By Medicash
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on the mental health and wellbeing of workers across all industries. For many it has changed how they work forever. There has been no business, no sector, no country across the globe that has been able to remain unaffected.
April is Stress Awareness Month and now more than ever, it is important for businesses to show their staff that they care about mental wellbeing by putting the tools in place to help them feel supported. While many businesses are pledging to increase spending in this area, the current economic backdrop understandably means budgets may be tight.
Fortunately, employer funded health cash plans are a great way for businesses to provide a low cost, affordable health and wellbeing plan for the entire workforce.
Medicash are one of the leading providers of bespoke corporate healthcare solutions and have been prioritising workers personal needs for the past 150 years. Over recent years Medicash have shifted their focus to providing accessible technology to improve wellbeing and stress in the workplace.
At the forefront of this innovation is the mProve YOURSELF app, giving employees access to mental health courses and information, including how to cope with stress, anxiety and look after your mental wellbeing. The app features over 50 hours of mindfulness courses and meditations to allow workers to take time out from daily stresses to refresh and reset. As well as this, studies have shown that even 30 minutes of exercise each day can contribute to reduced stress levels[1], so the app also features a wide range of fitness and training videos suitable for all users to participate in from their own homes.
For a more comprehensive focus on health awareness and raising productivity, employers can take out a full Employee Assistance Programme. One of the most appealing benefits of this programme throughout the pandemic has been the use of ‘Woebot’ – a new artificial intelligence counselling app which can offer ‘in the moment’ emotional support to more employees than any other clinical method. The smartphone app can track mood, identify patterns and provide insight into issues or concerns that the user may not have realised were causing emotional distress.
Unique benefits such as this highlight how Employee Assistance Programmes can provide top-tier care for the wellbeing of employees usually at a much more affordable price than full blown Group Health Insurance. In fact, research by EAPA UK[2] has found that for every £1.00 spent on an EAP in the UK, employers see an average ROI of £7.27 thanks to rapidly increased productivity.
If you would like to learn more about the standalone Employee Assistance Programme, or even just the mProve YOURSELF app, these are available through Medicash’s sister company – Health@Work.
Or, if you are looking for a more comprehensive, but still low cost, whole of workforce health plan with the option to include the EAP, visit: www.medicash.tv
The Medicash and Health@Work Employee Assistance Programmes are provided through Care first.
[1] Source: https://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/fulltext/2013/05000/stress_relief__the_role_of_exercise_in_stress.6.aspx
[2] Source: https://www.eapa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/20-0014-EAPA-UK-ROI-Report-2020-Web.pdf
