As part of our recently published inVOYAGE Annual Report 2020, David Gould, CEO at CR Worldwide, contributed an article on the growing focus on employee wellbeing by corporations in the UK and US markets. With the Covid-19 pandemic now having a huge impact on people’s working lives around the globe, the mental and physical wellbeing of the workforce is now more important than ever, and the trends discussed in this feature will be even more relevant once the crisis passes…

New research shows poor employee mental health is costing UK firms £43, billion, an increase of 16% on last year, through rising ‘sick days’ and employees under-performing at work. A UK Government commissioned review found 15% of people at work have symptoms indicating mental health issues. It is a similar story across the US where more than half of workers want employers to do more to alleviate mental health problems including stress.

This is spurring a growing trend in US and UK companies offering everything from rainforest retreats and family vacations to extra time off to improve employee wellbeing. A quiet revolution in workforce wellbeing is taking place, spurred by a drive to attract and retain a health-conscious younger workforce. While companies have always offered in-work incentives and benefits to boost ‘job satisfaction’, this generation expects their employer to care about and improve their overall mental and physical health – or ‘life satisfaction’- outside work.

Workplace stress is rising and taking a significant toll on employee and corporate performance. Studies now demonstrate that stress levels have risen 20% in three decades and 16% have left a job due to stress. Companies are responding to this by investing in employee wellbeing programmes and funding a plethora of in-work benefits built around overall wellbeing such as office ‘nap rooms’, gyms and yoga facilities and mental health ‘first aid training’.

CR Worldwide’s report ‘The rise of Corporate Wellness 2.0’ shows that the scope of ‘corporate wellness’ schemes is now expanding far beyond office walls and working hours to encompass out-of-hours health, wellbeing and leisure time. Incentive, reward and recognition platforms, as well as corporate travel and events, are being increasingly designed around improving mental and physical health. Data also shows an increase in corporate spending on employee engagement and rewards overall.

Employers are ditching city breaks to boost employee wellbeing

Eco tourism is booming and we are seeing the rise of ‘animal therapy’, from dolphins used to alleviate mental disabilities to universities using ‘therapy dogs’ to help stressed students. ‘Animal-friendly’ companies are also now allowing animals in the workspace.

CR Worldwide has found that this trend is also now extending outside the workspace into the realm of incentive travel – going back to nature. CR’s data charts a dramatic 56% rise in activity or nature breaks, often involving animal encounters.

One multinational IT giant recently rewarded top-performers with safari trips and visits to penguin colonies in South Africa. Traditional Christmas city breaks have been supplanted by trips involving activities such as horse riding and husky sledging. Incentives such as treks with gorillas in Rwanda and orangutans in Borneo, tagging rare rhinos and diving with sharks are becoming ever more prevalent.

Luxury travel incentives are also becoming more social and ‘experiential’ with corporates offering opportunities to join interactive local music sessions and sample local cuisine. Instagram-friendly locations such as Mexico, Costa Rica and Finland are also now among the most popular and in-demand corporate travel destinations. This reflects a clear drive to reconfigure business travel incentives around the needs of a new health and eco-conscious social media generation.

Staff are getting extra vacation days instead of gadgets

It is progressively being recognised that working less hours makes staff more productive. Mexico has the longest average working hours in the OECD, yet is also the least productive country. Businesses lose thousands of hours each year to stressed, over-worked staff calling in sick or under-performing at work. They also lose younger recruits, who value work/life balance.

In response, half of UK businesses are now implementing a four-day working week for some or all employees while workers in the Netherlands work just 29 hours a week on average. Giants such as Microsoft and Google are toying with the idea; AutoTrader offers the chance to buy extra paid time off, while Expedia offers flexible working hours.

CR research has confirmed this is creating a parallel sea-change with incentive programmes. Corporate rewards once came in the shape of gadgets or cars but increasingly they take the form of incentive or team travel and extra holiday days.  At the other end of the spectrum, an extra day off was the most common reward redeemed by employees worldwide last year. A full-day, half-day, and 10-hour break were the three most popular corporate rewards of 2019 in the US.

Cumulatively, this indicates companies are beginning to realise that time off and improving quality of life outside work is the key to increasing productivity in work. The bosses of the past saw employee holidays as a cumbersome legal requirement, but the boss of the future is more likely to give employees extra time off, and to tell them not to check their emails until they come back.

The boundary between personal and professional lives will continue to blur

The workplace of the future will be one that dissolves traditional distinctions between the personal and professional and caters to the out-of-work wellbeing of employees. The trend will be towards improving corporate productivity by improving employees’ private lives.

We could see future digital reward programmes that reward not just work-related targets but also personal development goals. Data on progress towards New Years’ resolutions could be included alongside data on work performance in counting towards employee rewards. Data on reward redemptions and vacation destinations could be used to generate more personalised travel incentives, perks and rewards. Employers will use employee data to reward and encourage personal as well as professional development.

Modern employers increasingly believe that their responsibilities to staff do not end at the office door. From yoga facilities and nap rooms in the office to nature breaks and life coaches outside the office, the future employer will increasingly tend to their employees’ physical and mental wellbeing. Evidence shows this is key to attracting younger workers that value self-fulfilment and ‘life satisfaction’ over work satisfaction. They will also drive a positive transformation in workforce performance.  

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