FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New data released today by Virgin Pulse, the market leader in the rapidly-growing employee health engagement category, provides insight into the employee engagement and wellness industry. The report, State of the Industry: Engagement & Wellness in 2015, surveyed 1,395 HR management professionals across a broad range of industries and organization sizes in conjunction with Human Capital Media, the research arm of Workforce magazine, to gain a deep look at the state of the industry and discover how and why institutions are budgeting, implementing, measuring and improving employee engagement and wellness programs.
According to the report, organizations will increase their employee engagement and wellness program budgets and broaden program scope with an eye on increasing engagement, participation and retention in 2015. Many organizations will look to go beyond physical wellness to improve the emotional, social and financial well-being of their employees.
Some noteworthy findings from the research include:
- The lion’s share of companies (77.4 percent) are not considering a move to a private health insurance exchange.
- More than half of organizations still use single point in time data vs. ongoing assessment tools or real-time data to measure program success (54 percent use standardized questions on annual surveys while just 19 percent use productivity data and four percent use regular employee Net Promoter Scores to measure employee engagement).
- Within organizations, there’s a disconnect between how executives and managers view engagement and wellness: Executives tend to view employee engagement and wellness as analogous, while managers are more results-oriented when it comes to these specific programs.
- Twenty-six percent of organizations are not measuring return on investment at all. Of those that are doing so, more than one-third of organizations (38 percent) measure the impact of wellness programs via claims reduction while more than a quarter (26 percent) are measuring in terms of employee engagement gains.
“Modern life is taking its toll on employees and leaving them overwhelmed, stressed out, and depleted. That has a major impact on how engaged and productive people are both on and off the job, so leading employers are taking steps to change that,” said Chris Boyce, CEO of Virgin Pulse. “We commissioned the state of the industry report to learn more about what executives and HR managers are doing to help their employees be healthier, happier and more productive. The report aims to close the loop between what employees want and need, and what companies can do to deliver the support employees need in order to be their best selves at work and beyond.”
Additional insights garnered in the report include:
- Industry-specific data on employee engagement and wellness programs.
- Details and specific information about “what works” in employee incentives programs.
- How organizations measure employee engagement and wellness programs.
- The top five factors affecting employee well-being which include: work stress, physical health, personal stress, financial concerns, and sleep.
- The top five programs employers plan to offer in the next two years which include: stress management, financial management, nutrition programs, weight management programs, and sleep programs.
“One of the major takeaways from the report was the strong link between employee well-being and engagement,” added Boyce. “Especially at the executive level, respondents see that employees’ physical and mental well-being are directly affected by both employee engagement and wellness programs.”
Download the full report: http://www.virginpulse.com/wellness-report.
About Virgin Pulse
Virgin Pulse, part of Sir Richard
Branson’s famed Virgin Group, helps employers create a workforce with
the energy, focus, and drive necessary to fully engage at work and in
life. With its award-winning, online platform, the company fosters
healthy daily habits and sustainable behavior change that help employees
thrive at work and across all aspects of life. Unlike narrowly-focused
employee health and engagement solutions, Virgin Pulse is a hub of
consumer-focused strategies and innovative tools that set the foundation
for a company’s engagement efforts. More than 250 industry leaders
representing more than 2 million employees have selected Virgin Pulse’s
programs to reinvigorate their workplace. Learn more at www.virginpulse.com.
Workforce Magazine
Workforce is a
multimedia publication that covers the intersection of people management
and business strategy. Our community of senior-level human resources
executives and C-level officers are the key decision-makers on talent
management matters in the 2,500 largest corporations in America. They
read us for our editorial focus and relevance to help them improve their
business — and their bottom line — through effective management of the
workforce. While employees and executives often bemoan the bureaucratic
nature of HR processes, companies increasingly realize they need to be
smarter about the ways they attract, retain and train their workforce.
Our content helps HR professionals approach their jobs from a more
strategic, big-picture, business-results perspective.
Human Capital Media
The Human Capital Media (HCM) Research
and Advisory Group is the research division of Human Capital Media,
publisher of Chief Learning Officer, Talent Management and Workforce
magazines. The Research and Advisory Group specializes in partnered
research solutions — customizable and proprietary deliverables that
integrate seamlessly with existing sales and marketing programs.
Leveraging our access to senior-level decision-makers and proven HR
industry expertise, we undertake market and thought leadership research
in the human resources industry. Creating custom content and presenting
thought leadership research are all part of the Research and Advisory
Group’s focus.
