Lego as a benefit? Perk from Deloitte sparks bigger conversation on workplace stress

Canadian experts urge HR to go deep with benefits to boost mental health

Lego as a benefit? Perk from Deloitte sparks bigger conversation on workplace stress

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Deloitte's U.S. employees can now claim up to $1,000 in wellbeing expenses annually, including Lego sets. The updated policy allows for reimbursement of purchases ranging from puzzles to kitchenware, as well as fitness classes and ergonomic furniture, according to Business Insider.

While some employees reacted with excitement, the policy has sparked online debate about whether these gestures go far enough to address real sources of workplace stress.

So, do alternative benefits like Lego truly bolster employee wellbeing?

"People want to be able to optimize their health and their well being in ways that are very individualized,” says Jennifer Dimoff, professor of workplace mental health and wellness at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Business.

“For some people, that might mean being able to buy mindfulness apps or being able to buy Lego or to participate in a yoga retreat for a weekend, and be able to claim that in the same way that one might claim a visit with a psychologist."

Employees ‘pigeonholed’ into benefits 

Deloitte Canada's employee benefits page on its website lists $1,300 in yearly “flex dollars” for “health care premium costs, RRSP contributions, and/or wellness-related activities, which cover everything from house cleaning to yoga classes and green living solutions.”

Dimoff stressed the need for meaningful support structures – if not specific items such as Lego or appliances, at least offering employees more choice in the benefits they are offered.

"The more flexible a benefits plan is, the more people are likely to use it,” she says, adding that preventing long stress leaves and the like should be the focus.

“The more people are using preventative methods, the less likely they are to become burned out, the less likely they are to develop depression and anxiety disorders.”

Dimoff explains that many employees feel that they are “pigeonholed” by their employers’ benefits offerings, which assume which types of services or healthcare they need, often inaccurately.

“That's a word that has been coming up a lot, and some of the research we're doing on what people are looking for from organizations is saying, ‘I don't want to be going to a naturopath or a chiropractor or a psychologist, but I find that my best self is when I'm able to relax in a different way, or when I'm able to kind of experience therapeutic outcomes in non-traditional ways,’” she says.

“Employers building that into what they're offering, not necessarily instead of traditional benefits, but in addition to it, is also a signal to employees that they care, that the employer cares about the person, not just the employee.”

Wellbeing benefits: moving from perks to prevention

Business Insider's report cited some Deloitte consultants who praised the wellbeing subsidy in internal chats, while others think it’s more of a band aid on a bigger problem "because of how much this job sucks," as one employee wrote.

According to Kevin Kelloway, professor of organizational psychology at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, truly providing employees with wellbeing support requires deeper change.

"We often do this,” he says. “When people are under a lot of stress, we focus on the individual, and we try to give them something to help them deal with the stress, but then we put them back in the same environment.”

Kelloway explains that even the best-intentioned benefits can't succeed if the work environment itself is broken – providing feel-good benefits without fixing the job conditions can undermine the effectiveness of wellness programs.

"Even if you had a magic pill that took away anxiety, that's not going to help the situation,” he says.

“If people are in a high-stress job, they're still in a high-stress job, so they still get exposed to that level of stress, and they're still going to experience that anxiety, and then maybe they're going to go home and play Lego, and they'll feel better for a little while."

For employers hoping to address burnout and retention, assessing the workplace directly is more effective than offering superficial perks, says Kelloway. A one-size-fits-all program risks neglecting the actual problems affecting staff performance and well-being.

"If I was in charge of all the HR directors in the world, I would say, ‘You should be making it a regular practice to examine levels of stress in your workplace and what's causing those,” he suggests.

“Is it a workload issue? Is it harassment in the workplace? Is it job insecurity, or I'm not clear about my career path, or whatever is stressing people out? Take a look at that, and other things we can do to address that.”

Mental health supports must match demand

Deloitte workers were quoted describing Lego building as a satisfying short-term stress reliever. But as Kelloway explains, a worsening public mental health system in Canada, and increasing work-related stress and burnout means mental health support needs to go beyond that.

Entertainment-based stress relief cannot replace access to professional care, he says.

"In a lot of plans, mental health care benefits are really, really very low,” says Kelloway.

“So if you have, like, $500 you can use, that may only get you an initial assessment, it doesn't get you any help.”

That trend of diminishing mental health coverage can leave employees without sufficient support, leading to absenteeism in the form of stress leave and sick days – more robust mental health funding is essential, he says.

"They probably need to be in the range of $3000 – $3500 as a minimum, so that people can get the help they need,” says Kelloway.

“You don't want to lose these people, because that's a big loss to the company. So if you're helping them by creating better work for them, then they're more likely to stay with you. They're more likely to tell other people that this is a good place to work. So it's a recruitment and retention issue as well as a productivity issue.”

Benefits customization and the changing workforce

The Deloitte policy made headlines in part because it acknowledges personal wellbeing choices, but to be effective, flexibility must reflect employee needs, says Dimoff, explaining that customization is becoming essential as workforces diversify in age, life stage, and responsibilities.

That starts with communication, she says.

"The important thing for human resource leaders is to be in tune with what people actually want,” says Dimoff.

“If people are saying, ‘I want to have $500 a year to spend on whatever I want that's good for my health and well being,' and that doesn't violate company policies, then they should have $500 to spend on whatever they want that doesn't violate company policies.”

Nicky Rishi, former benefits head at Square and founder of “parent tech” platform MissPoppins, believes customization isn't just a perk, it's a necessity.

"Instead of taking contributions out of your paycheck towards benefits that are not applicable to you, and having less than 10% of utilization rate, you see you're wasting so much money.”

Targeted, customizable approaches improve engagement and can significantly increase the value of employer benefit spend, Rishi says, and adds that these approaches can improve uptake: “The employee every year can choose where they prefer to be in terms of utilizing that benefit. That boosts engagement. It boosts morale, most importantly, it boosts utilization of every benefit.”

Flexible benefits like lifestyle spending accounts (LSAs) should be part of a broader framework, Kellerway stresses. Without thoughtful planning, LSAs risk being seen as surface-level distractions from larger issues.

"Prevention, intervention, accommodation—within that scheme, if you're doing all of that, then if you want to buy people Lego, fill your boots,” he says.

“There’s nothing the matter with it, it's just not the most effective approach. If you're going to do that, do it as part of a really comprehensive and well-thought-out mental health strategy.”

Don't pull back on flexible benefits now

Dimoff acknowledges that some HR leaders and employers may be tempted to pull back on benefits due to current economic conditions, or to not offer more flexible benefits if they were planning to.

She warns them to think twice about doing so, as such a move could have longer term consequences.

“The follow of that will be that employees will remember, because the economy will improve,” Dimoff says.

“It may not be in a year or two years, but it will happen. Employees will remember those perks being clawed back.”

 

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