Survey finds majority of plan members with a workplace wellness culture satisfied with their jobs

A majority (85 per cent) of plan sponsors also agreed their workplace culture or environment encourages health and wellness, with those offering virtual health-care services more likely (93 per cent) to be positive about their workplace culture.

Read: 76% of benefits plan members say workplace culture encourages health, wellness: BCHS

When asked to select ways in which their workplace culture encourages health and wellness, plan sponsors cited a safe work environment (48 per cent), followed by a positive work environment (44 per cent), good relationships between co-workers (44 per cent), reasonable work hours or workloads (40 per cent) and a good relationship with the immediate supervisor/manager (40 per cent).

Three-quarters (74 per cent) of plan sponsors said they expect they’ll dedicate funds and/or staff resources to support employee wellness in at least one of six ways outside of their health benefits plan. Investments in emotional or mental health remained their top priority (44 per cent), followed by physical fitness (33 per cent), social health initiatives such as volunteerism (2 per cent), financial health (26 per cent), prevention of illness and/or chronic health conditions (26 per cent) and musculoskeletal health (16 per cent).

Additionally, plan sponsors with a flexible benefits plan (84 per cent) were more likely than those with a traditional plan (67 per cent) to invest in wellness areas outside of the health benefits plan. Nonetheless, 83 per cent agreed — 33 per cent strongly — employers should take on greater responsibility to prevent rather than just treat disease, illness and injury.

Read: Employers leveraging benefits, flexibility to prevent pandemic surge in disability claims