Office-based workers face higher wellbeing risk

New research by WorkL has revealed that employees who work from the office have a higher Wellbeing Risk of 37% compared with those who work from home who scored just 32%. Data from over 250,000 workers over the last 12 months highlights the 5% gap between employees and the need for employers to do more to look after the Wellbeing of office-based employees.

The data was presented this month by the Founder of WorkL and WorkL for Business, Lord Mark Price who hosted its annual Wellbeing Webinar with guests Dr Jasmine Kelland Lecturer in Human Resource Studies/Leadership at Plymouth Business School (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business) and Chris Cummings CEO, About Wellbeing at work. View the Webinar here.

Results also shows that employees with disabilities have the highest Wellbeing Risk of 40% compared with non-disabled employees with an average score of 32%. Employees who identify as LGBTQ+ are also more likely to have a Wellbeing Risk, scoring 39% compared with heterosexual employees who scored an average of 32%.

2022 saw a consistent score of 32% for Wellbeing Risk at work, with last month, December, seeing the highest Wellbeing Risk of 33%. The Technology sector has the lowest Wellbeing Risk of 24% and the highest Wellbeing risk is seen in industries such as Retail, 37% and in the Chemicals, Mining and Metals Manufacturing sector, scoring the same.

Employees aged 19-24 years and  25-34 years have a higher Wellbeing Risk compared with those aged 65 and over who scored the lowest. In terms of length of service at work, the highest Wellbeing risk is seen in employees who have had more than 10 years of service with the lowest being for those who have served one year or less.

Men and women score roughly the same over the year with women at 33% and men at 32%.

The Founder of WorkL, former Trade Minister and former Managing Director of Waitrose, Lord Mark Price, comments on the findings; “Once again we see employees with disabilities facing higher Wellbeing Risks at work compared to employees without disabilities. Improving Wellbeing at work should be a major priority for employers in 2023 if we are going to see this gap reduce in 2023. The same goes for employees identifying as LGBTQ+ as well as more generally for employees who are based in the office.”

SME Publications/ SME XPO 2024

Non-Managers are also more likely to have a Wellbeing Risk compared with their Managers, scoring 34% versus 29%.

To help employers tackle Wellbeing risk, especially during the current economic climate, WorkL has launched new affordable self-serve surveys to help employers measure employee experience, Wellbeing and Diversity & Inclusivity.

The new survey format is ideal for small and medium sized organisations and perfect as pulse surveys for larger organisations. Given the current economic climate, the starting price of £650 will be welcomed by organisations as it challenges the pricing of traditional self-made surveys often used by businesses to survey their employees. Regular employee experience surveys are proven to increase employee empowerment, decrease Flight Risk and Wellbeing Risk as well as increase Job Satisfaction.

SME Publications/ SME XPO 2024