Elevating employee engagement

Company profile

Industry: Technology

Company size: 57,000 employees

Goal: Increase global employee engagement

Challenge

With so many different stressors in the world, the leadership team of a high-tech global company wanted to make sure their employees felt supported and valued — and had the tools to reach their full potential inside and outside of work. They understood that employees in a culture that prioritises wellbeing are more likely to take care of themselves, be engaged and stay with the organisation.

The company offers their employees support through Optum® Emotional Wellbeing Solutions. It includes a complete portfolio of telephonic, digital and in-person solutions, making it easy for members to access the support they need. The solutions include 24/7/365 emotional support, self-care resources, wellness coaching, therapy, and financial and legal services.

Unfortunately, utilisation data showed employees weren’t using the resources as much as they could be, particularly in certain regions. With limited team capacity and resources, the organisation needed help figuring out how to reach employees and drive engagement. They turned to Optum and their employee benefit consultant for help.

Solution

Optum and the organisation’s benefit consultant worked closely to deliver and implement a measurable strategic plan to cultivate emotional wellbeing, belonging and resiliency globally. Optum took the lead on the programme campaign specifics, including utilisation data analysis, programme best practices and solution delivery. The benefit consultant, with their broader view across the organisation’s complete benefits offering, served as the initiative’s project manager and also facilitated alignment and cross-collaboration with other vendors supporting the organisation.

First steps included conducting an employee survey and reviewing emotional wellbeing programme utilisation data to identify pain points and opportunities. The survey found globally that many employees 1) wanted more work-life balance, 2) harbored stigmatizing views toward mental health, and 3) found it difficult to identify and access mental health resources.

The data analysis helped identify engagement rates per nation, issues and trends that correlated to higher use. They also identified opportunities to raise awareness and engagement overall and particularly in lower-use regions. These insights enabled the organisation to directly address and target the mental health support needs of specific populations. For example:

• Members in Westernised nations tended to access emotional support solutions more often.
• Members in Latin America tended to access financial wellbeing and legal services more.
• Members in South Asia tended not to use many services but expressed financial wellbeing as a pain point.

Optum and the benefit consultant created a multifaceted strategic plan to meet individual needs whilst accounting for cultural and regional differences and building upon existing internal resources. An essential part of the plan centred on change management strategies to shift cultural mindsets with regard to mental health, wellness and seeking support. For example, they implemented trainings to help managers understand the purpose of the wellbeing solutions and available resources as important management tools for helping employees live healthier lives.

Managers came to understand they don’t have to have all the answers in regard to employee mental health and wellbeing. Rather, they can lean on Emotional Wellbeing Solutions’ management resources for help navigating difficult situations and challenges and encourage employees to access available programme resources for support.

Optum and the benefit consultant scheduled a series of events and resource-specific promotional campaigns to foster emotional wellbeing and mental health inclusivity. These included:

• Making it easy for managers and employees to see all the available resources on a comprehensive visual guide
• Offering webinars and trainings for managers and employees on wellbeing topics pertinent to presenting regional issues and trends
• Recognising observances, such as Mental Health Awareness Month and World Suicide Prevention Day, to raise mental health awareness and reduce stigma
• Sharing enriching multimedia content on relevant topics and trends to engage members in their own wellbeing and help them navigate difficult situations
• Providing user-friendly digital tools to help employees feel more comfortable asking for support
• Promoting safe spaces for employees to connect with and support one another, including through employee resource groups (ERGs) to foster a sense of community, belonging and understanding in the workplace
• Creating cross-promotion with other vendors to encourage participation in wellbeing resources
• Hosting regional quarterly utilisation meetings with regional leads to socialise data trends and provide recommendations for future planning

In addition, Optum and the benefit consultant established quarterly, semi-annual and annual key metrics to measure the impact of the campaigns and initiatives by country and overall. Each report offers insights on successes and opportunities for improvement. The data ensures the programme stays on track. It also motivates regional leads and managers to refer their team members to resources that can be of benefit.

Results

In one year, the strategic initiative increased employee satisfaction, trust and engagement.

• 40.5% engagement rate in 2023 — about an 18% increase year over year
• 89% of members found the support to be very valuable