How can employers manage wage inflation, recruitment & retention and develop an effective wellbeing strategy for their people?

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“We offer a basic salary of £xxx, a pension contribution of 5% and healthcare scheme”

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What does “healthcare scheme” mean? There are two different answers to this question;

1. It means a lot more to candidates today than it has ever done before. Covid-19 has raised the subject of physical and mental wellbeing to an all time high with employees placing more value on healthcare benefits than ever before.
2. There are more elements of a healthcare scheme than there has ever been before. “Healthcare Scheme” can be made up by over fifteen different elements.

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We have used our benchmarking and analytical  tools to analyse the healthcare benefits on offer from a vast range of employers across different industries, sizes and locations, focussing on the packages that they have offered over the past year. There are opportunities for every employer to make sharpen up their healthcare benefits, communicate them better to their people and use their “Healthcare Scheme” as a “Wellbeing Package” and an effective differentiator in their EVP.

The key elements of a Wellbeing Package to consider:

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Our experience over the past year suggests that there are significant opportunities for employers to dedicate some time, focus and investment in a Wellbeing Package. The results will include:

• Better retention rates
• Stronger recruitment attraction
• Reduced sick days
• Higher levels of teamwork and productivity

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Free free to contact me to discuss your Wellbeing Package. I can provide a deeper insight and some context to all of the areas above. For example;

31% of employers offer a free or subsidised gym membership‍

This can be a great opportunity for employers to place themselves in the top quartile of employers. This might not be the right one for every employer, but there are plenty of alternatives that we can discuss.

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We spoke to Joan Pettingill, Employment Lawyer and Partner at Gunnercooke LLP about healthcare benefits and how she sees the business case for employers.

“With the labour market so tight, it is key for employers to get their benefits packages right and benefits relating to employee welfare is a key part of that consideration. It is my view that the employment law perspective should work to improve and support the business and their staff. Many employers provide a lot of good benefits but simply don’t communicate to staff what they already have. An easy win is to communicate benefits well. A key trend, not surprisingly, remains on staff welfare and their health and safety. In particular, employers will want to ensure that their staff are as safe and productive as possible.

It goes without saying that staff who aren’t well aren’t productive. Health screening can help pick up underlying health issues early or allay concerns a colleague may have had about their health. It is obviously better to be able to plan absence than have a key employee suddenly go off sick on an emergency, and possibly a more protracted basis, when a health issue might have been spotted sooner causing less disruption to the business. Combined with private medical insurance, treatment such as an operation may be scheduled in earlier so the employee doesn’t have to wait unduly for the right care; and of course this may mean that they are back to full health and productivity sooner. Time off for treatment may be planned into the business and employee’s lives. Similarly, extending medical schemes to family members can allay employee’s concerns around their loved ones’ health. One trend is around providing employee assistance programmes and different types of mental health support that staff can access differently depending how they might prefer - whether through an app, support group or a helpline.”

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