Aon Employee Benefits has found in its annual Benefits and Trends survey that nearly 40 percent of employers do not use any data to drive corporate health and wellbeing strategies or target costs. The survey also showed, however, that increasing numbers of employers want to understand health risks affecting their employee population.

Although Aon’s survey showed that 38 percent of businesses do not use analytics to inform health and wellbeing decisions, 59 percent of those who do not manage known health risks would like a better understanding of their impact. Indeed, awareness is increasing: 42 percent of employers have considered managing a known health risk, such as cancer or muscular-skeletal issues, compared to 25 percent in 2014. 

Matthew Lawrence, head of broking, health and risk proposition at Aon Employee Benefits, said:“Organisations often invest a significant amount of money into the health and wellbeing of their employees so it makes sense to have a clear view of their people risk challenges. “We advise all employers to gain clarity by interrogating their data to identify their specific employee ill-health trends. Armed with this, informed and targeted decisions can be made around the provision of benefits and will ensure that any spend on prevention, intervention and support related health services will be as targeted as possible.”

The survey showed: Data and analytics are under-utilised. Over a third do not use any analytics to drive health and wellbeing strategy. Only 29 percent use medical, income protection or critical illness data to drive decisions. Only 8 percent work with providers on health and wellness to analyse the data they can provide. There is an appetite for more proactivity. The number managing known health risks, eg cancer, muscular-skeletal issues has almost doubled since last years survey…but is still only 42 percent, 59 percent of those notmanaging known health risks would like to.