While employers are taking steps to support employees’ physical and mental well-being, there’s a disparity between the focus of employer well-being programs and what employees need the most. This is according to the latest Well-being Diagnostic Survey by WTW, a leading global advisory, broking, and solutions company.
The survey finds that U.S. employers are prioritizing support for mental (73%) and physical (50%) well-being. Yet, employees say that financial well-being support is their top area of concern (66%), despite being the lowest priority for employers (23%).
Almost half of U.S. employees (48%) are struggling with moderate or major issues in at least two areas of their well-being, according to WTW’s 2024 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey. Employees with well-being issues show lower productivity (higher absence and presenteeism) and report higher rates of burnout and lower levels of engagement. Over half of employees (56%) have above-average levels of stress, while 37% have reported symptoms of anxiety or depression.
“The mental health crisis has brought employee well-being to the forefront of employers’ minds in recent years,” says Regina Ihrke, health, equity, and well-being leader for North America at WTW. “Companies have been leaning heavily into physical and mental well-being to make it a core part of their human capital strategy. We know that these investments have improved employees’ perceptions of the growing initiatives.”
Indeed, employers are showing to be least effective in the areas where employees need the most help, identifying financial well-being initiatives at the very bottom (19%). Only two in five employees (41%), however, feel financially secure and identify their financial situation is the area of their well-being where they face the biggest challenges.
Moreover, more than four in five (91%) are prioritizing the employee experience as an outcome of their well-being strategy, and 37% are looking to make well-being a foundational element of their human capital strategy in the next three years, compared with only 11% today. Specifically, many employers (71%) are planning to boost communication about their well-being programs and connect well-being to company culture (49%) to raise the bar on employee health and well-being.
“The delivery of well-being initiatives is just as important as the content of the programs,” says Jill Havely, managing director of employee experience at WTW. “Communication, accessibility, and creating a connected culture that links back to company and employee values is key to building a stronger employee experience when it comes to well-being. It’s important that employers focus on getting the right priorities in place to support the varied needs of their workforce as well as creating an enabling environment that promotes the survices they make available.”
