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Employers and employees have different views on engagement

By Jamie Lawrence | June 6, 2011

A new study reveals the differing views between employers and employees on workplace wellbeing and engagement
A new study reveals the differing views between employers and employees on workplace wellbeing and engagement
A new report reveals how physical, emotional and financial wellbeing contribute to employee engagement.

Entitled Engaging Employees Through Health and Wellbeing and released by Simplyhealth, the report outlines significant differences between employee and employer expectations of engagement.

Forty-three percent of employees feel their employer does not do enough to look after their physical health, but only 14 percent of employers think this is the case. And while half of employees think their employers do not help their emotional wellbeing, 13 percent of employers agree with this statement.

When it comes to finance, there is a similar gap in expectations. Over half (62 percent) of employees feel their financial wellbeing is not supported by their employer, while a far lower 2 percent of employers think the same.

This gap may have profound effects on productivity and talent retention, as the survey discovered a direct link between health and workplace loyalty. Three quarters of employees who feel their employer cares ‘a great deal’ about them also describe themselves as loyal. This drops to 3 percent when staff feel their employer doesn’t care.

James Glover, director at Simplyhealth said: "We believe employers who address physical, emotional and financial health and wellbeing could improve engagement and ultimately the productivity of their people. Wellbeing is highly valued by employees and a key driver in their level of job satisfaction, loyalty and motivation. If employers fail to communicate that they care, they could lose talented people as soon as the job market starts to recover."

Comments

  • Michael
    Michael 27/02/2012

    The number of health insurance companies is contracting for the same reason that telecommunications companies and airlines and drug stores and hardware stores are contracting. Economies of scale and bigger companies (and more specialized companies) outcompeting smaller ones.

  • James
    James 06/06/2011

    Timely piece given a visit from our director today. Due to redundancies and restructure, staff morale at all time low. His quote?
    'Morale is all linked to enjoying you job, if your morale is low I suggest you quit now and go do something else'

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