How are Employers Investing in their Workplace Wellness Programs in 2024?

With the changing employee health and wellbeing needs, employers are revamping their workplace policies. A few years ago, employee benefits commonly included healthcare reimbursements, HSAs, retirement plans, life insurance, etc.  

For a few years only, employers have started considering employee health and wellbeing aspects for their workplace benefits packages. However, even this was limited to physical fitness and healthy eating elements. 

Recent times have seen a lot of changes in health and wellbeing facets, especially since the pandemic. Focusing on holistic health dimensions has become more vital than ever. 

The pandemic has affected employee mental health, financial wellbeing, and social wellness in many different ways, throwing light on their significance. 

The remote working situations, juggling multiple responsibilities, economic drop, and other uncertainties have made employees realize the need for strong physical and mental health. Also, poor health has impacted employee engagement, productivity, and overall business, forcing employers to rethink their employee wellbeing initiatives. 

Almost 48.4% of employees said the heavy workload caused mental stress. 35.7% of employees cited disturbed work-life balance as the primary reason for mental stress. Also, 40.5% said job security concerns caused stress. 

Compared to the other working generations, Millennials recorded high burnout feelings. While 59% of Millennials experienced burnout in 2021, a steady increase from 53% in 2020, 58% of the Gen Z group followed suit in 2021. 

Owing to all these stressors and other wellbeing factors, employees and employers have started taking stern measures to address them. 

An online survey conducted to understand the health and wellbeing activities prioritized by employees during 2020 and 2021 revealed the top ones:  

• Exercising enough – 76% made efforts to exercise more in 2021, compared to 74% in 2020.
• Routine health checks – A 1% increase from 70% in 2020 to 71% in 2021 was observed for individuals getting regular health screenings.
• Stress management – 75% in 2021 worked on managing stress, an improvement from 73% in 2020.
• Work-life balance – While 77% worked on achieving a work-life balance in 2020, the number grew to 79% in 2021.
• Financial savings – Compared to 53% in 2020, almost 60% in 2021 planned on saving enough to make large purchases like vacations, cars, etc.