Employee wellbeing key challenge for benefit strategies – Willis Towers Watson
Employee health and wellbeing has become one of the key challenges to modern organisations, according to the latest annual survey of benefit trends by consultant Willis Towers Watson. In the UK, 45% of employers suggest that health and wellbeing will be included in strategic goals within three years’ time.
The continuous competition for talent and an acknowledgement that workplace stress is the top cause of absence are driving this trend, the research suggests.
- Almost three-quarters of employers state they will revise benefits strategies in the next three years, often in order to manage costs and drive particular employee behaviours.
- 40% are not able to say how much they spend on benefits.
- Key drivers of benefit revamps other than cost control are the need to keep benefits competitive compared with other employers (cited by 74%) and the need to keep benefits consistent across all business locations in a region or globally (cited by 59%).
- New technology looks set to change the benefits experience over the next three years, according to the survey: 54% of employers expect to be providing employees with access to a health and wellbeing portal in three years’ time, up from 21% currently.
- Big data is set to increase the amount of benefit evaluation in future: 76% of employers plan to use organisational analytics to test the effectiveness of benefits programmes in future.
