You’ve heard the term ‘wellbeing’ floating around for some time now and are potentially wondering what all the fuss is about. It’s not just about meditation and smoothies. It goes much deeper than that.

The aftermath of the pandemic has left a nation of anxious, stressed and absent employees trying to regain some sense of normality again.

That’s where you, the employer, come in. Putting structures in place that positively impact your company’s culture, employee health and overall business profitability. Let’s not pretend that business growth isn’t the key benefit from any strategy! Where do you start?

In this blog, we’ll discuss how you can put in a wellbeing strategy in your workplace to provide sustainable, long-term health for your employees and your business.

Why should employers be focused on wellbeing?

Your company culture can impact:

• Clients and customers (sales!)

• Organisational growth (profit!)

• Employee morale

• Reputation

• Employee health

• Recruitment and retention

Corporate culture plays a major role in job satisfaction and security, which, in turn can impact an employee’s overall health and ability to perform at work. Your staff have individual needs and concerns, potential mental health challenges and requirements for additional support whilst working from home. They have experienced massive change and are looking to you to help them manage it.

Focusing on wellbeing is a clear indication that you care about creating a positive, happy and healthy workplace for your staff to thrive in. Offering a few stress management workshops and giving employees flexible Fridays is not enough. By developing a strategy, your staff can see your commitment and will be more likely to adopt it in order to see the long-term benefits.

According to the CIPD’s Health Wellbeing Work Report 2022, ‘Half of organisations (51%) take a strategic approach to employee wellbeing. These organisations are far more likely to report a number of positive achievements from their activity, at both the individual and organisational level.’

Helping your employees from a strategic level, embedding the changes into the culture, ensures it allows you to meet your business goals in the process.

"60% of workers surveyed said if their employer took action to support the mental wellbeing of all staff, they would feel more loyal, motivated, committed and be likely to recommend their workplace as a good place to work."

Paul Farmer (CEO of Mind)

People create successful businesses. When they are well, the business is well.

What are some examples of wellbeing in the workplace?

There should be no off the shelf wellbeing strategies available. Each business is unique with differing goals. This uniqueness (culture) and these goals (growth) must be the foundation of any workplace health wellbeing strategy. Having mechanisms in place to support your staff through the organisational change and maintaining their health long-term will positively influence every area of your business.

There are a number of different wellbeing dimensions that you can support your employees in. Although a holistic approach is advised, it may be better to initially narrow your focus to the areas of health that impact them the most:

1. Mental wellbeing

An employee’s mental health relates to stress, anxiety, depression, worry and burnout amongst many other conditions.

It’s important to understand what mental health challenges your employees are currently facing and its impact on their work and implement initiatives to tackle and support them through it. This can be easily achieved by scheduling regular touchpoints with staff to check in on their mental health and current workload.

It demonstrates an environment of psychological safety and its importance to the business.

Some other beneficial mental wellbeing initiatives:

• mental health training (new starters and ongoing)

• Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) offering free advice, support and counselling

• internal wellbeing champions

• flexible working

2. Physical wellbeing

The pandemic threw most routines out of the window and the thought of exercising fills some people with dread. Physical wellbeing goes beyond attending the gym and not being sick, it is about having balance between mind and body.

The physical wellbeing of an individual will determine their quality of life, so having a safe physical environment, feeling positive about what they do and being physically active is something that should be promoted both inside and outside of the work environment.

Emphasising the importance of developing an overall healthier lifestyle will help staff to look, feel and perform better. This includes fighting illness (84% of short-term absences are attributed to minor illnesses), improved mental health (57% of long term absences are attributed to mental ill health), improved job performance (21% improvement to concentration) and better working relationships (80% better interactions with colleagues).

Foster an environment where employees take more accountability for their health by offering advice or corporate discounts on health-related activities, such as the gym, on-demand workouts or fitness meetups.

Some other beneficial physical wellbeing initiatives:

• monthly fitness challenges

• outdoor bootcamps at a local park

• weight loss groups

• discounts on healthy meal box subscriptions

• free fruit in the office

• discounts with local businesses (massage, restaurants, active wear)

3.      Social wellbeing

This refers to whether your staff feel a sense of at work. From alignment with organisational values, relationships with colleagues and feeling valued by others, it focuses on the connections each person makes.

How does your organisational culture promote authentic relationships, corporate social responsibility and social inclusion? This defines the experience each employee will have in the workplace, and with themselves. Positive working relationships will lead to happier, more productive workers. Employees who feel that they belong and are respected for their individual cultural differences are more likely to be loyal to the organisation.

With hybrid working so common, it is essential to create digital connection with your employees so they feel seen, heard and understood. Having specific days to acknowledge staff for their contributions will provide the recognition needed.

Some other beneficial social wellbeing initiatives:

• adjust flexible working and leave policies to encourage ‘down time’

• sponsor events that staff can participate in for team building e.g. quiz nights, bingo, sports days etc.

• volunteering in the community days

• arrange outdoor meetings

• arrange daily check-ins

• send a newsletter that highlights what you are doing (corporate social responsibility)

4.      Financial wellbeing

Financial stress is very common and challenges our safety needs. With 94% of employees worried about money, 77% of which feel their work is impacted, there is an opportunity to ease this stress and get staff refocused.

