Nearly 50% Of UK Employees Are Stressed. But Why?

How Can Employers Help Reduce Stress Levels?

This can be done by offering benefits that employees can use to help manage different causes of stress.

When asked what benefits employees found the most attractive, insurance policies that protected themselves and their loved ones (19%) topped the list. This was followed by:

• benefits that provide additional financial support and knowledge (18%)
• rewards and gifts that can be used outside of work, such as employee discount platforms or event tickets (16%)
• those that help manage and maintain their health and wellbeing (15%)

Choose Benefits That Reduce Stress Levels

If left alone stress can lead to poor mental and physical health. This can in turn lead to poor performance at work or even long term sickness.

By understanding what causes employees stress as well as the benefits that they would like to receive, you can start to build out an effective benefits strategy that can help to tackle its causes. As a part of this strategy you could include benefits such as:

• Flexible Working & Work-From-Home Options – Benefits such as this can help UK employees to better balance their work and personal responsibilities, which can lead to reduced stress levels at work.
• Discount Schemes – This benefit gives your employees access to savings on everyday costs such as groceries and travel, which can save them hundreds of pounds a year. This can help them to make their money go further and alleviate some financial pressures.
• Salary Sacrifice Workplace Pensions – By offering a workplace pension with contributions via salary sacrifice, not only could you save your business money but you could also boost the amount of pay your employees take home each month. This is because of the great tax and NI savings this benefit offers.
• Workplace Financial Education – Giving employees access to financial education can help them become more confident in areas such as debt management, savings and investments. This knowledge can be really powerful when it comes to making informed decisions about their own finances.

Other benefits that can help eliminate stress include group risk products such as Death In Service, Group Health Insurance, Company Income Protection and Group Critical Illness Cover. These benefits can help provide financial security to employees and their loved ones.

Group risk policies often come with free extra benefits, such as virtual GP services, counselling, meditation sessions, and employee assistance programmes (EAP).

These services can help your employees and their loved ones with managing their stress levels.

Nick Nelms
Senior Consultant, Employee Benefits