Employee Wellbeing

As a business owner what does taking a holistic approach to the wellbeing of your team actually mean? It means considering the physical and mental health of your team as well as their financial wellbeing.

Did you know that the HSE reported in 2019/20 that of the total 32,520 working days lost that year, 55% were lost due to stress, depression or anxiety? This figure alone really does show why supporting your employee’s wellbeing can be so important.

Of course, there is the negative impact of absences on productivity and performance in the workplace as the staff member is absent, but there is also the potential resentment this can cause amongst colleagues picking up the additional workload. This can really impact morale and output! It is likely the absence levels within your team will decrease if you embrace employee wellbeing.

Why should you focus on wellbeing?

There is increasing evidence that a wellness programme in the workplace will have a positive impact on your employee’s health, as well as their engagement and performance:

• Productivity and motivation: if employees are mentally and physically healthy, they will have more energy and are more focused so they can perform better in their job.
• Morale: group wellness activities, in and outside of work, build a shared purpose — which increases team morale.
• Work-related stress: positive wellbeing will reduce stress which will prevent a negative impact on productivity and health.

What can you do as a Business Owner?

A holistic approach needs to be taken which should try and encompass these elements:

1. Health – both physical health and safety and mental health

• Promoting health eating
• Walking meetings rather than sitting at a desk
• Free annual check-ups with medical advice
• Mental health Champions and mental health first-aiders in the workplace
• Promoting a culture if safety at work and providing training and resources to employees

2. Good Work

• Consider flexible working approaches
• Management training for line managers
• Promoting work-life balance
• A fair and transparent bonus and incentive scheme.

3. Values

Sharing your values can increase the commitment and performance of your team.

• Do your values underpin health and wellbeing?
• Providing an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Can you engage with the local community through sponsored events?
• Engage with your staff to see how you can improve company wellbeing.

4. Personal growth

Some initiatives to consider:

• Mentoring from peers
• Performance development planning
• Resilience training to improve personal development

5. Lifestyle choices

Whilst it seems obvious that lifestyle choices can promote health, as an employer you need to be mindful that approaches you take are not seen as patronising.

• Offering subsidised gym membership
• If you are encouraging bikes to work, do you offer bike parking or shower facilities?
• If you have a canteen, does it offer and promote healthy choices?
• Providing standing desks or exercise seats as options.

6. Financial wellbeing

Yes, you need a fair and transparent pay and reward policy, but you could also consider:

• Offering a debt counselling service
• Flexible or phased retirement
• A profit-sharing scheme to allow employees to benefit from your company’s success.

Wellbeing good practice

The New Economic foundation recommends the following steps:

Connect

Connecting with those around us is a fundamental human need and central to our ability to function. Social relationships are critical for promoting wellbeing and for acting as a buffer against mental ill health for people of all ages.

Be active

Regular physical activity is known to improve mood and physical health and is associated with lower rates of depression and anxiety across all age groups. Even slower-paced activities, such as walking, can have the benefit of encouraging social interactions as well as providing some level of exercise.

Take notice

Being aware of the present directly enhances your wellbeing and savouring ”the moment” can reaffirm priorities. Heightened awareness also enhances self-understanding and facilitates positive choices based on individual values and motivations.

Learn

Continued learning through life enhances self-esteem and encourages social interaction and a more active life. Evidence suggests that the opportunity to engage in work or educational activities promotes stronger mental health and the practice of setting goals, in an adult learning context is strongly associated with higher levels of wellbeing.

Give

Participation in social and community life has attracted a lot of attention in the field of wellbeing research. Individuals who report a greater interest in helping others are more likely to rate themselves as happy.

If you would like to talk about how you can embed employee wellbeing into your business give me a call today.