Research reveals what perks don’t work for employees — and what drives true value

Discover why most wellness initiatives miss the mark. Learn how investing in flexible working and supportive management can drive real employee wellbeing and organisational success.

For an organisation to thrive, the people it employs must thrive too. A growing body of evidence shows that a healthy workforce is key to strong organisational performance. Many employers recognise that investing in employee wellbeing is the right thing to do from both a business and moral perspective.

HR decision-makers misallocate wellness investments

Research on employees and HR decision-makers by YouGov for Investors in People shows that HR decision-makers are investing their budgets and efforts into the wrong areas when it comes to employee wellbeing. It shows a significant gap between employee and HR perceptions of wellbeing, with employees finding wellness initiatives less valuable and effective than HR decision-makers believe.

It suggests that HR decision-makers are wasting money on implementing ‘sticking plaster’ wellness initiatives. Yet, what makes the difference to employees — and what employees want — are sustained interventions to improve organisational culture.

Where wellness initiatives fail

While HR decision-makers say their organisation offers a wide range of wellness initiatives, employees are less likely to say their employer offers these interventions. This suggests a low level of employee awareness.

Employees do not rate the effectiveness of most wellness initiatives highly. For example, only 27% of employees see health and wellness apps as effective in improving their wellbeing, and only 25% think stress management workshops are effective.

Employees undervalue wellness programmes

Employees are not using wellness programmes. For example, 59% of employees say they never use gym memberships or fitness classes; 49% say they never use stress management workshops; and 47% say they never use health and wellness apps.

There is a mismatch in value perception of wellness programmes between HR and employees; HR decision-makers consistently believe the programmes are more valued by employees than they are. For example, while 72% of HR decision-makers think gym memberships are valuable to their staff, only 41% of employees rate them as valuable, and 33% see them as not being valuable.

High value in flexible working

According to employees, the most valued, effective and well-used wellness initiative is flexible working. Ninety per cent of employees see flexible working as a valuable health and wellbeing initiative, 83% see flexible working as effective in improving their wellbeing, and 68% say they use flexible working very or fairly often.

Most important drivers of job satisfaction

Supportive management, open communication and flexible working are far more crucial to job satisfaction than wellness initiatives like fitness memberships, office health programmes or stress management workshops.

Top initiatives for employees

The top three initiatives employees chose to improve their overall wellbeing at work are flexible working; supportive management; and rewards and recognition. When it comes to workplace wellbeing, employees would choose general improvements in workplace culture over reactive wellness interventions.

HR decision-makers focusing solely on stress management workshops without addressing root causes like excessive workloads, poor management or inflexibility will struggle to improve employee wellbeing. While wellness benefits are valuable and utilised, they should be supported by a robust wellbeing culture and holistic strategy.