One in three Gen Z workers believe their employer is wellbeing washing

One in three (35%) Gen Zs believe their employer does the bare minimum or less, to support their mental health, despite being vocal about mental health awareness days via social media, blog posts and events – a phenomenon being dubbed wellbeing washing.

Claro Wellbeing’s research of 1,000 people in employment found Gen Z – those aged 18-25 years old – were most likely to choose to work for employers that visibly support and raise awareness of mental health. However, in reality, a third felt their employer was failing to effectively support employee wellbeing.

The study into wellbeing in the workplace revealed young people are most likely to value an employer that has a mental health and wellbeing policy in place. The Gen Z workforce were 43% more likely to work for an employer that shares wellbeing awareness posts on social media, and 56% more likely to choose a workplace that shared mental health-themed blog posts, than the national average.

The research also shows Gen Z are 80% more likely than the national average to work at a firm that holds regular fundraising activities to support wellbeing causes, and 23% more likely to choose an organisation that hosts sponsored sports events to promote better mental health among their workforce.

Stacey Lowman, Head of Employee Wellbeing at Claro Wellbeing, commented: “Gen Z, as a generation, are twice as likely to feel stressed than their counterparts, so it is understandable that many entering the world of work would look for a company that visibly supports mental health and wellbeing. However, our research shows many companies are just paying lip service to supporting these causes and instead are wellbeing washing. While many businesses outwardly seem to be supporting employee mental health and wellbeing causes, their internal practices leave much to be desired.

“While it’s important to raise awareness of mental health conditions and create an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their experiences, companies must provide genuine and accessible support to their workforce to make any improvement on wellbeing.

“Regardless of the demographic make-up of a workforce, a wellbeing strategy should be implemented by the whole company. This involves human resources working alongside the marketing team and other departments of the business that might want to raise the profile of an awareness day among their workforce. This way, awareness is raised while providing support that is sincerely going to make a difference to employees’ welfare.”

The most popular type of wellbeing support provided to Gen Z employees was duvet days (28%), access to a helpline (24%), the opportunity to see a counsellor (18%), support from a mental health first-aider (17%), and financial coaching (12%).

Stacey continued: “Mental health can be impacted by many factors, so offering different types of support to your workforce means there is something to support everyone. As the cost-of-living crisis continues, a growing number of people have money worries, and specific financial wellbeing support should be offered to employees to help them increase their financial confidence. Research shows one in two junior-level workers worry about their personal finances, but only 22% of people said their employer provided some sort of financial coaching.”

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