Obesity, work/life balance and presenteeism are among the health and wellbeing concerns of employers, research for Group Risk Development (GRiD) has revealed.
The most common top priority for employers is a good work/life balance with 35% putting it top and 64% putting it in the top 3.
However some did not consider health and wellbeing to be a priority with 27% putting that option in their responses to GRiD's research.
Tackling obesity was the most important issue for 4% of employers surveyed with it being a top 3 issue for 15% of employers.
Meanwhile tackling presenteeism was in the top 3 priorities for 25% and the top priority for 5% of employers surveyed.
Having proactive health promotions in the workplace was a top 3 concern for 30% of employers with 7% putting it top.
The research was carried out for GRiD by Lightspeed Research with a sample of 500 businesses and 1000 employees.
The impact of ageing workforces was also found to be affecting absence rates for some employers with 11% saying they'd seen an increase in absence rates as a result although 59% has seen no difference.
Of those who'd been affected by an ageing workforce 15% of employers had refocused their health, wellbeing and absence initiatives in order to better manage ageing workforces. Dealing with ageing workfoces was a top priority for 22% of employers.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said: "On top of initiatives to support older workers, it is reassuring to see that providing a wide range of workplace benefits is so high on the agenda.
"Young and old alike, staff who see they have access to a comprehensive range of benefits - which both improve their daily working life and also serve to give them a financial safety net - will feel far more valued and more likely to stay with the business.
"Benefit plans are about shielding employees and employers alike from potential pitfalls, and taking action to ensure employees are fit, healthy and stable will in the long term serve the bottom line."
Paul Avis, marketing director at Canada Life said: "While group risk is massively underpenetrated in terms of employers purchasing it, clearly the GRiD research shows that a massive education programme is needed to get them to understand the benefits of group risk."
"Pensions as a benefit attraction retention tool are being diminished so group risk could become the benefits differentiator for employers as attraction and retention become more important."
