86% Of Employers Think More Staff Wellbeing Support Is Needed Post-COVID

Organisations are being encouraged to offer training to help managers support mental health and staff wellbeing

Concerns for Staff Wellbeing

Recent research has uncovered that almost nine in ten employers believe that their staff need more well-being support since the start of the pandemic. The Poll, conducted by Towergate Health and Protection included 500 HR decision-makers and found that 86% of these decision-makers believed that their staff required more health and wellbeing support in comparison to pre-pandemic.

Of those that had been involved in the survey, two in five were found to be concerned about the mental health of their staff since the start of the pandemic in 2020, whilst 53% stated they believed their staff would like more wellbeing support.

In addition to this, a fifth (22%) of those polled stated that they were worried about the physical health of staff due to the ongoing difficulty getting a GP appointment many in the UK are facing and delays in being diagnosed and treated for serious conditions, with 36% reporting that employees wanted more help with this post-pandemic.

‘Employers Need to Re-Evaluate Their Wellbeing Support’

The Poll also highlighted that just over one in ten (13%) of HR decision-makers were worried about the social health of their staff, such as increased loneliness and isolation thanks to increased remote working.

Head of distribution for Towergate Health and Protection, Brett Hill, said “Employers need to re-evaluate their health and wellbeing support in the wake of Covid. Working practices have changed and so have attitudes and expectations.” Hill continued, ““It is important for any health and wellbeing programme to recognise the changing needs of employers and to be adaptable as we adjust to life post-pandemic,”

Louise Aston, wellbeing director at Business in the Community, believes employees have become “more discerning and aspirational” when it comes to ways of working, and that finding employers who are supportive of mental health and staff wellbeing was not “essential”

Aston has encouraged employers to increase training for their managers on how to empathise and support their team members and has suggested that businesses run regular mental health check-ins or set up team away days. “Employees aren’t asking anything unrealistic. It’s that mental health and wellbeing are vital to our happiness and jobs can play a huge part of that,” Aston said.

“It’s up to employers to step up and offer jobs that are beneficial and help workers manage stress and their busy lives. But what works for one person won’t be ideal for another, which is why employers need to reassess their policies and make wellbeing into all decision making,” she continued.

Large Employers More Concerned Than SMEs

It was found in the recent research that larger employers with more than 250 employees were more likely to say they were concerned about the mental health of their staff than SMEs (49% and 37% respectively). In parallel to this, 74% of large organisations stated that employees would like more mental health support than prior to the pandemic, in comparison to 46% of SMEs.

The poll, conducted in January and February 2022, also found that 17% of those who responded to the poll were concerned for the financial health of employees since the pandemic, with over a third (36%) stating that their staff now want more support for this

Hill acknowledged that the pandemic had created a lot of challenges for businesses and their workforces. But, he said: “Now is a good time for employers to look at solutions available for them to help their staff.”

Supporting Wellbeing in Your Business

If you are concerned about the wellbeing of your workforce and would like to implement systems, methods and training to increase the support managers in your business can provide oneHR can help you.

Our useful unlimited document storage gives you the perfect place to store all important companywide documents your managers and employees may need for support. Joining oneHR will also give you access to our intuitive absence management calendar and powerful custom reporting that will give you a great insight into any employees that may need support in your business.

If you would like to learn more about mental health support in your business or discuss how oneHR software can help you support employee wellbeing, please get in contact with our team today.

Email: Contact@onehrsoftware.com

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