The last few years have brought significant challenges, which have had big impacts on the approach to workplace benefits. The pandemic brought major changes to ways of living and working that we all had to adapt to, and many suffered personal losses and long-term health impacts due to COVID-19. The Ukraine crisis, and now the cost-of-living crisis, continue to pose challenges to mental health and financial wellbeing, and for many may have had an effect on work performance. Employers are more aware of the need for help and support for their employees, and are asking more frequently, “what can we do?”. Planning support alongside benefit packages is key to this and can have a major positive impact for 2023.
Now is a good time for employers to be reviewing their 2023 employee wellbeing strategy plans. Below is a 10-point checklist of considerations that employers should be taking into account:
- Do you consider the different needs of a multi-generational workforce?
- How can you leverage better value from your existing insured benefit polices, which may have extra added-value support services?
- How do you deliver benefits to employees, and to what extent can employee choice be implemented via a flexible benefits package?
- Are you treating your sick employees fairly and equitably, with access to PMI and IP?
- Do you get absent employees back to work as quickly as possible, with your benefit support dovetailing and working together?
- Are you getting value for money from your occupational health provider?
- Are you segmenting your employee demographic appropriately, so that financial wellbeing support delivered is relevant and practical?
- How can you improve your employee communications to create a more inclusive and supportive company culture?
- Does your company have employee wellbeing as a goal, and do you understand what wellbeing means for your employees?
- Appreciating that the spectrum of employee wellbeing initiatives is broad, do you understand how to balance what will deliver the greatest impact and what is practically possible?
As we head into the new year, it is the ideal time to be looking at how your employee benefits strategy can best align with the needs of your employees. It is important to take the changes that have occurred over the past few years into consideration, both in the way we work and the personal impact they have had on employees’ lives. This can guide employers in identifying where changes would be most useful to employees. With relevant benefits and support tools in place, everyone can head into 2023 with the best foundation for success.