The pandemic has accelerated employers’ recognition of the importance of employee health and wellbeing to the future of their businesses
In recent years, the concept of employee health and wellbeing seemed to be getting more traction with UK employers who were starting to see that a fit and healthy workforce equalled a more profitable organisation. Then came the pandemic which, if anything, accelerated the promotion of employee wellbeing and pushed organisations’ strategy and planning to another level. But it has also complicated issues given the need to deliver a ‘reshaped’ organisation quickly but in an environment that few businesses could have anticipated.
It’s one reason why the recently launched London Work, Travel, Convene Coalition – a group of leading London-based businesses formed to develop key recommendations and guidelines on how companies can work, travel and convene in future – is proving its worth as organisations look to learn from best practice and set benchmarks to measure tangible progress.
Spiralling costs of health
It’s long been clear that companies have needed to do something about the underlying employee health and wellbeing of their organisation because of the consequential impacts of failing to do so, although not every business was convinced. To try and win the argument, the traditional angle we took with the more sceptical employers was to target the spiralling cost relating to the provision of protection and health programmes. Benefits like private medical insurance, life insurance, income protection – the core protections that employers provided to employees as part of their benefit programme and broader employer value proposition – have been getting more expensive as we all live longer (but often unhealthier) lives.
As an advisor in this space, we argued that this was becoming unsustainable and companies wouldn’t be able to afford them in the long term. There was a need to address the underlying issues. So, we said, “let’s get under the bonnet of your organisation; let’s use data and analytics to paint a picture of where your key health risks are and give you an idea of the actions you can take to improve those risks and get a better grip on the rising cost of the provision of these benefits.”
Moving beyond cost
Pre-pandemic however, recent societal changes had also meant that employee health and wellbeing had begun to rise up the corporate agenda to the point where organisations were looking for more than simply an ability to control costs. Awareness of issues like mental health and physical inactivity meant that companies started to feel not just an obligation but a desire to do more than the minimum. They were slowly becoming more aware of factors that impact their business outside of cost and profitability, and an intrinsic knowledge that if your people are fitter and healthier, then you will get more engagement, loyalty, and better customer care which will ultimately deliver increased profitability. There was a clear move from return on investment to return on value.
That awareness has been accelerated by the pandemic. After negotiating the react, respond, and recover phases of the crisis, businesses are arriving at the reshape phase and want to take advantage of the opportunity to create change that is long lasting for their employees – a way of working that we describe at Aon as part of creating the ‘new better’.
Remote working challenges
Many organisations in office-based businesses that complement home working and reduced movement for example – such as tech and media companies – have survived and even thrived during COVID-19 as demand for their services has grown, but those services are being delivered by employees who are primarily working from home.
Many employees don’t want to go back to the office like they used to, but they still want to collaborate and innovate with their teams in a face to face environment, which could mean providing access to office space for a day or two per week which becomes a challenge. What about other issues like the mental health problems of being out of the office, or the potential musculoskeletal risks of working from home at poorly equipped workstations?
Take the talent agenda as another issue: how you hire, train, develop and reward people becomes a greater challenge for a remote workforce. Do you give everyone a homeworking allowance for example? If you’re operating in different countries, do you give the same allowance across different regions?
Know where you stand
Employers like – and need – to have some comfort around benchmarking in these areas. Are they doing the same thing as other businesses? What are others doing to support and develop their employees? It’s in areas like these where the London Coalition can bring valuable insight. A recent coalition session for example focused on mental health and it was clear that leading employers have got plans and actions in place even while dealing with the shifting dynamic of COVID-19. Sharing and helping others to access those learnings is important.
Supporting employees through this process is critical although ironically, many organisations may not be aware that their existing health benefits may offer services that can help people get through this change but aren’t currently being exploited. Services like digital GP services, employment assistance programmes, access to occupational health, cognitive behavioural therapy, and physiotherapy are often built into traditional benefits programmes and it’s important that businesses make sure they are using what they have got before they go looking anywhere else. And if a business does need to buy something there might be other areas where it can cut back, or get a better premium; helping to deliver an effective programme in a cost neutral way.
Communicate, communicate
As businesses strive to align their benefits to the ‘new better’, communication will also continue to play a key role. Few businesses allocate enough resource to communicating with their employees when it comes to the health and wellbeing benefits they can access but now, with many operating a disparate workforce, it’s essential to ramp up the resources spent on developing an effective communications plan and executing it well.
Most importantly, businesses should have a strategy in place; know the start, middle and end points, and have data sets that can be measured to prove its health and wellbeing approach is making a difference as they reshape for a challenging future.
Download the press release for more details on the organisations involved in the London Work, Travel, Convene Coalition.