The health and wellbeing of employees is suffering with up to 87% of the world’s workers reporting being disengaged and a sedentary office culture being linked to lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. This five-step checklist can guide employers in providing a blueprint for more effective workplace wellbeing.
- The first step in creating a successful wellbeing strategy is getting buy-in from executives and senior management. CEOs and boards will be more willing to grant funding for a program that connects back to their overall business objectives – whether that’s reducing healthcare costs and absenteeism or increasing employee engagement.
- Wellbeing programs should be designed to attract and engage everybody, particularly concerned with those employees who will provide the most return on the health and performance metrics that matter to your organization. Also, not all employees will need the same help at the same time. Some may need assistance with nutrition and physical activity, others with engagement or to change their habits and behaviours around such things as stress and sleep.
- Success of health and wellbeing should not be measured solely in dollars. Value on investment (VOI) models allow businesses to understand how wellbeing impacts a wider range of non-financial metrics that are also important, like engagement, productivity, resilience and the ability to attract and retain talent.
- Make your wellbeing strategy authentic. Talk to employees in a tone that’s personal and trusting and you’re already dealing with an engaged audience.
- Wellbeing should be seen as an investment rather than an expense so aim to show quantifiable improvements across all the factors outlined by your VOI model, such as employee engagement, health scores, reduced absenteeism and so forth.