HR teams are struggling to reconcile flexible working with their efforts to ensure workplace wellbeing, research has found.
And the wellbeing of younger workers represents a particularly complex challenge for HR.
Employee wellbeing is set to be the key priority for employers in 2025, according to HR professionals surveyed for the State of Employee Engagement Report from WorkBuzz.
The report, based on a survey of more than 640 HR professionals (including 335 from the UK), revealed that employee engagement and talent attraction are also major concerns.
Employee wellbeing has been a key HR concern for a number of years, with professionals identifying it as the second highest priority in the previous iteration of this report.
However, the rise of flexible and remote working following the pandemic means employers now need to balance their workforce’s need for flexible working with wellbeing issues exacerbated by the isolating nature of home working.
The situation with younger workers aged 16-34 is one of the most complex employer face as this cadre prefer to work remotely, while being more prone to depression and loneliness.
Steven Frost, CEO of employee engagement specialist WorkBuzz, said: “Employers are trying to solve a challenging paradox – providing their people with the option of remote and flexible working on the one hand, while managing the wellbeing fallout from this on the other.
“Reconciling flexibility with duty of care to ensure a supportive and thriving workplace culture, is a challenge many HR teams are currently struggling to navigate.”
Employee engagement and more broadly, the employee experience, is HR professionals’ second biggest priority, according to the report, moving up the HR agenda from being ranked fifth in last year’s report. Researchers said HR’s focus appears to be on improving the quality of everyday employee experiences, with a greater emphasis on listening to employees playing an important role.
Frost added: “HR leaders are placing greater weight on listening to their employees to find out how their daily lived experiences can be improved. They want to make changes that are genuinely reflective of what employees want and need rather than investing in sweeping top-down initiatives.”
Talent attraction remains a top priority, ranked in third place by HR. Frost said: “Securing highly skilled diverse candidates, especially those with transformative digital skills, is a struggle across many UK industries. It requires HR professionals to take a holistic approach so that their organisation is viewed as an appealing and inclusive destination for all.”
