Employee Wellbeing Research 2019: third of employers now offer access to health or wellbeing app
The Employee Wellbeing Research 2019 published by the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA) in association with AXA PPP healthcare showed that there’s been an upsurge in the use of dedicated health and wellbeing websites, apps and virtual GP services.
A total of 30.5 per cent of employers now have a health or wellbeing app for employees to use on their smartphones, compared with 8.5 per cent in 2016 – a rise of 259%.
Growth in provision of virtual GP services has also seen a huge jump. This year 31.5 per cent of organisations offered such access, up from 11.6 per cent three years ago, which represents a rise of 172 per cent.
Finally, while 31.1 per cent of employers had a dedicated health and wellbeing website in place in 2016, this figure rose to 47.3 per cent this year, a 52 per cent growth.
“Dedicated wellbeing websites and online portals provide a simple way of communicating with employees, giving them easy access to a wide range of wellbeing resources. Smartphone apps allow employees to do all of this on the go,” says the report.
The research also points out that technological trends that have affected consumer demand such as the rise in popularity of apps and expansion of digital healthcare services will inevitably have influenced the approach employers take to boosting wellbeing activity.
One trend that was tipped for growth but has not yet been realised is wearable tech, such as pedometers or GPS watches. The proportion of employers offering such devices has remained at roughly one in 10 every year since 2016.
The research is based on a survey of 250 wellbeing, HR and employee benefits specialists.
Download a copy of the 76 page Employee Wellbeing Research 2019 (free to REBA Professional Members and all those working for REBA Associate Members).
In partnership with AXA Health
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