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Why employees aren’t happy with wellbeing support

— Why employees aren’t happy with wellbeing support

Why are only half of Australian employees happy with wellbeing support at their workplace?

I was curious what sits behind this headline statistic in last weekโ€™s article in HRD Australia magazine. After all, if thereโ€™s some โ€œsecretโ€ to increasing employee satisfaction with the financial wellbeing programs my clients offer, I want to know!

The article was based on a 2023 survey of 2000 employees in Australia and New Zealand by Sonder, an early intervention safety and wellbeing platform. You can read the article here: https://lnkd.in/ga_RCMW8.

My first conclusion – ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€, ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜€.

33% of employees say they have no idea what support is available, about 40% have some understanding and only 20% feel they truly understand what support is available and how to access it.

I then downloaded the research report from Sonder, as I always like to go to the source to get a deeper understanding. It provided a lot of information about how to make wellbeing part of your Employee Value Proposition โ€ฆ well presented and useful if youโ€™re in HR โ€ฆ but wasnโ€™t what I was seeking.

I did glean a few useful insights though:
โ€ข 49% of employees โ€˜often or always had feelings of burnout or exhaustionโ€™
โ€ข only 50% of managers agree they have been provided with sufficient support and training to effectively support their teamโ€™s wellbeing

So my second conclusion – ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€

And lastly, ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜† ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜€, rather than add to the sense of overload they feel!

P.S – just in case you were wondering, the survey confirmed the prevalence of financial stress: 42% of those surveyed often or always experience worries about being able to meet normal living expenses.