Helping staff have a more optimistic outlook on their finances allows them to worry less and gain clarity on how they can use more practical methods to achieve their financial goals. Money saving schemes and financial literacy advice are always welcome to help them identify ways to utilise their money more effectively.

Some other financial wellbeing initiatives:

• season ticket loans

• special discounts on food, drink, activities and holidays

• training for senior staff

• child care support funds

• insurance and pension referrals

• host a financial wellbeing workshop

The above should be enough to get you focused on areas where small improvements can make a huge difference in the life and soul of your business.

How do I create a wellbeing strategy?

The main point to note is that this is a strategy, meaning strategic. You are developing something for the long term that is sustainable and will help you achieve your business goals. It’s vital that you do not do this alone. Involve others with differing opinions, ideas and values to ensure it is as inclusive as possible. Considering all the possibilities and activities, this could be a fairly daunting task. Fortunately, Amarkai Group have a framework you can use to guide you:

Step 1: Identify your wants

The first thing you must do is think about what you want to achieve (where do you want to be and when?). What is your organisational vision? Aligning your wellbeing goals to your business goals will help you track your progress and measure your return on investment. Clearly defined short, medium and long-term goals will influence the changes you implement.

An example could be to improve employee productivity by 10% within 12 months of implementing a new wellbeing programme.

You can then define the objectives that will help you to accomplish your goal. For example:

• introducing a workplace mentoring scheme to develop employees

• arranging peer learning/coaching groups to discuss challenges and problem solve

Step 2: Investigate your current state

Gain an understanding of your organisation, your culture and your people now. Investigate their attitudes, behaviours and receptiveness to change to learn where you are.

Introduce a wellbeing survey to learn how your organisation is perceived by staff. What they think and feel about it, how well they may or may not be thriving within it and what improvements they would like to see implemented. Employees who are consulted during the strategy development process are more likely to buy-in to the initiatives that are implemented as it shows they have been included and their opinion is of value.

Take time to really analyse the data that comes back to build a clear picture of what your business is viewed as, not what you wanted it to portray. That shows there may be a disconnect, which is a great opportunity to correct through this process.

Step 3: Strategise the way forward

Bridge the gap between your current state and your organisational vision. Strategise with wellbeing initiatives that will work for you and manage change.

Based on the data you have collected, you can identify a number of programmes and initiatives that will work in your organisation and move you towards the end goal. Ensure the strategy includes all of the different wellbeing dimensions you would like to improve.

You’ll need to consider a number of factors at this point:

• how you will manage change

• resources available to participate in implementing the strategy (leadership, wellbeing champions etc.)

• a clear communication strategy

• budget available to invest in its success (branding, incentives etc.)

• managing feedback

• priority of wellbeing dimensions to focus on

• how each align to your goals

Step 4: Ease into the process

Create a roadmap to achieving your strategy. Ease into the organisational change, evaluating as you go, to ensure long term success and positive wellbeing.

You don’t want to jump in with a complete overhaul, as too much change may have the opposite effect. Decide on which aspects will enable you to meet your short-term goals and create a plan to implement the appropriate wellbeing programme(s) and monitor their impact.

You can introduce follow up surveys to staff to gauge how they are finding the changes after six months and refine your wellbeing strategy accordingly. These initial teething problems can be ironed out quickly, as you continue managing the mindset, behaviour and attitudes of your organisational culture shift.

"If you think wellness is expensive, try illness."

Unknown

Don’t be disheartened if you don’t see results immediately. Change takes time. Focusing on your people and their wellbeing, in line with your organisational vision, will help you meet their needs. When their needs are met, they will inadvertently meet your needs.

Conclusion

The focus is to promote wellbeing and accountability for it by every individual. When health and wellbeing become a priority for the business and its staff, it becomes a more positive place to be a part of, improving the employee experience.

It may seem easier to begin a wellbeing programme than to invest all the time, resources and budget into developing a strategy. If you don’t show that your staff are worth investing those things to make the environment happier, healthier and more inclusive, it is unlikely they will see this as an organisation that values their contributions.

To implement a wellbeing strategy, consider what you want your organisation to be and ensure it is in alignment with your organisational goals. Once you have created your goals, take time to survey your staff and gain honest feedback about their challenges and ideas for wellbeing. Creating a plan based on ideas provided by your staff immediately increase staff adoption and willingness to participate. Choosing a small segment to ‘test’ can be ideal to refine your strategy and confirm you are on the right track.

Your wellbeing strategy will be a worthwhile investment for long-term organisational growth.

If you want to increase the health of your business and its people, Amarkai Group can work with you to co-produce a wellbeing strategy. Request a free, no obligation, 30-minute consultation to find out more.

Want to dive deeper?

Amarkai Group is a London (UK) based consultancy working with entrepreneurs and businesses across the world to create more impact, profit and overall success in their business. We do this by developing people, processes and technology using training and coaching, change management and organisational culture and behavioural change to increase your business growth.

If you have a wellbeing strategy in place and are considering hosting some informative wellbeing workshops or team building activities, we can deliver sessions on a variety of subjects e.g. burnout, stress management, communication, mental health and many more. Have a look at our wellbeing workshops and get in touch to discuss how they will benefit your business.

Other resources to help you consider employee wellbeing