A staggering nine in 10 employers with 50-249 employees, and eight in 10 with 10-49 employees, say the Covid-19 pandemic has changed their approach to HR.
This includes the way they think about employee wellbeing, in terms of priorities, budget and seeking out advice.
Now, two in five (37%) SME employers (50-249 employees) say their top stressor is their employees’ health and wellbeing.
This ranked higher than workload/working hours, challenging recruitment environment, managing dispersed teams (on-site, remote, hybrid). according to the new study by Legal & General.
Legal & General Group Protection says the results indicate that SME employers are looking for help in how to design, implement and monitor programmes within their businesses.
Covid-19 has changed the employee wellbeing landscape for SMEs
Over a third (35%) of leaders within 50-249 employee organisations say they are ‘more comfortable getting support from advisers/consultants, via online or digital channels than they were pre-pandemic’. This represented the top answer for 250+ employee organisations.
A substantial proportion of SMEs of all sizes said that ‘more budget is spent on wellbeing initiatives’ now in comparison to before the Covid-19 pandemic; 10-49 employees (27%); 50-249 employees (30%); 250+ employees (37%).
Many SMEs also said it’s also more important than ever for them to seek advice on how to do wellbeing well (26%).
Vanessa Sallows, Claims and Governance Director, Legal & General Group Protection, comments:
“As indicated by these findings, there is an amazing opportunity right now for the insurance industry to help SMEs of all sizes realise their employee health and wellbeing ambitions. And to do so in a way that is cost-effective, outcome-driven and foundation-focused. In other words, that helps organisations look at the underlying causes of wellbeing, not just surface layer fixes.
“Where Legal & General Group Protection is concerned, this includes everything from: supporting carrying out stress risk assessments and act on the findings; insights to help leaders communicate in a way that creates a culture of wellbeing; measures to help assess the value of wellbeing investment; to targeted prevention, early intervention and vocational rehabilitation.
“Research in the past has already shown that for SMEs, Group Income Protection is about much more than the claim. The majority use it to look after their staff and families and to differentiate their programme to support recruitment and retention.”
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
