Spending on musculoskeletal care across industries nearly tripled from $26 million to $95 million between 2018 and 2022 in 12 out of 13 sectors studied, according to the latest findings from Maxis Global Benefits Network.
The report analyses factors affecting employee health and advises multinationals on optimising wellness plans. It explores how industry, culture, and gender impact health using global data from millions of claimants. The report highlights the industry’s influence on musculoskeletal claims, revealing MSK issues as the top cost driver across industries.
Mental health claims are underrepresented despite potential influences from industry, culture, and gender. The retail industry alone accounts for 22.9 per cent of mental health claims, while the hospitality sector observes 71.2 per cent of metabolic health claims.
Elsewhere women’s inflammation claim costs surpassed men’s in 2022, with certain conditions like lupus and endometriosis predominantly affecting women.
Maxis advises multinationals to customise wellness benefits based on industry, culture, and gender-specific health needs, rather than adopting a uniform approach. it suggests that understanding workforce dynamics can improve health outcomes for employees.
Maxis chief health & wellness officer Dr Leena Johns says: “Increasingly, I’m tasked with guiding multinationals who want to know how to persuade their board of directors on both the merits of wellness and sustaining their investment in it. And I completely understand this predicament.
“HR executives championing wellness initiatives find themselves navigating a complex landscape, where every expenditure is put under the microscope, against the backdrop of escalating healthcare costs and broader economic inflation. Multinationals are right to want to see a return on their investment in wellness programmes.
“Our treasure trove of claims data, drawn from standardised, anonymised data from millions of claimants around the world, gives us rich insights into the truly diverse landscape of employees’ health and wellness needs. This report draws on those insights to show employers how to look at their people’s healthcare needs through the lens of industry, culture and gender, and help them understand why a one-size-fits-all approach could be letting them down.
“As the saying goes, ‘health is wealth’, so when employees can convert their sense of wellbeing into productivity, they can be rewarded with job satisfaction and optimism for the future. And when employers invest in their people, they can be rewarded with better organisational resilience, eased pressure on healthcare costs and the ability to attract and retain talent, ultimately improving the bottom line.”
