Besides Obesity and poor financial status combating employee stress appears to be a key focus area for employers in India. A vast majority, 80 percent of the organizations, have taken at least one action to manage employee stress and mental health in 2018 and 89 percent selected ‘identify and manage stress and behavioral health issues across the workforce’ as a top priority, The lack of employees physical activity (62 percent) and stress (55 percent) are the top lifestyle risk factors identified by employers in India.
The other top concerns were obesity (43 percent), followed by poor financial wellbeing (27 percent) and tobacco use (25 percent), it added. According to the study, 66 percent of employers have already developed or are developing stress or mental health strategy for their employees and an additional 17 percent are considering it for 2021. The key steps already taken by organisations to manage employee stress and mental health include providing flexible working options (68 per cent), followed by offering on-site stress management interventions (46 per cent), promoting the employee assistance programmes (40 per cent), offering stress management and resilience training (38 per cent) and employee education and training (38 per cent).
The number of employers recognizing the role of the family in the overall well-being of an employee and in turn their productivity is noteworthy. It is heartening to see that almost one in four organizations are beginning to engage the employees family in one way or another. The study also said although tobacco use was identified as one of the top-five lifestyle concerns by 25 percent of the companies, only 8 percent currently offer tobacco cessation programmes and additional 15 percent are considering that following suite in 2021. It further said that 44 percent of the organizations have taken at least one action on tobacco use in 2018. The study was conducted during June-August 2018 and polled over 100 organizations and senior HR leaders from multiple sectors.
