Mental Health Awareness Week is a useful reminder, but for employers the real value is in what happens beyond one week in the calendar.
Findings from the Elite Consultancy Network Heavy Construction Equipment Remuneration Report 2026 point to a clear shift in what people value from an employer. Pay still matters, but it is no longer the whole story. Flexibility, work-life balance, healthcare provision and support for mental health and wellbeing are now increasingly part of the employment conversation.
That matters in heavy construction equipment. This is a sector with physically demanding roles, mobile engineers, high-pressure service teams, sales targets, operational responsibilities and ongoing skills shortages. Supporting people properly is not a soft extra. It is part of recruitment, retention, safety and long-term workforce resilience.
The report highlighted the growing importance of practical benefits, including Employee Assistance Programmes, private healthcare and flexible working where it can be offered. These are not grand gestures. They are sensible tools that help employers support their teams in ways that are useful, accessible and valued.
Through its partnership with Personal Group CEA has made Hapi available to members as a practical route to employee wellbeing, engagement and benefits support. It gives businesses a straightforward way to offer help across the workforce, whether employees are office-based, workshop-based or out in the field.
Awareness has its place. But the real opportunity for employers is to look at the whole employment package and ask whether it genuinely supports people in the realities of modern working life.
CEA members can find out more about the wellbeing and employee benefits support available through Personal Group and Hapi here: 👇