"Connection is why we're here. It's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives."
Brene Brown
We talk a lot about an employee wellbeing strategy, it is such an important part to consider alongside your HR strategy, no longer is it enough to just put a bowl of fruit on the reception desk. It is one thing to create a strategy but then how do we ensure it is implemented, we engage with our teams and understand if it is working. In our latest blog, we explore this further.
What is a wellbeing strategy?
Before we get into the specifics of what should be included in an employee wellbeing strategy let’s first define what we mean.
“An employee wellbeing strategy is a holistic view of a person’s physical, mental and social stage at work.”
When there is a clear wellbeing strategy in place, it is likely to result in a happier workforce who perform better, build positive relationships and cope more effectively with everyday pressures. The employee wellbeing strategy should include short-term mental health provision as well as longer-term support that helps to educate and inform teams as to the most effective way of working and taking care of themselves.
Why develop an employee wellbeing strategy?
Aside from it being the right thing to do, there are many reasons why we should implement a clear employee wellbeing strategy, they include:
Reduced absenteeism, with many people citing a different reason to mental ill health when calling in sick, there is still more to be done around the conversation of mental wellbeing. Workplaces that have access to healthy snacks, exercise provision, open space and a positive work/ life balance can help ensure a healthy workforce.
A happy workforce is a productive workforce, research completed by Oxford University showed that a happy workforce is 13% more productive than an unhappy one.
Improved employee retention. It is important for any organisation to hold onto good employees. Not only is it a costly exercise to continue to recruit new talent but it is not good for internal morale. A study by Brendan Health showed that almost half of UK businesses have seen an employee move on because their mental wellbeing was not looked after.
Improved brand perception, one of the things that is becoming increasingly important for people looking for new roles is how the business looks after their teams and the wellbeing provision in place. This could be through wellbeing or their CSR approach so for an organisation of any size, it is important to have a clear road map to define what this looks like.
What should we include in an employee wellbeing strategy?
An employee wellbeing strategy will be different for each organisation. Some businesses may have a provision in place already and others may need to build on what is already available. In many cases, it is important to use this as a way of engaging with internal teams to understand what they want and what is important to them. Mental health training and provision should also be given as a standard to support people when they need help. Key pillars to consider are:
Social wellbeing focuses on our need to be connected to others and part of a community, group or team, enabling us to build positive relationships with others. In a post-COVID world with more people working from home, leaders and businesses are having to work harder to create a workplace sense of community. Ideas to help facilitate this may include walk-and-talk meetings, regular team meetings in the office or organising social events.
Physical wellbeing and regular movement can help us to maintain our wellbeing. Through movement, we create endorphins (the happy hormone) in our bodies which in turn has a positive impact on our mood and outlook on life. Movement should be something you enjoy and can be anything from playing a sport to taking the dog for a walk, gardening or going to the gym. Ideas to help facilitate this may include walk-and-talk meetings, lunchtime exercise classes or encouraging teams to walk up stairs rather than take the lift.
Mental and Emotional wellbeing, supporting our teams to become emotionally strong and resilient, helping them to produce positive emotions thoughts and feelings when faced with the day-to-day workplace challenges and stresses, is key to creating high-performing teams.
Financial wellbeing is one of the pillars that often gets missed in a wellbeing strategy, but it is one area that can have the biggest impact on how our teams perform in the workplace. If they are worried about finances it is unlikely they will be working at their best. By running workshops to help educate and increase awareness of the best way to manage finances and offer support where needed, can make a significant difference.
How to measure the impact of your wellbeing strategy
Measuring the impact of our wellbeing strategy is often something that organisations are keen to do, but it can be difficult to quantify the ROI in isolation. In one of our earlier blogs HERE we explore this topic in detail but the key indicators we can use to measure the impact are:
Wellbeing training attendance, if you are running courses or workshops, seeing how many delegates turn up and their feedback will give you an indication of the impact this has for them.
Staff retention levels, whilst this can be a trickier metric to monitor it is worth overlaying these statistics with any new initiatives or strategies that are put in place.
Team performance can also be a tricky metric to monitor but overlaying general company performance with any new wellbeing strategies in combination with any direct feedback can indicate if this has been impacted.
Staff and manager feedback, by implementing anonymous pulse surveys and gathering feedback in annual reviews can help disccover if teams feel that the mental wellbeing provision has been positive.
In summary
At The Mind Hub, we help organisations to implement successful employee wellbeing strategies to support their teams. We do this by offering a wide range of MHFA and wellbeing training solutions from webinars and workshops to drop-in clinics. Topics include mindful movement, sleep, online yoga or Pilates, and nutrition workshops. To see how we can help bring wellbeing to your workplace please get in touch to arrange a no-obligation discovery call.
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