"The goal should be to mitigate the number of sick days by prioritising preventative measures, but with rehabilitation readily available too."
- Katharine Moxham, Spokesperson for GRiD
Of those surveyed (500), 91% failed to prioritise prevention when offering employee benefits. Furthermore, over half (57%) of employers provide health & wellbeing support after a set number of weeks’ absence; only 33% of employers provide support from day one.
Although prevention isn’t a priority for most, some employers offer benefits that give preventative support. Support for mental health - such as initiatives to help staff manage stress – included in Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) is often given precedence, with 57% of employers offering this as part of preventative care.
Support for physical health is offered by 56% of employers, whilst 53% provide support for social health. Support for financial health, such as financial planning & debt consolidation, is offered by under half (49%) of employers.
When discussing which of the four key pillars of wellbeing would benefit the most from preventative support, the majority (50%) said mental health, followed by physical health (49%), social health (46%), and financial health (42%).
Based on the industry body’s experience, GRiD highlighted that it wasn’t long ago that support for physical health was the holy grail and considered the most critical. However, it’s encouraging to see that support for all aspects of an employee’s welfare is almost on equal footing.
“The goal should be to mitigate the number of sick days by prioritising preventative measures, but with rehabilitation readily available. Our research shows that preventative care can be overlooked by employers and therefore undersold to staff, but make no mistake, these seemingly straightforward measures can make a dramatic difference in absence rates and in staff performing to their best ability,” explained Katharine Moxham, Spokesperson for GRiD.
