Creating A Better Workplace Mexico

Current wellness initiatives are making an impact on employees in Mexico: 92% of wellness-program participants say they had a positive health impact. These employees show higher levels of engagement than those who haven’t participated in wellness programs.

The challenge? While 73% of companies say they were satisfied with the wellness benefits given to workers, only 29% of employees state they are satisfied. There is an opportunity to differentiate wellness offerings by rolling out targeted programs.

Employees want action, not words. Understanding employees' top health concerns is a useful way to help target wellness programs that boost productivity and bring down healthcare costs. Our study shows that employees ranked conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease in their top health concerns. Note the differences in age groups. This is further evidence that knowing the unique characteristics of your workplace is important.

Employers can create a more financially confident workplace by building employees’ sense of security beyond the paycheck. Help employees understand that the benefits they already receive can provide the foundation for financial education, smarter savings and well-rounded pensions.

Financial stress can hit your best and brightest. Many employees 50+ years old have had to take unexpected time off in the last 12 months (45%), followed by employees 31-50 years old (43%). Another issue that affects workplace productivity is that employees can be more distracted at work because of financial burdens. The financial worries that impact employees’ productivity is markedly worse for those under 40, a group who often faces the financial burdens of caring for both children and parents.

Company size defined as small (50-99 employees), medium (99-1000 employees), and large (1000+ employees).

For retention, and particularly for recruitment, benefits that explicitly tackle financial security seem to be more in demand now. Employees under 30 show an appetite for online decision support tools, while older workers seem keener on personalized consulting. However, retirement advice was ranked high among all age groups: 18-30 years old (53%), 31-50 years old (61%), and 50+ years old (71%).

Communication is a large part of successful benefit programs. Right now, communication seems relatively poor around financial wellness. But improving communication around all benefits is a huge boost to their effectiveness.

One possible solution is flexible and customized benefit packages. It’s true that generic health and life benefits are valuable to everyone. But parental leave benefits, working from home or childcare vouchers, for example, target specific needs of new parents. This benefit targeting can secure employee talents and win loyalty.

Employees want choice and seem willing to pay. Regardless of life stage, there is a growing appetite among employees for flexible benefits (even with co-payment) rather than cash to purchase coverage independently. More than half of employees, whether married or single, divorced or cohabiting, agreed that they were interested in their employer providing a wider array of benefits to choose to pay for.

In a better workplace, employees value their job more highly because they are treated as individuals. Increasingly, flexibility and a focus on all-round well-being matter for every employee.

For full insights and recommendations, download the Mexico Employee Benefit Trend Study report