LONDON, April 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aon's 2018
EMEA Health Survey, released today, has found that though many
employers recognise the role they have to play in influencing good
employee health, most are not employing strategies that best enable
these outcomes.
The Survey, which covers more than 900 employers across the
region, in 25 industries and covering 2.7 million employees aims to
identify the key health issues employers are facing as they develop
their people risk strategies, including the opportunities and
challenges.
The majority of employers overwhelmingly recognise the
importance of having a well-defined, well communicated health and
wellbeing programme and that there is a correlation between
employee health and their performance.
- 95% say they have a role to play in positively influencing good
employee health.
- Nearly 70% of respondents either have a specific budget in
place, or plan to have within the next two years, to fund health
initiatives.
- Most employers seem to have a good idea of the types of health
and wellbeing issues they need to focus on, for example, lifestyle
risks, and financial, physical and/or emotional wellbeing. 65% say
stress and mental health issues is their primary concern.
Yet in spite of this recognition of a correlation between health
and employee performance, many organisations do not appear to be
implementing strategies that best enable these outcomes, and the
prevalence of health programmes of all types is lower than two
years ago.
- Only 40% of employers say they have a defined health strategy
in place, the same as 2016, and even fewer (36%) have a clear view
of the impact (including cost) of the health issues in their
organisation.
- The key barriers to running or implementing successful
wellbeing programmes include having no budget or a budget that is
not deemed enough, having limited resources, or not being able to
measure the effectiveness of any initiatives.
- Only 22% of employers use data to support their health and
wellbeing strategy, and just 12% measure ongoing success of their
health programmes.
- Less than 40% of employers rate their health and benefits
communication to employees as good.
- The survey also finds that attracting and retaining talent is
the top HR issue in 2018, overtaking increasing productivity and
employee performance, which has dropped to the number three concern
since the last survey in 2016. Improving engagement and morale is
the second highest ranked concern.
Andrew Cunningham, Commercial Leader, Health &
Benefits, EMEA at Aon comments: "This
survey demonstrates that attracting and retaining
talent is the top HR issue at the moment and
it is positive that so many employers say
they recognise the link between good employee health,
performance and engagement. However, the data also suggests
that in reality employers really need to challenge
themselves around whether they are doing enough to protect the
health and wellbeing of their top assets. It is time to shift from
positive intentions to measured investment, changing communication
strategies to better support employees."
Matthew Lawrence, Chief
Broking Officer, Health & Benefits, EMEA at Aon comments:
"Although more organisations now have a defined health budget for
many employers this does not appear to stretch far enough in order
for them to achieve their desired health and wellbeing outcomes. It
is vital that employers think about how best to utilise this spend,
what role other stakeholders in the process could play in
supporting funding initiatives and, where appropriate, how best to
make use of what they are already paying for, for example, insurer
value add services."
He continued: "More importantly, focusing health initiatives
where they are most needed and deliver most value is key, both from
a value for investment and return on investment perspective. For
example, taking data and providing insightful analysis should lead
to targeted action and measurable outcomes that potentially would
have a positive impact on both the individual employee and the
employer. Nearly 80% of respondents to this survey are missing out
on this opportunity. The 85% who reported in the last survey that
they intended to start measuring their success have not
materialised – it will be interesting to see how many of the 88%
who say the same this year have put measurement programmes in place
by 2020."
About the Aon EMEA Health Survey
The Aon 2018 EMEA Health Survey was carried out in Q1 2018. A
total of 913 employers / HR professionals participated in the
survey, across 35 countries in Europe, Middle
East and Africa. The survey
covers over 25 industries and 2.7 million employees.
The report includes results and analysis for the 22 countries
which had at least 20 respondents with a validated
questionnaire.
Please visit the Aon website to download the full Aon 2018 EMEA
Health Survey.
About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global professional services
firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health
solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results
for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver
insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.
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