Are you looking to improve your workplace wellbeing? There have been many transformations within the work industry in the last few decades.
The relationship between employers and the staff continues to experience a complete transformation. Nowadays, employees expect and deserve equal and fair treatment at their workplace.
The employees’ roles should meet their financial needs, skill development, and personal wellbeing. Many organizations are now adopting the shift in power balance and using tools to sustain their programs.
Employers now recognize that recruiting and retaining the best workers is not easy. That requires a workplace environment that is supportive, stimulating, and motivating.
Organizations find themselves competing to hire and keep the best-talented employees. Corporate wellness is a big part of this.
Companies are using corporate wellness programs to attract and keep employees. That is so because retaining the best employees can improve workplace success.
Continue reading this article to learn the importance of workplace wellbeing.
What Is Workplace Wellbeing?
Workplace wellbeing combines all aspects of wellbeing, instead of taking care of your employees only when they are sick. Corporate wellbeing is all about the optimization of physical and mental health.
You will give your staff a more well-rounded and happy lifestyle. Note that creating a sustainable corporate wellness program and strategy takes time.
First, you have to understand how to take care of your employee’s health successfully and use the strategies they find useful. For the strategies to work, the wellbeing initiatives need representation from the top down.
You can begin by ensuring employees have enough breaks from their workstations. Encourage your team to adhere to operating hours rather than doing overtime to finish some work.
While having such a policy is vital, you have to make employees believe in it to succeed. Also, a comprehensive workplace wellbeing program has a good return on investment (ROI).
How Do You Improve Your Workplace Wellbeing?
There are various workplace wellbeing tips you have to incorporate at your workplace. Employees will enjoy the measures you put towards improving their workplace wellbeing.
Here are various ways you can improve your workplace wellbeing:
Improving the Focus on Mental Wellbeing
It is paramount to take care of your employees’ mental health. Most people consider talking about mental health experiences shameful. Others find it less important than physical health.
So, your employees need to see you understand their difficulties with mental health.
Offering a More Flexible Workplace
You positively impact your staff when you allow a more flexible work environment. The staff’s work schedule should never get in the way of other things that mark a balanced lifestyle.
Employees should plan their working days around other factors such as school runs or private appointments. Doing so will make their work-life balance easier to handle.
Encouraging a More Active Lifestyle
Having active workplace spaces will promote a more active lifestyle. Your staff should have easy access to fitness.
You can encourage employees to be active by adding incentives to get out and take walks. You can also suggest walking meetings with your staff.
Including Access to Health Services
Access to healthcare is a nice way to enhance your workplace wellbeing. You can do so by offering health cash plans and private health insurance for your employees.
Your workforce has easy and quick access to treatment and help in paying for important healthcare. By offering an accessible healthcare plan, you are reducing the number of your staff’s sick days.
The plan also helps pay for vital services like dental check-ups or eye tests, which they would avoid due to high costs.
Importance of Workplace Wellbeing
Due to the pandemic, we notice workplace wellbeing impacts staff performance and business results. Employers have to find ways of accommodating the increasing need for empathy towards employees.
There was a warning that quarantine might increase diseases like depression and PTSD. Employers are now preparing their return to work after COVID-19 strategies.
But, workplace wellbeing was already a popular topic before the pandemic. Here are a few reasons why workplace wellbeing is of importance:
Increases Employee Engagement
Employees who experience more positive mental and physical health show a higher work commitment. Due to the support and appreciation from employers, they are more willing to go above what their job expects of them.
Employees know that their extra efforts get recognition and a reward. Also, your staff is always ready to handle your business increasing customer demands. The staff can also handle work environment stress and daily deadlines.
Workplace wellbeing will allow your staff to work at a higher production level. That will add value to your corporation.
Happy Employees Will Call in Less Frequently
When your staff has mental or physical issues, they tend to call in sick quite a bit. Also, even though they will show up at work, they won’t perform at their peak potential.
Employees’ sick days will taper off when you focus on your workplace wellbeing. You will notice that some of the workers you expect to call in sick frequently are putting more effort into their work.
All programs that reduce absenteeism experience cost savings. The programs improve employees’ health and dictate whether the staff member will report to work.
Your business will grow more when you focus on enhancing your workplace wellbeing.
Improves Employee Recruitment and Retention
A lot of aspects go into taking a job offer. But, it helps if you will offer a rich benefit plan and a good salary.
Top brands often offer free wellbeing, gym membership, and NO insurance premium. The brands also offer onsite health clinics of various varieties. Doesn’t that sound great?
Large companies offer such benefits because they compete to hire and keep the best talents in the market. 87% of employees consider wellbeing offerings when accepting a job.
Corporate wellbeing programs have a significant impact on retention. Happy employees are long-term employees. You create a happy staff team by focusing on creating an environment of support focusing on wellness.
