Only a small minority of UK employers say that investing in employee health and well-being is a priority for their organisation. This is despite a near unanimous belief that there is a link between the performance of their organisation and the well-being of their people, according to new research from employee benefits provider Edenred.
The findings are part of the Edenred’s 2015 Wellbeing Barometer, an annual study into employer attitudes to employee well-being.
97 percent of respondents believe there is a link between the performance of their organisation and employee well-being, but only a quarter (26%) said it was a priority. The remainder described it as ‘nice to have’ (20%) or ‘important but not a priority’.
Andy Philpott, sales and marketing director at Edenred says:
“It is clear that many organisations are currently playing lip-service to the idea of employee health and well-being by failing to take steps to understand the issues facing their employees and organisation.”
81 percent of organisations say they invest in some sort of well-being initiative. However, just under two-thirds (60%) say they either don’t know or haven’t taken steps to understand which specific health and well-being issues are problematic for their organisation.
Just over half of organisations (55%) believe it is vital to understand where employees need support before doing anything and 54 percent agree it is important to have targeted strategy which will deal with the most relevant issues.
Two-thirds of organisations (64%) said that HR policy is critical in improving employee well-being but only 21 percent say they currently have the right policy in place.
Andy Philpott, sales and marketing director at Edenred says:
“It is clear that many organisations are currently playing lip-service to the idea of employee health and well-being by failing to take steps to understand the issues facing their employees and organisation.
“There is also a substantial gap between the support that HR practitioners believe will make a difference to health and well-being and what their organisations currently offer.
“Without a strategic approach to well-being, backed by investment in the right areas, the majority of organisations will fail to make any real difference to employee health through their current approach.”
Amie Filcher is an editorial assistant at HRreview.
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