Many are still feeling the after effects of the pandemic. A survey by YouGov has found that mental wellness employee benefits are now more important than any others to employees.
According to the study, the most valuable benefits to employees are:
Virtual mental health counselling (35% of people rating most valuable), Insurance to help reduce the cost of mental health treatment (34%)
Virtual support groups (34%)
Tools to help build mindfulness and resilience (34%)
Tools for training on how to help others with mental health problems (32%).
The noticeable rise in wellness benefits since COVID-19 included:
Benefit / % companies offering this benefit
Free drinks in the office / 79%
Employee assistance programmes / 76%
Paid sick leave / 74%
Free eye tests / 72%
Financial support for those in isolation / 48%
The most popular financial benefits from the study were as followed:
Benefit / % companies offering this benefit
Paying a voluntary living wage / 69%
Employer pension scheme (6% contribution) / 62%
Christmas bonus / 59%
Debt counselling / 57%
Financial scam education / 47%
Increasing employee engagement with benefits
A recent YouGov poll reveals that only 57% of employees have been told about the benefit schemes at their work. Even fewer (53%) have been given information on how to access their benefits, and only half know how their benefits could help them.
This points to a crucial way for employers to improve employee engagement and create productive benefits schemes. Beyond just investing in attractive benefits packages, employers need to shout about them and inform their teams of everything on offer in their workplace too.