Staff want support for “huge” range of needs

Employers face increasing demands from staff for support on “a huge variety of issues” outside traditional staff benefits, a poll has found.
While traditional areas of health and wellbeing are expected to see a rise in demand, there is also more focus on wider and more diverse needs, according to health insurance specialist Towergate Health and Protection. 
This includes areas such as support for caring responsibilities, where 29% of employers expect higher demand, as well as fertility, neurodiversity, addiction and gender identity, areas where more than 20% of organisations anticipate increased support needs.
Towergate’s head of wellbeing Debra Clark warned that “the areas in which employees want or need support have reached a level where employers themselves need help in managing the options”, adding “what is perhaps most staggering is the sheer range of areas that an employer may now be expected to assist”.