This year’s UK Business Risk Report once again found people-related risks dominating the thinking among business leaders.
Four of the top five risks businesses cited related to people, wellbeing and culture. Wellbeing (30.8%), talent retention, attraction and succession planning (22.4%), and health and safety of the public and employees (20.9%) took second, fourth and fifth place respectively. Workplace culture and employee engagement risks were cited by a fifth of businesses (20.2%).
The level of concern around these risks was clearly higher among larger firms with more complex people risks. However responses from businesses of all shapes and sizes pointed to an evolving approach to addressing these risks.
Over the last 12 months, 51% and 47% of businesses respectively have reviewed health and safety policies and procedures, and employee mental health and wellbeing offerings. But now a more joined up approach is gathering pace, with almost a third (29%) adding efforts to strengthen workplace culture and leadership to their people risk action plans.
This is significant because workplace culture and supportive leadership has been shown to have a big impact on employee wellbeing.1 These efforts can help to amplify and culturally embed wider people risk management efforts – from health and safety to employee wellbeing. This could create a snowball effect that ripples into areas like talent retention and attraction, productivity and reputation.
Businesses that haven’t yet started to adopt this holistic approach to people risk management can take simple steps to get the ball rolling. They include:
The first step is to gather a better understanding of your people - their health status, risks, and interests – and your company’s health culture. There are a number of techniques here, but among the most commonly employed are:
The insight you can gather from these low-cost techniques will help you to understand how well your health and wellbeing efforts are currently working. They can also show you how well your wider company culture promotes health and wellbeing, where gaps exist in your people risk management efforts, as well as useful pointers on how to address them.
Most businesses these days take steps to protect employee health and safety through risk assessments, health and safety plans and policies. However, these efforts can only be effective if employees follow them and stick to safe working practices.
This is where developing a safety culture among all employees can be valuable, by embedding health and safety considerations in the day to day of working life. Overall, building such a culture is a matter of training, vigilance, engagement, and constant reinforcement, but it all starts with an assessment of your current culture and behaviours.
Two approaches that can be useful here are:
These surveys are cost effective to run and are a great way to better understand employees’ normal behaviours when at work. They also help to further promote what works well and aids improvement where necessary.1 Find out more about safety culture surveys and behaviour surveys and the other steps you can take to address health and safety in your workplace in our safety and health at work guide.
Many businesses are concerned about attracting and retaining employees, according to the UK Business Risk Report. So it’s no great surprise to see a significant proportion of businesses actively looking at the role of employee benefits in promoting employee wellbeing.
That’s because, more than ever, employees value employers that prioritise their wellbeing. In fact, almost two-thirds (62%) of employees now see wellbeing as a key factor when applying for a new job, while only half feel their current employer prioritises their wellbeing.2
What’s more, employees are increasingly turning to their employers for help managing health and wellbeing issues at work. Two-thirds actively sought help from their employer in 2021. Quite simply, employees now want and expect their employers to care about their wellbeing, and they’ll stay with employers that meet those demands.3
That said, every employee will have slightly different needs and preferences when it comes to the benefits they value. Gen Z for example, have much different needs to the generations that have come before. So it’ll likely be more effective to adopt a flexible approach that prioritises the benefits you identified in personal interest surveys, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Some of the benefits that employees typically value include:
Every aspect of people risk management – from health and safety to supportive leadership – can play a vital role in creating a wellbeing culture in the workplace. However, a well-designed programme of benefits can have a disproportionate impact.
In fact, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), investing in the right people benefits as part of a robust wellbeing strategy can have a hugely positive impact. It can lead to increased resilience, better employee engagement, reduced absence, higher performance and enhanced productivity. All of which can, in turn, have positive impacts on business performance.3
People are the beating heart of any business. So the first priorities for the majority are to protect employee wellbeing, retain and attract more people, and develop a positive workplace culture with supportive leadership. This is where businesses can benefit from expert advice and support from industry associations, professional advisers and their insurance brokers.
If you need help and support, get in touch with a Marsh Commercial advisor, who will be able to assist with everything from risk management and insurance to employee benefits*.
*Employee health and benefits solutions are provided by Mercer Marsh Benefits. Mercer Marsh Benefits is a trading name used by Mercer Limited (No. 984275), authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office in England and Wales: 1 Tower Place West, Tower Place, London, EC3R 5BU
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