Over Half of UK Start-up Employees Prioritise Mental Health and Wellbeing Support, According to New Survey

A new survey by SME insurance broker Hooray Health & Protection reveals that start-up employees place health and wellbeing at the top of their workplace benefits needs.

The What Workers Want 2021 survey polled 641 start-up employees across a range of issues related to their experience of workplace benefits.

When asked to choose their most desired benefits, health insurance was the most popular with more than half (57%) placing it in their top three, closely followed by life insurance (45%).

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But when quizzed specifically about which benefits would help most with their mental wellbeing, over half (57%) earmarked access to mental health services. This suggests that above and beyond more holiday time and flexible working arrangements, employees would benefit most from the formal assistance of mental health professionals.

“It’s clear from our survey of 641 start-up employees that health and wellbeing is uppermost in people’s minds and there are no prizes for guessing why this might be,” said Charlie Cousins, MD of Hooray Health & Protection. “But I don’t expect this to be a short-lived trend as the general issue of physical and mental wellbeing was already rising in prominence prior to the pandemic.”

The good news, however, is that start-up companies are going some way to meeting the needs of their employees. Almost nine out of ten (88%) of the survey’s respondents said that the benefits they received aided their sense of wellbeing.

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“It appears that the UK’s vibrant community of start-up leaders are taking the issue of employee wellbeing very seriously,” said Charlie. “In my experience of working with ambitious young businesses, this doesn’t surprise me.

“However, the job is never done, and businesses of all sizes must continue to seek out the wants and needs of their employees in order to provide them with the benefits they value most.”

The upbeat narrative is further reinforced by other key findings from the ‘What Workers Want 2021’ survey of start-up employees:

• More than nine out of ten (93%) of start-up employees surveyed, said that they received benefits from their employer. Meanwhile, more than three-quarters (77%) said they were happy with the benefits they receive.
• More than half (55%) of respondents believe their benefits package is better than the average persons, with 23% suspecting it’s about the same and a fifth (20%) believing it’s worse.
• Over three-quarters (78%) of workers say their employer has sought their feedback on employee benefits.

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