3 Trending Ways To Improve Workplace Health And Employee Well-being
Apr 20,2023
Read Time 4 Minutes
Maximum employee productivity and performance are directly tied to the health of your workforce. When people feel supported and confident in their healthcare coverage, they’re more likely to take the necessary steps to protect their health, and more likely to produce better quality work. As public awareness around the importance of whole health increases, so have the expectations around what it means to provide whole health support.
Forward-thinking employers know that their benefits offerings must consider both physical and mental health needs to attract and retain top talent. For this year, 65% of employers reported employee health and well-being as a top concern, compared to just 27% of employers in 2018. This will likely continue to grow with ongoing competitive pressure between employers in the current job market.
While compensation and health insurance remain critical offerings, new employee benefit options and evolving healthcare technology trends continue to be a cornerstone of robust health coverage — and it’s now what employees expect from their employers.
Benefits Your Employees Will Use
Aligning your organization’s benefits to current trends and useful support resources might be easier than you think. In some cases, you may already offer some of the options listed below, and a workplace communications strategy to ensure employee awareness may only be what’s needed.
1. Virtual Care Options
Ensuring your health coverage includes virtual care options allows employees to focus on their well-being in a way that fits their schedules and personal needs.
Today, virtual care options remain popular due to convenience, accessibility, and cost savings. According to recent research, telehealth use rises with age and continues to show increasing adoption by every demographic.
Digital solutions, like Anthem’s SydneySM Health app, offer a personalized, guided experience helping your employees navigate healthcare options and make the most of their benefits through a single, easy-to-use resource. Sydney Health provides options for virtual care and can help remove barriers to health support, especially for those in rural areas, leading to better decisions and reduced costs. Through this “digital front door,” employees can connect with their care providers, view benefits and claims, resolve health issues, bridge care gaps, and access information tailored to their specific health history.
2. Behavioral Health Coverage
Health plans are required to provide mental health benefits that are comparable to medical benefits as a result of the Affordable Care Act's Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). Due to this legislation, and because of recent increases in the prevalence of depression, anxiety, burnout, and substance abuse, businesses must expand their offerings to support employees with mental health concerns. The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) pushes the envelope of transparency forward even further, requiring group plans to report on how mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits rate in terms of design and application parity.
Employee burnout also continues to be high, with surveys showing prevalence consistent with pandemic levels. The associated mental health issues are a concern employers have the opportunity to address through whole-health support, holistic resources, and enhanced digital access to behavioral and mental healthcare.
One avenue to help reduce stress and prevent burnout is the implementation of innovative self-guided resources such as digital cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) through an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). An EAP can also help support employees during major life changes, such as the loss of a loved one, a chronic disease diagnosis, or a financial hardship. In many cases, private counseling sessions are also covered.
3. End-to-End Advocacy
To help address the challenges individuals face in managing their healthcare, more employers are seeking to support their employees with an empathy-driven health advocacy model. Informed by the latest in health technology, this advocacy model offers data-driven insights that support whole-person care.
Providing employees and their families access to a personalized, whole-health experience helps employees focus on their care in a proactive and worry-free manner. Boosting confidence in care not only helps improve the well-being of your employees, but also can positively impact the overall health of your organization.
You can also help your employees achieve more balance by adding work-life consultation services, including support for childcare needs, elder care, daily living, legal help, or financial resource planning. Virtual and in-person access to maternity programs can support healthier pregnancies with flexibility, translating into a huge benefit to employees and their families. Consider developing benefits communications across a variety of mediums — think print materials, email, or your intranet to drive awareness of your offerings and help employees take full advantage of them.
Creating A More Desirable Workplace
Establishing a healthy, supportive work environment is more important than ever. By reimagining employee benefits to include flexible, digitally-enabled access to care, support for mental health and well-being, and programs to support work-life balance, you will show genuine interest for the real-world concerns of your employees — and be better positioned to attract and retain talent.
Organizations need to take action on the various ways to improve employee well-being. Employees want to feel their well-being matters to their employer. Your offerings, beyond salary, can demonstrate real empathy and build trust and satisfaction for your workforce.
Sydney Health is offered through an arrangement with Carelon Digital Platforms, a separate company offering mobile application services on behalf of your health plan. ©2023
The Virtual Primary Care experience is offered through an arrangement with Hydrogen Health.