Digital solutions to workforce health and wellbeing
This week, the government committed to a £1 million fund for new ideas to boost health and welfare at work for SMEs and the self-employed. Bids will be considered on the basis of innovation that can be scaled up, including through the use of technology.
In a healthcare landscape where the proportion of the workforce with access to occupational health may be as low as 20-30%, looking to technology as a low/zero marginal cost solution is appealing to all stakeholders. But how realistic is this?
In 2021 McKinsey published a report setting out the potential for digital technologies to support employees’ mental health and resilience. The report concluded that digital tools could offer large scale prevention, employee monitoring and early therapeutic approaches. The report outlines three levels of organisational commitment to employee wellbeing. In order to reach the highest ‘embedded’ approach to employee wellbeing there needs to be strategic buy-in from the organisation. This may even include a C-suite chief wellness officer, accountable for KPIs around employee wellbeing ideally aligned to but distinct from business performance.
The global corporate wellness market was worth $53 billion in 2022, forecast to reach $75 billion by 2030. For UK-based SMEs facing high interest rates and energy prices in an economy likely to contract this year, knowing how best to invest in employee wellbeing is key. The quality of the evidence base for different wellbeing solutions is variable. It can be challenging for SMEs to know where to start.
Developing new technologies takes time and is costly. In the first instance, the focus should be on evaluating existing products and their use cases and limitations. Small businesses need support with strategy approaches they can use to identify their needs, deploy appropriate support, and implement and evaluate change.
The solution is ultimately not ‘outsourcing’ employee wellbeing to a scalable digital service but using technologies as part of a wider overall strategy to promote workforce health. Giving SMEs the tools to evaluate and implement existing products and technologies in context of the needs of their workforce should be the priority. Alongside supporting SMEs with effectively embedding employee wellbeing into their strategy, the thresholds for needing expert support must be made clear to business leaders. Education on where clinical occupational health input is required to address the complex challenges, risks and conflicts of interest which can arise around work and health is essential.