Taking A More Personalized Approach

There are literally hundreds of studies documenting employees' mental and physical health problems in and out of the workplace that have a negative impact on employers and businesses. Of course, some of these studies are paid for by larger employer groups that confirm what should be relatively obvious to everyone. The problem has always existed, and it's not drastically improving.

Here is what we know. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and its data from 66,000 employers from 2015 to 2019, is that the cost to our society is $575 billion and 1.5 billion days of lost productivity when workers call in sick and miss work from illness-related absences. Let that sink in for a bit. Even if the numbers were off a few billion, there is clear urgency needed to help solve this problem.

Studies have shown that increased levels of job stress as assessed by the perception of having little control but lots of demands have been demonstrated to be associated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension, and other major illnesses. The uptick in this perception or feeling at work has increased since 2020.

The vast majority (87%) of employees think actions from their employer would help their mental health, most commonly offering flexible hours, encouraging employees to take care of their health, encouraging employees to use paid time off, and encouraging breaks during the workday.

The good news is the latest research shows that 96% of employers provide some type of mental and physical health resources to staff.

But here is the problem, the effectiveness of this support doesn’t always translate, with only 1 in 6 employees feeling supported by their employer.

In the past, there were major efforts to utilize the physical workplace to create a more physically and psychologically healthy environment. However, this has been challenging for employers that have less real estate and more flex options. Flexible working can have a positive impact on the lives of the employee by providing less stress sitting in traffic on their commute, but it reduces the any positive impact a physical workplace can have.

Employers have struggled in finding answers to this major dilemma. Many employers have relied on off the shelf products that "specialize in health and wellness" with some impact but not enough. The big issue that arises when deploying these methods is lack of true ownership of the employer, unclear ROI, and most of all, complete lack of personalization for the company and the employee. This method is often viewed as outsourcing responsibility with the hope of making an impact. That is not an optimal approach.

Shouldn't we, as employers, be looking for a more personal approach? After all, we are talking about people. Our responsibility should be to support them in a more individualistic approach to help them achieve a healthier life in and outside of work. It is possible but it does take commitment from the employer and employee. It does start with the employer making good decisions on the tools they choose to solve this dire need.

I ask all employers, if you could provide a health and wellness tool that could provide a more personalized approach for each of your employees, reside on your technology platform whether that be an APP or Web application, give you the ability to see the results of the tool for your employees in real time, wouldn't that be a better tool? At the end of the day, if we truly care about the people we work with and spend much of our time with, shouldn't we be looking for solutions that can achieve results now?

#significo #healthandwellness #employeeengagement