New research released this week has revealed that 63% of employees in the North East believe their employer is providing minimal or less than the legal requirement of support in the workplace.

In addition almost half of those questioned claimed that their managers only care about their wellbeing if they have to take sick leave.

The research, conducted by Sovereign Health Care revealed that the economic climate in the region has resulted in greater workloads and increased pressure. 

In response, 53% of employees in the North East felt organisations should provide more support for personal health and wellbeing, with 45% confirming they would leave their present employer in return for a better benefits package – even if the salary remained the same.

Russ Piper, chief executive of Sovereign Health Care, said: “In many companies across the region, it appears that while pay has remained frozen, employee workloads have increased.

“This unrewarded extra work can lead to low morale and employee discontent. It would be prudent for businesses to recognise this and consider cost effective ways to counter this and add value to their own workplace. One way of achieving this is through health related employee benefits.”

It was widely accepted that organisations have been significantly stretched by the recession and therefore employees in the North East don’t expect company cars or pay rises.

However, rather than simply do more work without reward, 72% said they would appreciate added value healthcare benefits such as optical, including glasses/contact lenses (47%), chiropody/podiatry (40%), with dental (53%) leading the way.

Over half of employees in the North East (55%) are more stressed than a year ago, with 20% saying they have become ill in the past from work, citing work related stress as the main reason.

He added: “The message from the research is clear; organisations need to review their ‘softer’ benefits and provide more health and wellbeing support – this will help counteract the increased pressure of the workplace and could result in more productive, higher motivated and happier employees.”