Top 10 Trends for employee wellbeing in 2024

The number of companies using wellbeing data to inform strategy, spot trends and analyse performance of wellbeing benefits will continue to grow. There will also be an increase in wellbeing related communications linking to company benefits and support being provided underpinned by key wellbeing dates in the calendar. We will also see the smarter use of existing wellbeing benefits, with companies harmonising what they have and using free or services that are embedded within insurance policies. Companies will need to review the utilisation of the support you they offer too.

Here are my top 10 predictions for employee wellbeing in 2024;

 The number of companies using wellbeing data to inform strategy, spot trends and analyse performance of wellbeing benefits will continue to grow.

There will also be an increase in wellbeing related communications linking to company benefits and support being provided underpinned by key wellbeing dates in the calendar.

We will also see the smarter use of existing wellbeing benefits, with companies harmonising what they have and using free or services that are embedded within insurance policies. Companies will need to review the utilisation of the support you they offer too.

We will see the continued link between DE&I and wellbeing, with CSR and ESG initiatives also playing a key part.

Line managers will play a leading role in the promotion of wellbeing support, driving wellbeing through the business and signposting support to employees. An increase in line manager training focussing on this is to be expected.

We will also see an increase in companies providing strategic targeted financial education to their employees – linked to a financial wellbeing strategy that understands the challenges that their workforce has in this area.

There will be an increase in the use of preventative measures (as opposed to more reactive ones once a problem exists) to reduce claims and absence (PMI, GIP, etc…) as more companies are focusing on keeping their workforce healthier by improving their wellbeing with the aim of reducing absence rates and claims under health-related policies. Businesses will also be focusing on education and awareness and to encourage the right behaviours to enable change.

There will be an increased in health screening and this is very much linked to prevention. Businesses are increasingly seeing the value in providing low cost, high value health screens to employees. This helps them to understand the business risks, but also the employee to understand their health risks and how to make changes to improve this.

We will also see more focus on life-stage health and wellbeing support (including generational support) in the following areas:

• Men – male cancers, cardiovascular health, obesity
• Women – female cancers, menstrual health, menopause
• Fertility – male infertility, female infertility, same sex couples and support for the partner
• Family – family forming, childcare, eldercare

Finally, a growing number of companies are providing support for neurodiversity in the workplace – be this policies, recruitment processes, adaptations to the role or the working environment, introduction of funded assessments, this is  growing area of focus.

Source: Top 10 trends for employee wellbeing in 2024 | theHRD (thehrdirector.com)