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3 Employee Benefits that Help Build a Resilient, Engaged Workforce

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Cultivating mental health and creating a resilient workforce through better employee compensation and benefits

First, the good news: Singapore workers are some of the world’s most resilient. A recent ADP workplace study found some 19% of Singapore workers were considered highly resilient, outperforming the global average of 15%. First, the good news: Singapore workers are some of the world’s most resilient. A recent ADP workplace study found some 19% of Singapore workers were considered highly resilient, outperforming the global average of 15%.

The same study found an anomaly in the works, though. Singaporean workers are also less engaged at work compared to the global average, with only 11% engagement against the world’s 14%. It looks like a smaller difference, but it reveals a deeper trend. There has been a steady decline in employee engagement over the years, with a steep 9% drop between 2018 and 2020 (this was a huge differential against the global trend, which was a mere 1% drop).

Another report from Microsoft found that Singapore also had the highest rate of burnout in the region at 37%, caused primarily by “the lack of separation between work and life and feeling isolated or disconnected from co-workers.”

What do these numbers tell us? Why do worker resilience and engagement matter for Singaporean companies—and how can compensation and benefits help?

Employee resilience: why benefits matter

Resilience doesn’t just mean a stoic ability to face ongoing stress or difficult one-time work events. It also involves the ability to recover from difficulties, the ability to encounter profound personal growth despite stressful circumstances.

Psychologists define resilience as a “process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress.”

Resilience can mean the difference between an employee cheerfully adjusting to, say, an unexpected resignation at the office adding to their workload, versus one who will complain to anyone who will listen or even start job hunting themselves when faced with the same situation.

Workplaces with high resilience have fewer absences, less office conflict and higher morale overall compared to low-resilience ones.

Resilience is not something that people are born with. Forward-thinking workplaces can help their employees bounce back from setbacks, by providing the proper tools and incentives.

Employees need support to manage work stress in Singapore

How employers can intervene to improve resilience

Staff retention strategies in the new normal have evolved. Mental health should be a key factor in considering employee compensation and benefits, beyond simply considering returns against productivity, HR benefits and compensation should focus on helping employees’ resilience and performance in the long run.

Building mental health into employee benefits

Despite health benefits playing an outsize role in employment packages offered by Singapore companies (perhaps more than ever these days), mental health is still missing from many healthcare packages.

This may be driven by conservative social attitudes towards mental health issues among Singapore workers and employers. Mental healthcare suffers from a stigma in Singapore, forcing many employees to keep any work-related anxiety, stress or breakdowns under wraps.

Such attitudes force employees like bank employees "Mavis" to keep their mental health conditions hidden, to protect their job prospects. “In my industry, you are expected to work very hard and expected to have endurance," she told Today, citing the fear of being reported as a reason for keeping mum on their mental health struggles. 

“Some have told me that (the company counsellors) will report back to the bank, though my boss said that this doesn’t happen — but you never know,” she said.  (The fear is not unfounded; until recently, employers had the power to compel potential hires to disclose their mental health condition.)

The present emergency, though, has forced the Singapore government to nudge the private sector on this matter, leading to some companies reconsidering their policies.

A tripartite advisory issued by the Ministry of Manpower last year asked: “companies with flexible employee benefits... [to] consider extending the scope of coverage to include mental well-being programmes, mental health consultations, and treatments.”

In response, Accenture expanded employee benefits to cover mental health services, without any need for referrals. The move has helped increase employees’ sense of psychological safety and support coming from the company, with internal surveys showing a 75.4% increase among employees who feel safe expressing mental health challenges to their supervisors.

The report also advised companies to “provide access to counselling services such as through Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs).”

For companies with no access to EAPs, Howden can engage trusted vendors to deliver mental health-related EAP services to all employees and their family members. The service provides confidential counselling to employees, delivered by experts who have extensive experience dealing with emotional concerns both inside and outside work. Consultations will be charged to employers.

Mental health stipends/reimbursements

When employees pursue wellness efforts that aren’t counted by their compensation package, some employers willingly provide financial support for those as well—compensating employees in ways that go beyond the usual health packages.

The Singapore office of SalesForce, for instance, offers a Wellness Reimbursement Programme that reimburses employees up to S$150 a month for wellness-related expenses, including (but not limited to) gym memberships and massages. The package even allows employees to reimburse wellness claims from family members.

By providing monetary support for out-of-office efforts to improve wellness and mental health, employers show that they support their employees in a holistic manner.

Enhanced benefits for employees’ peace of mind

Work in Singapore has never been so fraught: every commute to the office now runs the risk of contagion, and employees in front-facing positions can rightfully say they’re placing their lives on the line.

Most Singapore employers in the “new normal” have not matched their employees’ risk with commensurate benefits. In fact, there’s been a prevailing trend to cut hazard pay as revenues and profits have taken a COVID-induced hit. As of June 2020, only 9% of Singapore employers were found to offer hazard pay allowances, a significant drop from 12% only a month earlier.

To reassure employees, employers can provide technology-based solutions that allow workers to access medical services faster or process injury compensation and insurance claims in less time.

Self-serve apps like Howden's MediHub give employees quick access to over 1,000 clinics and TeleMed capabilities that permit remote doctor appointments and medication delivered within three hours of the consultation.

The app also simplifies insurance paperwork with a simple e-claims submission and a 24/7 helpline. By eliminating much of the admin work associated with medical service and insurance, apps like Medihub free up HR to take better care of their employees’ needs

Build resilience in your workforce by providing employee benefits

A whole-person approach to employee resilience

Taking active measures to support employee resilience has been shown to have tangible positive effects.

Actively encouraging employee resilience has many positive effects.

An NCSS study found that every S$1 invested in a "workplace adjustment" (flexi-work arrangements, offering means to get counselling) generates an average of S$5.60 in returns. In addition, workers showed increased productivity, decreased absenteeism, and made fewer medical claims.

Benefits and initiatives like the ones listed here aren’t the last word in mental healthcare for one’s employees, of course. Fully committing to employee resilience involves comprehensive changes to workplace practices and policies—getting leadership buy-in; revising processes relating to medical leave and returning to work; and formulating whole-person approaches to promoting employee well-being, among others.

But companies have to start somewhere—and reorienting HR benefits and compensation to address employee resilience can serve as a small but significant first step.

Howden can support your company’s aspirations for a resilient and productive workforce, by helping your HR department create a customised employee benefits and wellbeing plan.

We take your workplace culture into account when designing your employee benefits; this ensures the benefits guaranteed to every employee can build real value for your workforce and business alike. Howden sets the stage for a best-case scenario for everyone: employees get the proper support they need in these disruptive times, and employers get the right value out of the compensation they provide.

Contact us to arrange an employee benefits review exercise with Howden.