What senior leaders want to know about employee wellness benefits
Before you go in to pitch your ideas for wellbeing and fitness benefits, think about decision-makers’ priorities. Regardless of your industry or sector, these are likely to be the financial impact, productivity metrics, implementation and potential scalability of the solution.
- Financial impact: can you show the ROI, cost-effectiveness, and impact on bottom line?
- Metrics: how will the benefits you’re suggesting affect productivity and efficiency?
- Talent attraction and retention: how could these benefits give the company a competitive edge?
- Risk mitigation: what is the potential for reducing health-related absenteeism and presenteeism?
- Implementation and scalability: how easy will it be to roll out and maintain the benefits?
The business benefits of wellbeing initiatives
Make your case by highlighting the positive impacts that wellbeing benefits, particularly fitness focused ones, can have on employees and company culture.
On average, 6.1 days are lost to formal absence and a staggering 43.6 days to presenteeism per employee annually. Fitness initiatives can help combat these issues.
41% of employees feel that being more active improves their productivity, and regular exercise has been proven to make employees 30% more productive overall. Exercise contributes to employees being 46% better at dealing with stress, and can even lower the risk of depression by 30%. Furthermore, 63% of employees take employee benefits into account when applying for jobs, with 48% of them specifically looking for fitness as an employee benefit.
Why offer fitness as an employee benefit?
Access to fitness services is consistently one of the top benefits that employees look for. Discounted gym membership is a popular way to offer a varied and flexible fitness benefit, and it’s a tangible perk that you’ll be able to track.
Encouraging your workforce to be more active can be a preventative health measure, reducing people’s risk of numerous significant health issues and therefore reducing your risk.
Gyms also provide an outlet for stress relief, and can build up people’s self-confidence and self-image which has an impact on their ability to handle pressure at work.
Choose a flexible and versatile fitness benefit that can cater to all employees, regardless of shift pattern, work location, and fitness levels.
ROI and value for money in employee wellbeing benefit
Senior management will want to see concrete proof that your new employee benefit offer represents good value for money, so prepare these stats in advance of your talks with them:
- Usage: high engagement (frequency and consistency) indicates good value
- Cost savings: compare the cost per employee to projected gains in productivity and reduced absenteeism
- Scalability: prove the long term value of the benefits by showing how it can grow with your company
- Tailored offer: flexible benefits that meet your employees’ needs provide better value
- Measurable: benefits with clear, trackable metrics allow for better ROI calculation
ROI numbers to support investment in fitness benefits
Productivity: wellness and fitness employee benefits that support 30% productivity increase can increase working days by 13 per annum, saving the business £1,256 per employee.
We an calculate the return on investment (ROI) for any financial spend, using the following formula:
ROI = (Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment
Example: if your chosen fitness benefit scheme costs £200 per employee per year and saves £1,256 in productivity losses, the ROI would be (1256 – 200) / 200 = 5.28 or 528% based on this one metric.
There are other factors to consider, including absenteeism (calculate the cost of absences and estimate the reduction based on industry data), retention (factor in cost of recruitment and training vs the cost of retention through employee benefits), and health insurance cost savings.
Answers to common questions senior management may ask about wellbeing benefits
Q: “How can we be sure employees will use these benefits?”
A: We know that 48% of employees specifically want their company to provide fitness benefits, indicating high potential engagement. Here are the comms and tracking strategies we suggest to encourage uptake…
Q: “We already offer health insurance. Isn’t that enough for employee wellbeing?”
A: Health insurance is reactive. Wellbeing benefits, especially fitness as a benefit, help prevent health issues, reduce stress, and make people happier at work. This proactive approach can lead to fewer insurance claims and lower premiums over time.
Q: “Won’t gym memberships favour younger employees?”
A: We plan to offer flexible, inclusive fitness benefits. And the potential health improvements are applicable to everyone (arguably more so in older or less fit people).
Q: “Why should the company get involved in people’s fitness?”
A: By providing fitness benefits, we remove barriers and help people prioritise their health, demonstrate that we value their wellbeing, and create a culture of wellbeing. Also, we can leverage corporate rates to offer people heavily discounted gym access.
Q: “How will we measure the success of these wellbeing benefits?”
A: We suggest tracking usage rates, conducting satisfaction surveys, and monitoring changes in absenteeism, presenteeism, productivity, and retention. We’ll be able to conduct regular ROI calculations based on these metrics.
Presenting the case
Armed with the data around wellness as a benefit, you’ll be able to present a clear business case to senior management. Working with Hussle is incredibly easy, and cost-effective, too. Transform your workplace today, with flexible, discounted access to fitness-as-a-beneft.
