This time of year has a real sense of a new beginnings. After a summer with (hopefully) a slightly slower pace of life, sunshine and some down time, we return to the workplace feeling refreshed and re-energised. As the kids all return to school and the pace of life picks up again, we are on what feels like a countdown to Christmas. I know I said the “C” word.
With all of this going on it is the perfect time to review and re-align how our wellbeing strategy is performing and being implemented across the organisation. Back in January we wrote an article, defining what we meant by a wellbeing strategy and shared some tips to help businesses build their wellbeing strategy for the year ahead. So, dust off your notes and take some time to reflect on what you thought would happen; is the approach working for your organisation or do you need to put some changes in place to get the most
out of it before the end of the year? Here are three things to consider, to help you get started:
1. Check in with your team
When trying to work out the impact your employee wellbeing strategy has had since January, a good place to start is to ask your employees. In a recent study by Warwick University, they discovered that a happy workforce would result in them being 12% more productive.
There are many ways you could assess the impact, and hopefully some of these measures are already in place from earlier in the year, but you could conduct a survey, run focus groups or individual interviews. Other indicators the strategy has been successful is to look at business performance, consider within this the number of people who have left the business – are you retaining staff and how easy has it been to recruit new staff? Noting some of the more global issues that we have less influence over.
2. Review your strategy vs your objectives
The next thing to consider is how have things changed? Have the business objectives shifted in reaction to political and global events? If so, how? If for example, if you are a pharma company with the very real threat of new infections (Monkey Pox and new strains of COVID spring to mind) there is even more pressure to find a new vaccine, complete clinical trials or provide other innovative solutions to healthcare challenges, all of which will all put pressure on your teams. With increased pressure, rising living costs and perhaps fewer staff will also potentially impact your teams. Understanding how the business direction and environment may have changed, will enable you to revise the wellbeing provision available and adjust as required.
3. Measuring the impact
A wellbeing strategy is something which should continually be reviewed, acted upon and measured. Offering a wellbeing workshop here and there to your teams is something but offered without any further consideration is no more than a tick box exercise. Given the experiences we have had over the last few years, wellbeing is something that should be at the heart of an organsiation. With more research being conducted to prove that a happy workforce is more productive, there is a real business case for it to stay. Ensuring that there is regular ongoing support for your teams when they need it and assessing how useful they find the support will be key.
If you would like some help to build or reflect on your wellbeing strategy please do get in touch. With our fabulous group of associates now on board, we have a number of different ways in which we can help support your team’s wellbeing; helping you to create a happy and productive workforce. To discover more please get in touch to discuss your individual requirements.
Be mindful,
Tricia
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