Council Post: How Employers Can Measure The Impact Of Workplace Well-Being Benefits

Sammy is the Founder and CEO of YuLife, the lifestyle insurance company providing life insurance, wellbeing, and rewards in one simple app.

After a year of unprecedented challenges inside and outside the workplace, employers are increasingly realizing that they stand to benefit from investing proactively in their employees’ well-being. Given that employees’ well-being affects turnover, productivity and health care costs, it’s no surprise companies promoting well-being could see improvements in the bottom line.

Statistics show the extent of employee demand for well-being initiatives, including those focused on financial well-being, in the wake of Covid-19 and the pandemic-induced recession. According to a survey by my company of 2,056 adults in the U.K., 69% of respondents believe that employers have a responsibility to look after their financial well-being; this number rises to 77% among young adults aged 25 to 34.

With an Ernst & Young study finding that more than half of consumers are reassessing their financial well-being in the wake of the pandemic, companies’ ability to cater to this growing need, while also safeguarding employees’ mental and physical health, will form the bedrock of their reputations in a new era for employer-employee relations.

When addressing this growing need, employers will need to dynamically assess the value their well-being packages offer their employees. Through my time leading a group life insurance company that prioritizes well-being, I know that successful, smart investment in employees’ well-being requires business leaders to equip themselves with tools that can demonstrate the impact of the benefits they provide. Here are some top tips to help companies do so effectively:

Create an engaging experience that employees value.

Think of engagement with employee well-being as a stream — a fluid, open, ongoing process — rather than a tap that can be turned on and off or siloed and compartmentalized into ”well-being time.” Regular well-being check-ins, including pulse surveys, can help educate a company on the areas where improvements can be made, and positive feedback can be translated into positive action. 

Every employee is unique, and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to supporting an individual’s well-being. Adopting a program that is personalized and incentive-based is important in order for employees to feel motivated to participate.

Leverage insights to build a relevant communication plan.

For a well-being program to be successful, engagement is key. But how does a company measure engagement effectively? While human resources tools provide an aggregated view of the company’s workforce, you can gather valuable insight from tracking participation, retention and the impact the apps or other engagement metrics have had on employees’ energy levels, productivity and sentiment about the company. 

For example, some wellness platforms measure step count by time of day and geography. These insights paint a picture of the mental and physical activity of their team to understand where more support is required and when.  

Engagement data points provide employers with the insights to monitor trends or behavioral shifts over time, which is especially important when employees oscillate between remote working and stints in the office. Moreover, by assessing well-being data dynamically and according to metrics such as time of day, day of the week or employees’ age, employers can build up a granular picture of habits across their company. This allows them to target particular initiatives toward specific sub-groups.

Track the success of the program over time.

While there’s little doubt that comprehensively assessing the value of well-being strategies is highly beneficial for companies, many feel that they lack the know-how to do so effectively.

It’s a major pain point for the HR industry: The Reward and Employee Benefits Association (REBA) found that around half of companies said a lack of internal data is a major obstacle when measuring the effectiveness of their well-being initiatives, while a further two-fifths believe the data they possess is incomplete or of poor quality.

This disparity is especially pronounced for smaller businesses, as they are much less likely than large corporations to employ data specialists. Yet, the REBA research reinforces the value of tracking engagement to measure impact over time.

Conclusion

Professor Dame Carol Black, an authority on workplace well-being, has said that offering generic solutions without “knowing the numbers” will limit the effectiveness of your strategy. Attempts to boost employee well-being, while always well-intentioned, might not have the desired effect if the value of benefits is not measured holistically.

Monitoring trends and tracking engagement are vital to ensuring that your well-being program is delivering the right impact. For example, trends like late-night meditation could be an indicator of stress, or a lack of daytime movement might mean that you need to encourage more desk breaks. Only by carrying out these essential checks can companies truly assess the results of their well-being offerings.

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