"The message from employees is clear. They don’t want more wellbeing initiatives for the sake of it."
- Gary Impett - VitalityLife
New research from Vitality has found that 52% of employees think the health and wellbeing initiatives in their workplace are nothing more than a 'box-ticking exercise.'
63% of employees report that their employers provide access to formal health and wellbeing benefits and services, while 65% say they receive access to health and wellbeing support tools such as apps, online resources and employee assistance programmes, and 64% receive training for areas such as stress management.
According to the report, 60% of employees believe their employer genuinely prioritises employee health and wellbeing, and 57% think that the health and wellbeing support available to them matches their needs.
However, 55% of employees also say they would like more personalised support and 61% say they would engage more if interventions were tailored to their needs.
76% of employees also believe better health and wellbeing support would make them more productive at work.
This comes after Vitality’s Britain’s Healthiest Workplace report, which found that the average UK employee loses 49.7 days of productive time annually due to absenteeism and presenteeism linked to poor health.
Vitality says this research highlights a gap between the support employers provide and whether the support addresses their employees' real needs.
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"When more than half of workers describe health and wellbeing support as a 'tick-box exercise,' it raises an important question: are organisations measuring the impact of what they offer, or whether it’s actually making a difference?" Gary Impett, director of corporate, VitalityHealth, said.
"The message from employees is clear. They don’t want more wellbeing initiatives for the sake of it. They want support that feels relevant to their lives and will actually improve their health.
"This matters because employee health isn’t just a health and wellbeing issue; it’s a business performance issue. The right interventions, the ones which are specific and personal to the needs of your employees, have the potential to improve productivity, engagement and resilience, but only if employees genuinely value and use what’s being provided."
