Creating an employee wellbeing strategy is integral when it comes to looking after the mental, physical, and social needs of your employees.
Not only does a wellbeing strategy take care of employees, it also can improve their performance and productivity at work. It should aim to cover both immediate issues, but also take into consideration preventative approaches for long-term wellbeing.
Here is an overview on creating an employee wellbeing strategy that works for your business.
Why is an Employee Wellbeing Strategy Important?
Adopting an employee wellbeing strategy is a path to a happier, more productive workforce, that overall performs better. Depending on your individual goals and priorities for your strategy, it can help to reduce absenteeism, stress, and increase resilience to name a few benefits.
A well-rounded wellbeing strategy that takes into consideration the mental, physical, and financial health of employees will be more likely to create a positive work environment. This also means that everyone is in a better position to support each other where needed.
Wellbeing strategies have also been shown to impact staff retention and employee engagement and satisfaction. These are all good reasons to implement one, not only for your workforce, but for business success.
Examples of Wellbeing Initiatives
There are a variety of mental wellbeing initiatives that can be chosen to integrate into your organisation. A few examples include offering flexible working options, bereavement leave, free or access to therapy, and healthy workloads.
Physical wellbeing initiatives are also important, as they encourage healthy lifestyles and often reflect a decrease in sick days and increase life satisfaction. Examples of this can be things like discounts on gym memberships, free healthy snack options, or even encouraging walking or cycling to work schemes.
Financial wellbeing initiatives are integral in enhancing your employee’s outlook on finances and help them to make their money go further. An example of these is redundancy support, retirement planning, savings on meals or holidays, and cashback schemes. Not all these examples will be doable for all businesses, which is why choosing initiatives for your strategy that align with your goals and values is important.
Steps to Create an Employee Wellbeing Strategy
1. Start by setting goals for your wellbeing strategy
Make sure the goals you set are realistic and can be measured in a specific timeframe. An example of this could be looking to reduce employee sick days by X% in X amount of time. To do this, you might look to introduce healthcare benefits and help to manage employee workloads.
2. Engage employees
Getting your employees involved can lead to better success. This could mean taking surveys, asking staff to pitch in ideas, etc. This helps you gain insight on what changes or additions are needed from people first-hand.
3. Adapt with change
Lastly, see how the changes affect your employees and the goals you have set. Remember this strategy is dynamic and can change with your differing needs/what does or doesn’t work for your organisation.
Hopefully this can help to guide you with your wellbeing strategy and provides you with some ideas for initiatives to use when implementing it.