Empowering female employees through health and wellbeing support

In line with this year’s International Women’s Day theme of ‘inspire inclusion’, Towergate Health & Protection is urging employers to ensure female employees receive equitable, sufficient, and tailored support. Three distinguished women from Towergate Health & Protection have shared their insights on necessary changes in workplace health and wellbeing support, highlighting the importance of such initiatives.

Research indicates that companies with more than 30% female executives are likely to outperform those with fewer female executives, underlining the business case for supporting women in the workplace, particularly in terms of health and wellbeing support.

Zanele Sibanda, head of business development at Towergate Health & Protection, expressed concern over the underrepresentation of women in insured key positions, stating: “Despite female-led businesses contributing a total of £221bn GVA to the UK economy, women still make up a very small percentage of insured key individuals for business continuity planning, so there is a lot of work to be done to support female business owners and female key people.”

Sarah Dennis, head of international, reflected on her career journey and the evolving landscape of employment that now sees more women in leadership roles. She emphasized the importance of supporting women to realise their potential: “When I started my career there were very few women taking the lead in business, more often they were in administration or secretarial roles… As part of the changing landscape of employment, with women taking more leadership roles and building their careers as well as having families, it’s important that employers provide the necessary support to help women realise their potential.”

Debra Clark, head of wellbeing, highlighted the need for gender-specific health and wellbeing support to help women thrive in the workplace: “We need to help women thrive, as well as the businesses in which they work. We have raised the profile of women in business and the scales are beginning to balance, but for businesses to really fly, it is important that employers looking at the health and wellbeing of their employees take gender-specific issues into consideration.”