Report: Healthy lifestyle and financial security top list of employees’ well-being priorities

Well-being can feel like an all-encompassing term. Of the myriad factors that go into “wellness,” there are a few that rise to the top for employees.

In a new survey from Alight, employees shared their top well-being priorities. Though there has been some movement since 2020, many top concerns remain.

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At the top of the list of concerns for 2021: living within a budget, or within one’s means. That tracks with the ongoing financial disruption that many faced with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as many aid programs designed to help people who lost income during the crisis have ended.

“Employees are least likely to say their financial well-being is going well relative to other well-being dimensions,” says Alight in the report. “But a significant portion of employees reduced spending and increased saving, which provided a foundation for improvement into 2021. It remains to be seen if this behavior will continue given pent-up demand for recreation, travel and delayed medical services.”

As vaccines have begun to unwind the consequences of the pandemic in some areas of the country, well-being perception for employees has increased. However, scores have yet to recover to their 2019 high-water marks.