Over the past decade (or two) as employer’s removed pensions and stifled wage increases for long term employees due to market fluctuations, housing bubble crises and uncertain economic times, a shift in the workplace has been brewing. Employee loyalty has slowly been waning and once the pandemic hit it was the final push needed for mass employees to reevaluate their careers and make a move toward more meaningful work. Many turned to non-profits, some opened personal businesses and most began prioritizing family commitments over careers.
Leaving employers trying to figure out how to address low job satisfaction rates and meet expectations of workers from various generations, races, gender identities, and industries. Finally shifting the workplace dynamic to an employee-driven environment we find ourselves in today.
MetLife Benefit Trends Report Chart showing the rapid decline in the percentage of employees who say they want to be with their current employer in a year’s time. On the y-axis is the percentage, and on the x-axis are the years 2018-2020. From a high of 80% in 2018, the percentage has decreased to only 70% in 2022 who say they plan to be with their current organization in 1 year.
MetLife’s latest study confirms that “…today’s workers, to a greater extent than in the past, expect employers to recognize the importance of their lives inside and outside of work.” The pandemic finally brought to fruition greater interest in flexible working arrangements, work- life balance, financial well-being, and mental health – which has slowly been gaining momentum since the 2010s. It also further disjointed the workforce, making work better for some employees and more challenging for others and introducing a whole new set of concerns for human resource professionals.
Human resource leaders who once focused on employees hard and soft skills and maybe compensation now need to consider the whole employee. Many had to take a step back to consider the overall employee experience and become creative to recruit and retain talent. Attracting employees was going to take more than just a job offer. HR needed to focus on enriching the workplace culture, being more inclusive, providing more robust benefits, considering flexible working models and more attractive ancillary benefits. Meaningful action and innovative benefits strategies are crucial to retaining and attracting talent.
MetLife Benefit Trends Report Chart showing the rapid decline in the percentage of employees who say they want to be with their current employer in a year’s time. On the y-axis is the percentage, and on the x-axis are the years 2018-2020. From a high of 80% in 2018, the percentage has decreased to only 70% in 2022 who say they plan to be with their current organization in 1 year.
The Holistic Employee
In the past employee well-being has been thought of as only healthcare and retirement offerings. Over the last decade this notion has grown significantly to include mental health, social health, and physical health.
Mental Health
Over the last five years employee mental health has suffered a steep decline. According to MetLife’s Employee Benefits Trends Study, 72% of employers say employee stress and burnout are concerns for their organization. However, most of these same employers overrate their employee’s well- being. The gap between what employers perceive and the employee reality is most pronounced in small businesses where “small business employees reported a four- percentage-point decline in mental health since 2021, yet their employers are six percentage points more likely to see the workforce as mentally healthy.”
While some of this mental health well-being decline can be attributed to work and the pandemic; there are plenty of external factors also at play. The current political climate, societal unrest, inflation, and other large events have led to more uncertainty, fear, and difficulties for employees. In 2021 the percentage of employees seeking help for stress, burnout and other mental health issues grew from 26% to 31% in MetLife’s study.** Yet 41% of employees surveyed in the study said their employer does not provide any resources or benefits covering mental health.*
Insight: Make mental health a priority benefits for your employees. Fit mental health is a crucial issue across the employee spectrum. The key to a good mental health program is accessibility and affordability for employees.
Social Health
Social health has a direct impact on mental health and the last couple years of social isolation has affected employees across all generations. However, since the pandemic has lightened most generations have shown improvement in 2022 except Generation Z where it has declined 3 percentage points down to 56% in this year’s MetLife study.**
Interpersonal relationships and camaraderie play a significant role in employee mental health.
Insight: Employers can assist with social health by offering employee resources, volunteering opportunities, or healthbucks for employees to join a gym/workout group.
Physical Health
The pandemic adversely affected physical health no doubt -but according to the MetLife’s Study now that we are two years into the pandemic for the most part “…employees are feeling physically healthier, and employers are feeling greater responsibility for the safety of their workers.” This newfound responsibility for workers is not shared across all industries, unfortunately “20% of on-site workers in healthcare and 23% of on-site retail employees say they are not satisfied with their employers’ measures to ensure their safety and protection since COVID-19.”
Insight: Survey employees to find out how they feel regarding their physical health and safety when onsite at the workplace with the option to suggest improvements.
Consider an outside consultant to do a benefit analysis to identify gaps in your current offerings and assist with suggestions.