"Only if health & wellbeing support is comprehensively targeted and communicated will it meet the demands of its role in recruitment and retention."
- Debra Clark, Head of Wellbeing at Towergate Employee Benefits
Of those surveyed (500), 61% of employers said health & wellbeing support in the workplace will play a crucial role in recruitment and retention strategies for 2025. Notably, 47% think it’ll be harder to recruit talent whilst 44% worry about retaining staff over the next twelve months.
36% of employers believe that the health & wellbeing support they’ve made available to staff is a key reason they chose to work for them. Likewise, 35% said this support was a key reason employees stay with them.
24% of employers put health & wellbeing support at the top of the list which will increase most in importance within their organisation, in terms of recruitment and retention. This was followed by support for mental health (20%), financial health (12%), physical health (9%), social interaction (9%), and ESG (8%).
“Our research shows that recruitment and retention will be big challenges for employers in 2025. A real shake-up in the way employers go about this is vital if they want to find and retain enthusiastic, experienced, and productive talent.
“Only if health & wellbeing support is comprehensively targeted and communicated will it meet the demands of its role in recruitment and retention,” said Debra Clark, Head of Wellbeing at Towergate Employee Benefits.
These findings align with the latest research commissioned by Group Risk Development (GRiD) which revealed 31% of employers intend to increase their investment in health & wellbeing support for staff over the next twelve months.
However, the industry body is concerned about the amount (29%) of employers looking to increase investment into funding support directly. GRiD believes employers are “rolling the dice” when they fund support directly as this can lead to unforeseen issues.
Looking at priorities, GRiD found 34% of employers have been encouraging engagement and utilisation of the support that’s available, followed by making it easier to access support and benefits such as via apps and online (33%), communicating available support to staff (32%), making support available to more of their workforce (29%), and extending support to include family (28%).
Katharine Moxham, Spokesperson for GRiD, explained that “Employers should not be lulled into a false sense of security if they happen to have a healthier-than-usual workforce in any particular year. This model isn’t sustainable as at some point the reverse may well be true, and those employers who choose to fund support directly will need extremely deep pockets.
“It’s good to see that investment in employee benefits is being bolstered this year despite some challenging financial conditions for businesses. What’s particularly pleasing is the continued investment to support more of the workforce – this may include supporting family members as well,” she concluded.
