Working at home and working in the office: how to ensure employees’ wellbeing in the hybrid working system?

According to a survey conducted by Inquiry, 76% of employees would like to work in a hybrid model. Among them, 63% would most willingly work from home one or two days a week and 13% – a few days a month. Hybrid work is a big challenge for employers who offer non-financial benefits available only from the office level or mainly in the physical form, which is why more and more companies are choosing benefits that will support employees both online and offline. According to the “COVID-19’s impact on employee benefits in Poland” report, in the next 12 months one in three companies in Poland intends to offer a new non-financial benefit. Among employers who plan to implement additional solutions in their companies, cafeteria platforms are the most popular. Almost 29% of companies indicated them as the most important benefit for employees in the future.

– Cafeteria platforms fit perfectly into the new reality. They provide access to a wide range of products and services, starting from online shopping, through medical consultations and development courses to services related to entertainment, physical activity, and leisure. As part of one platform, we have services that we can provide both offline and online. Thanks to this, cafeteria platforms are, on the one hand, an important element of the non-financial benefits package in the hybrid working system, and on the other hand, a benefit that, due to its flexibility, responds to employees’ various needs that change over time. This is also confirmed by the number of MyBenefit platform users which is currently over half a million employees – explains Emilia Rogalewicz, Management Board Member at Benefit Systems.

According to the Sedlak & Sedlak survey, 41.7% of employees cannot choose benefits on their own, even though 89.8% of them declare such a need. Only one out of four respondents can choose online services independently.

The latest Benefit Trends 2021 report prepared by Willis Tower Watson indicates that 73% of employers consider the problem of stress and occupational burnout of employees as the most important challenges in human resources management. Already 65% of employers plan to add wellbeing benefits to their non-financial benefits offer and 60% of them intend to pay special attention to supporting both mental and physical condition as well as flexibility of implemented solutions. Interestingly, according to the AI@Work Study 2020, 86% of employees would like employers to support their wellbeing by using technology. Therefore, new online solutions focusing on the psychophysical health of employees appear on the non-financial benefits market. One of the examples is MultiLife – a new product of Benefit Systems that combines 12 different types of services supporting mental health and work-life balance. The MultiLife offer includes psychologist’s support, a mindfulness course, consultations with a dietitian and trainer, yoga classes as well as access to the online training platform, Yes2Move.com. Access to a wide package of “mind wellness” benefits is also available to users of cafeteria platforms, such as MyBenefit. As part of the latest “Project: Wellbeing” initiative, employees can choose the benefits that are interesting for them and support their mental condition themselves. These include psychological consultations and coaching, remote sessions with a psychotherapist in a dedicated application, online training or a SPA voucher.

One of the problems that emerged during the pandemic is the decline in employees’ productivity while performing their job duties. – One in three employees complains of problems with concentration at work, one in five needs more time to fulfil their professional duties and 15% experience problems with reasoning and making decisions. One of the actions worth taking to reduce the negative effects of the pandemic is physical activity. The MultiSport Index survey shows that four out of five Poles who exercise believe that being active positively influences their wellbeing and efficiency at work. Additionally, two out of five Poles believe that training in a fitness club would have a positive effect on their mental condition – adds Emilia Rogalewicz.

Unfortunately, despite the growing public awareness of the positive impact of regular exercise on health, 43% of adult Poles do not follow the recommendations of the World Health Organisation regarding physical activity. Adults are recommended 150-300 minutes of moderate or 75-150 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. However, as Emilia Rogalewicz points out, among people using sports cards offered by employers in Poland, the percentage of people who have a chance to fulfil the WHO guidelines is higher.  – We have seen for years that sports cards make it easier for employees and their families to take up regular physical activity. This is also confirmed by the results of the August survey on a sample of over 7,000 MultiSport Programme users which shows that thanks to the card 73% of people exercise more often. In companies offering our cards, the percentage of employees exercising 3-4 times a week is higher by 31% compared to the entire population. This means that 95% of MultiSport Programme users have a chance to fulfil WHO recommendations regarding physical activity. Such benefits as the MultiSport card have a real impact on the motivation to engage in regular physical activity, and thus also have an impact on the end result in the form of better health, wellbeing and efficiency of employees in Polish companies. We know that 80% of MultiSport card holders feel a positive effect of activity on their wellbeing and 75% on reduced stress level. What is particularly important, during the pandemic 91% of employees using the card indicate that for them the MultiSport Programme is an important element in the job offer – sums up Emilia Rogalewicz.