Three ways technology can boost well-being outcomes
In today's fast-paced work environment, the well-being of employees has become a top priority for organizations seeking to enhance productivity and foster a positive workplace culture.
Benefits technology plays a crucial role by streamlining access to health and wellness resources, simplifying benefits enrolment and providing personalized support tailored to individual needs. By leveraging these innovative tools, companies can empower their employees to take charge of their well-being, ultimately leading to a healthier, more engaged workforce.
Instead of waiting until employees become ill, a preventative well-being strategy that helps maintain health is 3-4 times more cost-effective than investing in treatment.[1] However, just 65% of employees know where to find information about their benefits[2] and 80% do not fully utilize what’s available.[3]
Critical to transforming this situation is not only centralizing and curating benefits but introducing a digital solution that makes it easy for employees to access all their benefits in one place.
Not only does this increase engagement with preventative benefits and can boost well-being but it also gives the employer the opportunity to communicate their offering more effectively to their employees without driving up costs. 80% of employees with access to benefits technology say they are ‘thriving’ compared to 54% of those without.[4]
-
Signposting support
Without proper curation, information about well-being benefits can become buried in emails, joiner packs and the company intranet. By using technology to centralize and digitize employee benefits, employers can not only make support easier to find but also signpost employees towards preventative benefits.
For example, instead of someone waiting until they become too sick to work with a musculoskeletal (MSK) issue before offering support, can the employee be signposted towards a physiotherapy helpline to nip MSK problems in the bud earlier?
Or if they’re struggling with their mental health, can they be encouraged to use the pre-paid counselling available via an employee assistance program before they become unable to work, triggering an income protection claim?
Not only does proactively promoting employee well-being in this way help to contain costs, but it can also make employees feel more cared about. Eight out of ten (82%) employees who have access to benefits technology say their employer cares about their health and well-being, compared to just one in two (56%) of those without a digital experience.[5]
-
Hyper-personalization
In the past, employers increased choice by introducing flexible benefits which allow employees to make limited choices regarding their benefits.
Employee benefits technology gives employers the opportunity to hyper-personalize benefits, offering employees more choice and flexibility and providing specific benefits that will boost well-being. This could involve increasing levels of cover, adding dependants, or choosing between options of the same benefit, for example health screening. Going even further, employers can introduce a benefit allowance to spend on flexible selections, or a well-being fund that reimburses employees for doing activities of their choosing to support their well-being, be this rock-climbing, mindfulness or ballroom dancing.
Our recent Health on Demand research shows that more than three-quarters (78%) of employees who have access to personalized benefits say these meet their needs, compared to 56% of those without.[6]
By recognizing that different people have different needs and well-being priorities, instead of offering everyone the same benefits, employers can dramatically increase engagement with well-being benefits.
-
Clear communication
A common outcome of using employee benefits technology, is employers receiving positive feedback from employees on their ‘new’ benefits package, when in reality this was just their existing package.
All too often, because benefits haven’t been promoted since the employees joined, they perceive them as new. This highlights how it’s often the way well-being benefits are communicated, rather than the well-being strategy itself, that needs improving.
Fortunately, employee benefits technology also allows employees to start receiving targeted communications tailored to their needs. This could be a menopause benefit tailored by gender and age or an advanced cancer screening benefit for those employees at most risk.
Many well-being providers also now offer additional information, services and apps that can be highly beneficial to employees. For instance, employees might not realize they have access to a free private GP app with their private medical insurance (PMI) or be aware that their financial well-being support can also be utilized by their partner.
By using benefits technology such as Darwin to consolidate all this fragmented information behind a digital front door, you can make sure employees understand their entitlements and how to customize their benefits to their needs. This can help to boost employee well-being without having to spend more on benefits.