Workplace wellbeing can be a huge range of things put in place to enhance the workplace for employees and their personal wellbeing. It could be simple measures such as a fruit basket for staff to eat from each week, to much larger schemes such as gym membership or wellbeing medicals.
What is wellbeing?
It is a candidate’s market at the moment and future employees are looking at a wider range of benefits that their employer can offer, not just the salary package.
Wellbeing programmes can help with recruitment and staff retention. Some wellbeing schemes are focussed on benefits such as extra annual leave, childcare vouchers, gym membership, and anything that adds to the wellbeing and health of your employees.
It is important to find out what your staff value, there is no point in giving gym membership to all staff if only a handful of people would use it. Talk to them, ask them, conduct a staff wellbeing survey and find out what they are really interested in or what would make a difference to them.
Look at your sickness absence statistics and provide education sessions/toolbox talks at lunchtime on areas with the most absentee rates.
Why do employers need to look after employee wellbeing?
The question should be why wouldn’t you look after the wellbeing of your employees?! Looking after the wellbeing of your staff can help reduce sickness absence rates and increase staff retention. Wellbeing initiatives can help to make staff feel valued by their employer.
What are the benefits of looking after employee wellbeing?
Some initiatives will have a direct impact on an employee’s health, for example organising a lunchtime walking club might just be what some members of staff are looking for to kick start an exercise programme. The benefits of a healthier workforce are huge for an employer. Encouraging someone to get fit and active will benefit the employer by their improved attendance and performance at work.
How can you introduce wellbeing into your workplace?
Take small steps to introduce anything new to employees, a lot of people don’t like change even if it is aimed at improving their working lives or health. Fruit baskets once a week, or once a month, water coolers in the office, those small steps might just encourage someone to take the first step toward a healthier lifestyle.
Some companies have a wellbeing week and have lots of activities going on each day like yoga classes at lunchtime, health talks or workplace massages. You could introduce a wellbeing afternoon, where staff can take an afternoon to do something for themselves, such as exercise or just sitting quietly reading a book. Whatever works for them!
The list is endless, the key is to do something useful that employees will enjoy, appreciate, and make a difference to them.
Why is a healthy workplace is important?
For you to retain your valuable staff and have an effective, happy and productive workforce, it is essential to look after them.
If employees are fit and well, they are more able to attend work and be active members of your team.
Want to take it a step further, we can do this for your business…
We have been involved in a wide range of wellbeing activities with our clients, from attending wellbeing weeks to providing speakers and wellbeing medicals. We have delivered targeted talks on topics such as menopause or prostate cancer. We have a juice bike which provides delicious fruit smoothies and a bit of exercise!
One of the easiest and simplest things to implement is a blood pressure day. Anyone that would like to get their blood pressure checked can do so. This gets a large number of people seen but can result in a lot of people being referred to their GP or pharmacist for further assessment. This small check has helped to identify those at risk and encourages people to do something about it and lead a more active lifestyle.
Talk to us about what your needs are and we can deliver a package that works for you.