You also surround yourself with long-term employees by creating a positive business environment. You need competitive benefits and salaries if this will work.
Your staff is the most vital asset to your business. By offering wellbeing programs, employees know you think they are important. They know you want them to remain happy, healthy and work for your company for long.
Once employees feel valued by supervisors, they are more likely to stay at the company for long. They will not jump ships because other firms are offering higher salaries.
Promotes Resilience
A corporate wellness program acts as a guide in dealing with stress – whether your staff deals with it at work or in their personal lives. Health programs focus on educating your staff on how to handle unexpected events.
You equip employees to handle such emotions even when a counselor, friend, or family member is not around. Focus on your staff’s wellbeing and resilience.
That way, you aid them in improving their life quality and managing crises without panicking.
A Stronger Employer Branding
Global leaders invest in workplace wellbeing programs because they positively influence work culture. Consider using these in supporting your employer branding goals.
You will find that you attract more talents into your company because they enjoy your workplace environment. Also, happy employees will recommend you to some of their peers.
You get to reduce your recruitment costs and ensure you are engaging your workforce.
Improves Employee Productivity and Morale
Research shows that people suffering from obesity will take three to six sick days off more each year. Also, employees that handle stress well will be less likely to experience burnout.
By committing to optimizing your workplace wellbeing, employees focus more on their work. Besides, they also increase their productivity level.
By enhancing your workplace wellbeing, your employees are healthier and happier. Employee morale is a massive factor in your business’s success or failure.
Due to the pandemic, the importance of employee morale is now clear. Introducing employee wellbeing initiatives like mental health workshops significantly improves your staff morale.
Also, you can improve their morale by allowing creativity, problem-solving, safety, and appreciation. Your employees will be happy when they feel a sense of control over their health and life.
Employees indeed care about their happiness. They will often not share your productivity and absenteeism concerns. Most employees only care about having a satisfying and enjoyable job.
Employees can achieve all their social, emotional, and physical needs. Your company will have outstanding customer service, solve problems fast, and people get creative.
Employees will always love coming to work, having high morale, and working better with others. So, how will employees with poor morale affect your business?
You will notice complaints going up. Also, service and product quality suffer, and problems multiply. That is so because poor morale is contagious.
High employees’ morale is of significant importance to workplace wellbeing.
Improves your Employees Health Behaviors
The basic of every good corporate wellbeing program is behavior change. Employees change behavior with the correct skills, education, tools, motivation, and social support.
The programs help employees in adopting and maintaining healthy behaviors. That is the top benefit of having a corporate wellness program.
Note that healthy behaviors lower health risks, leading to fewer chronic diseases among your workforce.
Not all programs show positive and instant results. But, the ones that follow an operational behavior change model will show the best results.
Almost everyone will have healthy behaviors for a few days or even weeks. But, the point is to maintain such healthy behavior changes for years. You stop experiencing the benefits when you stop having healthy behaviors.
There are some healthy behaviors your employees need. They include eating healthier foods, exercising more often, drinking alcohol, and smoking less. Healthier employees are good at controlling work and life-related stress.
Also, you can have a plan to call in a real coach to enhance healthy programs. The programs also help to reduce depression and improve life satisfaction.
Reduces Elevated Health Risks
The core of a worthy program should focus on helping your staff adopt healthy behaviors. High blood pressure and elevated blood glucose are due to a lack of physical exercise and unhealthy diets.
Note that eating and exercising are also behaviors. Once you change your diet, avoid tobacco, and get active, really good things happen.
They reduce elevated health crises, which is paramount. Workplace wellbeing programs help your employees, and their spouses avoid elevated health risks.
Many studies show the ability of such programs to reduce elevated health risks. Such a study is by The National Library of Medicine. The study looks at almost 200,000 participants. The study shows that 5 of 7 health risks showed improvement after one year.
Reduction in Health Care Costs
Many studies are looking at the financial impact of workplace wellbeing programs. Such studies are hard to undertake because they need complicated ROI calculations and may take years to finish.
But, the effectiveness of the programs will influence the wellbeing program’s ability to reduce health care costs. Occasional lunch and studying nutrition do not move the healthcare cost needle.
But, a comprehensive workplace wellbeing program will bend the healthcare cost trend.
Consider Improving Your Corporate Wellness
How you run your company will greatly impact your employees’ productivity. Note, creating a positive workplace will mean you need to understand the importance corporate wellness.
Having a positive work environment will embrace your employees’ individuality. You will then reap the benefits of having a more productive workforce.
Want to enhance your workplace wellbeing? We can help.
At Reaction, we have comprehensive solutions that cover all aspects of wellbeing. You will build a wellbeing routine focusing on personal goals and needs.
Visit Reaction Club today to begin your workplace wellbeing improvement.
