The Office Part 3

Another part of the Conference Board research I found interesting and concerning was that even though many/most employees expressed real concerns about their mental and psychological health as they step into the “new normal” work world, their actual participation in employer sponsored programs to help deal with these issues has actually declining at the current time. If anything I had full expected just the opposite (that participation had sky rocketed) than what the survey respondents actually did say. The % change in 9 areas of research are presented below by the Conference Board in their research. 

Source: The Conference Board Survey March 2021.

In only 2 of the 9 areas did employees respond that they had utilized tools to help them cope with the current COVID-19 pandemic increases in usage; and the other 7 recorded small to significant decreases in use of the program or form of assistance. Overall, usage of programs that support emotional wellbeing (for example an EAP) fell 4%. Incentives for healthy habits like gym discounts and free health screenings fell 23% and programs for community wellbeing (like time off for volunteering and community support programs) suffered a 25% decrease in usage according the employees involved in the March Conference Board survey.

I believe that the comment made by Rebecca Ray PhD who is Executive Vice President of Human Capital at the Conference Board sums up what I felt after I read the surprising results of this part of the survey. She noted that “with the wellbeing of so many workers under immense strain, it’s surprising that the use of many programs to support wellness decreased. These findings speak to the need for better communication from leaders about the availability of resources, and a rethinking of the ways in which companies offer them.”