happy to discuss.
Learn more about our Human Capital Capabilities.