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Most employers instinctively know that wellbeing matters to people and to business. Quantifying how much it matters is another thing entirely. So, it stands to reason that small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), in particular, might struggle to justify the allocation of budget and resource to wellbeing. They’re arguably more concerned with keeping the business’ wheels on right now, potentially faced with a mix of Covid-19 business interruption loan repayments and recruitment costs associated with the so-called Great Resignation.
Thankfully, helping SME clients square this circle no longer represents an insurmountable challenge. Last month saw the launch of Fruitful Insights, a unique analytical tool that quantifies employee wellbeing impact on productivity. This is being provided on a complimentary basis by Legal & General to all intermediaries as part of a partnership, for their group income protection clients covering 100 employees or more.
Intermediaries may provide Fruitful Insights to clients to help them shape their own wellbeing strategy, or use it in partnership to provide enhanced wellbeing consultancy. More on that in a moment. First the rationale.
If only there were a playbook for wellbeing
There is plenty of evidence available to show that wellbeing represents the key to sustainable employee engagement and all the good things that come with that in terms of productivity and profitability.1
Indeed, more than 8 in 10 SME respondents to Legal & General’s wellbeing barometer research said that having a good wellbeing strategy in place can bring about improvements across many key business parameters. For example, recruitment, retention, productivity, absence, culture, customer experience.2
Instinctively knowing this and feeling informed enough to do something about it, however, are seemingly two different things. For example, the same SME research showed that although just over half (54%) of employers had a formalised wellbeing strategy in place (i.e. agreed at board level), only 3 in 10 (29%) had just an informal plan in place, 16% didn’t have anything at all and 2% said they didn’t know what a wellbeing strategy was.2
The latter response might represent an honest reflection of the fact that it’s hard enough to define wellbeing, let alone how to put in place a plan to support it.
When asked what wellbeing meant in their organisations, SME respondents replied in many ways from feeling mentally- or physically- well, to feeling valued, having a supportive culture, getting paid fairly and being able to work flexibly.
So, while there’s no formal playbook for wellbeing, many SMEs seem happy to just make do, even though – as the evidence above shows – they know there are consequences for business prosperity and sustainability.
Measurement, done properly, must be joined-up
This has long represented a conundrum for both employers and the intermediaries who support them. The trouble is that wellbeing, done properly, must be holistic. It must encompass everything that impacts an individual’s health and happiness at work; from the actual work they do and the way in which they are managed, to the support they are provided with.
Bringing all of that together in a way that allows organisations to quantify their wellbeing performance is no mean feat. This is the challenge that was taken up recently by experienced employee benefits consultant Mike Tyler and digital health expert June Dawson, who have now launched Fruitful Insights, in partnership with Legal & General. The benefits of the platform are three-fold:
- Equip employees to take steps to improve their own wellbeing via personalised reports and signposting;
- Help employers quantify their wellbeing performance and investment as well as enhance organisational effectiveness; and
- Provide intermediaries with the data and insights to identify areas of unmet need and better support their clients’ drive to achieve improved employee wellbeing.
Armed with the right insight, it’s possible to monitor and measure wellbeing, based on knowledge and confidence, as opposed to just gut feel. It becomes possible to quantify the impact of wellbeing on important business outcomes, such as absence, attrition, presenteeism and, ultimately, productivity. And it’s also possible to justify spend on the one thing that will help keep the wheels of business turning, given the right environment: an organisation’s people.
Sources
1 CIPD, Managing for sustainable employee engagement: Guidance for employers and managers, 2012 https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/managing-for-sustainable-employee-engagement-guidance-for-employers-and-managers_2012_tcm18-10753.pdf
2 Legal & General Wellbeing at Work Barometer 2021 – this research was conducted by Opinium amongst 1,011 senior managers in businesses with 10-249 employees (13-20 May).