I have always been intrigued as to how and why organisations relate their purchase of employee benefits to meeting their strategic health and wellbeing objectives. From what I have seen, many do not or are unable to.
Here is my rationale as to why this might be the case:
- There is no current strategy with published objectives to refer to when making a purchase
- If there is no strategy, other colleagues with a genuine interest in the impact of the purchase on their area of responsibility may not be consulted
- Some purchases are seen as a must have because ‘we’ve always bought this ’
- They are tied into contractual benefits which might seem difficult to retract
- Purchasing decisions are often justified on peer group review and competitor activity rather than on the needs of the individual organisation
- Establishing the financial business case for paying for a health related employee benefit is sometimes in the too difficult to do box and the purchase is based on what can be afforded rather than what should be invested to get a return – as a result the potential impact is diluted
In the current economic climate, it would be tempting to reduce or ditch aspects of health related employee benefits because the costs are easily identifiable.
However, if there was no proper analysis at the point of purchase on the wider financial return of these benefits, there is a danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. A perceived short term invalidated fix could hijack a longer term strategic approach.