Aon’s newest report found that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, most Canadian employers have renewed their urgency around employee wellbeing and mental health, with a good number of companies investing in one particular benefits service to better safeguard their staff.
The report, “Rethinking Benefits in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond,” discovered that nearly 60% of employers said that they need to evaluate and improve their mental health offering – either with new services or by closing coverage or delivery gaps identified during the pandemic.
Aon also noted that virtual healthcare benefits are now offered by a third of the employers that had participated in the survey, with another 27% saying they want to add the service.
Of those who already offer virtual healthcare benefits, about half said that they had the service in place prior to the pandemic, although most of the organizations that implemented it during the pandemic indicated that they intend to keep it even after COVID-19 subsides.
The survey also found that optional benefits began to got more attention during the pandemic. Approximately two thirds of respondents believe that the pandemic has increased employee interest in select lifestyle benefits such as stress management and counseling (84%), financial planning (74%), nutrition programs (70%), virtual fitness memberships (69%), and fitness equipment purchase/rental (66%).
Most of the organizations that have responded to Aon’s survey also said that they are not thinking about making changes in key areas like cost-sharing (81%) or underlying financial arrangements (95%).
Meanwhile, short-term disability (STD) and long-term disability (LTD) costs continue to be top-of-mind for most plan sponsors, Aon found. Nearly 75% of employers are concerned with how treatment costs are mounting. Areas that have been directly impacted by the pandemic, such as the availability of services (83%), possible insurer reasonable and customary increases (79%) and dental cost increases (64%) are also concerning to plan sponsors.
"Since the beginning of the pandemic, Canadian employers have been very concerned about their employees' wellbeing," said Aon senior vice president for health solutions Joey Raheb. "COVID-19 has uncovered some gaps in current benefit packages and may have triggered a desire to re-evaluate needs – not so much on the core benefits like health, dental and life, but in the optional and supporting benefit areas that favour work/life balance and employee wellbeing.”
Raheb added that more than ever, employers are trying to strike a balance between keeping within their budget and adding enhancements that “speak to employee engagement and retention.”
