Mind, Body and Wallet: Optimizing Workplace and Worksite Employee Well-being
Guest Blog by Dean R. Pawlowski, National PEO Director,
Guardian Life Insurance Company
American worksite employees’ overall well-being is significantly lower than in recent years. Amid inflation, global instability and increasingly high costs of living, employees are stressed. Guardian’s 12th Annual Workplace Benefits Study found that these recent economic challenges are having a significant impact on three key areas of worksite employees’ well-being: financial, emotional and physical. In addition, the percentage of worksite employees who believe their employer cares about their well-being has declined from 51% to 38% between 2022 and 2023.
Fostering worksite employees’ well-being is crucial for productivity and retention within a workplace. Because of this, it is important that Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) do as much as possible to help their worksites equip themselves with a portfolio of adequate benefits and resources. Continue reading to learn more about the nature of the current trends in worksite employees’ financial, emotional and physical health, and how PEOs can help optimize worksite employees’ wellness by taking a holistic approach to providing and communicating benefits across these three key pillars.
Financial Wellness
Relative to physical and mental wellness, financial health has the largest impact on worksite employees’ well-being. According to Guardian research, the percentage of worksite employees who rate their financial wellness as “excellent” or “very good” declined from 44% to just 28% in the past year. The top areas of financial concern for worksite employees include having their retirement savings last as long as needed, having sufficient emergency savings and paying off/reducing household debt.
This low financial health doesn’t bode well for worksite employees, especially considering that 4 in 10 workers are living paycheck to paycheck, and only 3 in 10 rate themselves as very good at managing their personal finances. Nearly half say they’d face financial hardship without their benefits.
Emotional Wellness
One in three worksite employees rate their mental health “fair” or “poor,” worse than it’s been in several years. A third report they’ve experienced increased anxiety, depression, or another mental health condition in the past year. While employers have made significant progress in addressing workforce mental health, unfortunately, only 39% of worksite employees felt that their organization provided sufficient mental health support. In fact, this is the most pressing issue that worksite employees want their employer to address, which is unsurprising, considering that mental health-related disability claims have increased over 40% in the past five years.
Physical Wellness
Guardian found that only about a quarter (25%) of worksite employees rate their diet, exercise and weight as “very good” or “excellent.” This is even worse than it was during the pandemic, likely because some of the poor physical habits many Americans adopted during that time (exercising less while consuming more alcohol and takeout) have continued. Unfortunately, there are consequences that go beyond physical health: Physical and mental health are closely interconnected, making this area of wellness even more important to address. While approximately half of employers offer physical wellness benefits, only about a third of worksite employees use them.
Conclusion
Worksite employees’ well-being is at a low across three crucial areas. PEOs can help reverse these downward trends by taking a holistic approach to benefits and resources, helping their worksites target the areas of financial, emotional and physical wellness. Such an approach will also maximize the success of their worksites by boosting talent attraction, retention and loyalty.
With this benefits strategy in mind, there are several solutions PEOs can help worksites implement:
- Providing mental health resources, such as therapists, counselors and meditation apps, which can significantly help worksite employees with stress management.
- Allowing flexible scheduling and telecommuting so that worksite employees can adapt their hours and location to accommodate their personal circumstances.
- Offering adequate dental benefits and encouraging regular visits. Oral health has a significant impact on both physical and mental health.
- Encouraging wellness initiatives that meet worksite employees’ needs. Employers should survey their workforce to learn about which activities they would be most interested in.
- Arranging connections between financial professionals and worksite employees to provide guidance in building sustainable financial habits and choosing the right benefits.
- Offering a variety of employer-paid and worksite employee-paid products and tools—such as life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, supplemental health and hospital indemnity—to help worksite employees improve their financial wellness.
- Expanding paid leave policies so worksite employees may take the time they need for caregiving and other personal needs.
PEOs can help optimize the adoption of their benefits and wellness resources by utilizing an omni-level communications strategy. Sometimes worksite employees are not aware of all the programs and offerings available to them, so promoting benefits and wellness initiatives in ways that will resonate with a variety of audiences, across demographics and worksite industries is essential. This will help worksite employees see the value of these offerings not only by helping boost their benefits utilization, but also so they feel that their employer is more invested in their well-being.
To learn more, download the Mind, Body Wallet 2023 Brief based on Guardian’s 12th Annual Workplace Benefits Study. Register for our upcoming webinar being held on April 10.
Guardian has been delivering benefits solutions to PEOs since 2001.
Working with PrismHR, we offer benefit plans that can be tailored to your worksite clients’ needs. Our comprehensive ancillary benefits—dental, vision, life, disability, accident, critical illness, cancer and hospital indemnity plans—along with our value-added services, help you provide attractive benefits to recruit and retain worksite employees, helping your business thrive.
National PEO Director
Guardian Life Insurance Company
Because behind every PEO is a Guardian.
Dean R. Pawlowski is Guardian Life’s national PEO director. He has been involved in the PEO industry for 10-plus years in multiple capacities serving the insurance needs of his clients and vendor partners. He joined Guardian in January of 2022 to restructure and put more focus on an end-to-end solution for their PEO customers as well as build a team that will grow their footprint in the industry moving forward.
Unless otherwise noted, all data is sourced from Guardian’s 12th Annual Workplace Benefits Study, 2023.
Material discussed is meant for general informational purposes only and is not to be construed as tax, legal, or investment advice. Although the information has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, please note that individual situations can vary. Therefore, the information should be relied upon only when coordinated with individual professional advice. The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), New York, NY. Guardian, its subsidiaries, agents, and employees do not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. Consult your tax, legal, or accounting professional regarding your individual situation.
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