Debi O’Donovan
Director & Co-Founder, Reward & Employee Benefits Association
Remote working for the past year has caused a shift in the way we incentivise staff.
“Same room, different laptop” is how a friend described their new job recently.
Remote working has made workplaces which offer a cacophony of onsite perks, in order to attract and retain the best and the brightest, irrelevant to huge swathes of workers. Beautifully designed offices with onsite employee benefits lie largely silent in 2021.
How to motivate employees
Employers are left wondering how to turn the tanker, to switch off the costs of onsite benefits and transfer the money into meaningful offerings that employees stuck at home in never ending restrictive tiers and lockdowns will appreciate.
Human resources and leadership teams ponder the conundrum on whether to renew building leases or to simply mothball the gyms and workstations. Meanwhile, there is an urgent need coming from the millions of homebound workers: their wellbeing is being battered about like never before.
The REBA/AXA Health Employee Wellbeing Research to be published in April, shows that while 52% of employers believe that remote working has had a positive impact on employee wellbeing and 88% say the same for flexible working hours, employers do have key concerns. Three quarters (76%) worry about the physical inactivity of staff, while 41% say the digital and screen overload is a high risk, with a further 53% saying it is a medium risk.
There is an urgent need coming from the millions of homebound workers: their wellbeing is being battered about like never before.
Changing workplace perks and benefits
Thus, former onsite wellbeing benefits and perks on offer from generous employers are changing. The study shows that the proportion of employers offering virtual GP access shot from 37% in January 2020 to 61% in 2021 (up from 12% five years ago). At the same time, 48% of employers pay for staff to access wellbeing apps (up from 30% in January 2020, and 9% five years ago).
Employers are looking beyond converting traditional wellbeing benefits into ones that could be used from home. They have started to take into account who their workers live with and the communities they live in. This means social wellbeing strategies are on the rise as we recognise the vital role of work to create connection and human interaction.
There has been a huge rise in benefits for people living with the employee to use – from the ability to attend classes together, hire tutors for home schooling and treats to share together.
It is early days but expect to see a significant shift in wellbeing benefits during 2021 as we come to terms with the fact that remote working, in some form, is here to stay.