The fallout from the pandemic has continued to fuel demand for mental health support, including counselling or access to employee assistance programmes (EAP), research has suggested.
Nine out of 10 businesses now offer counselling or access to an EAP as part of their reward strategy, compared with 75% before the pandemic, the survey by XpertHR concluded.
A counselling service or EAP was the number one benefit provided by UK organisations for the third year in a row, XpertHR said, highlighting the continuing focus on mental health and employee wellbeing since the start of the pandemic.
The next most popular benefits were life assurance (provided by 82% of businesses), payment of employees’ professional membership fees (70%) and private medical insurance (65%). PMI had gone up from 57% in 2021’s survey, XpertHR added.
Specific mental health support was now offered by 62% of the employers polled.
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Sarah Byrne, HR practice editor at XpertHR, said of the findings: “The coronavirus pandemic led many employers to focus on the mental and physical health and wellbeing of their employees, and once again we see this reflected in the benefits packages offered by UK organisations.
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“This is a trend that we expect to continue as employees re-evaluate their working lives after the pandemic. In today’s fiercely competitive labour market, a compelling benefits package can give an organisation the edge over rivals, helping it to recruit and retain talent.
“As inflation continues to outstrip pay awards, benefits that help employees to save money or improve their wellbeing have never been more important,” she added.
