The Role of Employee Wellbeing Strategy in Modern Workplaces

Gone are the days of ‘every man for themselves’ in business. In recent years, there have been long-awaited developments in the employee wellbeing space. Not only is it crucial for employers to support their employees, but one-size-fits-all HR strategies are no longer enough. Implementing the right support strategy for your workforce is crucial to the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of your employees, not to mention overall workforce productivity and drastic reductions in unnecessary costs due to absenteeism.

What is Employee Wellbeing and Why is it Important?

A high level of employee wellbeing is vital to the smooth running of any business. Successful employee wellbeing strategies will touch almost all aspects of working life. Ensuring a high level of employee wellbeing doesn’t just mean providing safe and hygienic working environments. But also creating a positive and open company culture, promoting healthy wellbeing practices and facilitating access to the right support services.

Employee wellbeing is critical to the success of a company. Ensuring that employees are satisfied, healthy, safe and able to work to the best of their ability are the most important factors of any HR strategy.  Ensuring that employees feel heard and recognised for their efforts is essential when it comes to management of people. Without recognition, loyalty and commitment levels will inevitably suffer. Employers have a duty of care for their employees. This spans from appropriate risk assessments and workplace safety to continual emotional and practical support for their employees.

Buzzwords such as the work-life balance and workplace incentives get thrown around a lot, but they do carry weight. Work-life balance means more than simply meeting minimal annual leave allowances and paying slightly above minimum wage. The additional benefits you offer your employees can make all the difference to their wellbeing and should be carefully considered with input from your staff to ensure they are personalised.

Catering to the Wellbeing of your Staff

Meeting the wellbeing needs of your staff can be as simple as providing access to resources that support their needs, but it is ensuring they feel listened to that can be more complicated. By listening to your staff and creating a culture of openness, it’s easier to combat presenteeism.

Being at work when there is stuff going on in an employee’s personal life can be difficult. However, it shouldn’t be another source of negativity, instead, a supportive and encouraging workplace can be a place of positive escape. Additionally, knowing your workplace is a place of support but also provides resources to make the tough times in life easier will create deeper connections between an employee and their job. These resources can include avenues of mental health and family support, such as those we offer through our WeMa Workplace Solutions but true employee support begins at the core of the workplace.

Humans are social by nature, which is why social wellbeing can affect all aspects of our life but everyone has their own individual social requirements; introverts, extroverts and those who strike a balance in between. Providing staff with the space to socialise helps to form better interpersonal bonds between colleagues. For instance, extended weekly lunchbreaks where staff can get together in a more relaxed setting, even if it’s simply a group discussion or sharing of ideas.

Your Role in Employee Wellbeing

Businesses have a responsibility to their staff to ensure their wellbeing requirements are met. The workplace should be a space that employees can be themselves and are able to talk about their challenges without fear. Employers have a duty of care for employees to have a clear expectation of what is required of them. Employees’ responsibilities shouldn’t overthrow the work-life balance by causing undue stress or anxiety. Flexible working, wellbeing strategies and organisational structure can all improve the level of employee support your business provides and should be in place before your next phase of business growth and development if they aren’t already.

For more information on supporting staff through wellbeing management solutions, get in touch with our team who will be happy to discuss how we can improve the level of support you offer your staff and create a better working environment for everyone.