First, what is employee wellbeing? To have better insight into the topic, we can define wellbeing as:
a phenomenon that encompasses mental, physical and social health
Simply put, the betterment of employees leads to the overall wellbeing of the organisation – we need to acknowledge that there is a direct correlation between employee wellbeing and the organisation’s results. Putting time and effort into keeping your employees happy keeps them engaged and subsequently productive at all times. It also serves as a great retention tool for your top talent. Well-designed wellness programs also reduce health care costs, absenteeism, and improve corporate culture.
How To Increase Wellbeing
You can address wellbeing by breaking it down into 4 areas:
- Emotional Wellbeing
- Physical Wellbeing
- Social Wellbeing
- Financial Wellbeing
Focusing on just one of these areas can have immediate positive effects on your organisation.
There are many ways of increasing employee wellbeing. Researchers have shown that a good environment and positive work culture create a great impact on employee wellbeing, and that can be a great first step. Organisations can also think out of the box. Some options like flexible work hours, hybrid work schedules, mental health days, yoga classes, healthier cafe options, and health insurance plans can all contribute to employee wellbeing.
Multinationals like Unilever have made employee wellbeing their top priority, saying:
We want to promote a positive environment in our workplaces, to support people’s physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing, as well as to help them fulfill their individual purpose. By empowering our employees to be the best version of themselves, we help them, and our business, to thrive.
Unilever focuses on their robust wellbeing strategies to increase productivity, develop employee engagement and facilitate employee motivation. It’s one of the secrets behind their long decades of success and profitability.
5 Simple Ways to Improve Employee Wellbeing
Here a few recommended strategies that can improve the employee wellbeing at your workplace could be giving employees:
Autonomy
Employees should be given autonomy and independence to make their work-related decisions. Little authority to no authority gives employee mental stress which results in poorer mental health. This results in low confidence and low morale, which ultimately affects productivity.
Flexibility
It should be to the employee’s discretion as to what, where and how they want to work as hybrid or remote working models are the future of the workplace and flexibility is a positive resource for workers. It will definitely have a positive impact and build increased trust between the employer and the employees.
Predictable work schedules
Unpredictable and erratic work schedules make it difficult for front line workers to maintain a balance in their work and personal life. This results in emotional distress and poor sleep quality. Accurately allocated worker time can bring projects to their successful conclusion and desired outcome. Optimal work schedules are highly recommended to promote employee wellbeing at all costs.
Adequate staff hiring
HR should ensure that the organisation has hired an adequate number of staff members so that the workload is evenly distributed. Poor workforce planning results in draining employee performance and people eventually burnout, resulting in absenteeism, presenteeism, and even attrition.
Addressing personal needs of the employees
Management should always address the personal needs of employees. For example, many have to give time and support to children or their elderly parents. However, the cost of child care and elderly care costly and not affordable to many. If managers are accommodating towards the employee’s personal needs, then it will foster employee wellbeing with higher job satisfaction, better job performance, and loyalty.
Overall, HR plays a crucial role in business success by implementing wellness and wellbeing programs. Focusing on the four areas of wellbeing can have huge benefits further down the road. The key point is caring about your employees the same amount if not more than profits and stakeholders.
We hope you found this useful! If you need any advice or training on any area of HR and Management, talk to Oakwood.
