As an employer, you have a duty to ensure that your organisation creates and maintains a positive working environment which includes employee wellbeing. This blog will help you understand more about wellbeing, why it’s important in organisations and how to introduce wellbeing into your business.
What Is Wellbeing?
The dictionary defines wellbeing as “the state of being comfortable, healthy or happy”, wellbeing is all about personal emotions and health, living a healthy, happy and safe life. The idea is that improving people’s working lives not only promotes personal well-being but can also lead to more successful organisations. Organisational Wellbeing is employees having meaningful and challenging work with the opportunity to apply their expertise in effective working relationships in a safe and healthy environment. Wellbeing-orientated organisations provide the tools and support for staff to operate efficiently and achieve personal aspirations while maintaining a healthy work–life balance.
Why Is Organisational Wellbeing Important?
Wellbeing has become a primary focus for both government and private enterprises, but why, what is the business benefit? Well, according to CIPD’s annual absence management survey the average level of absence is eight days per employee per year and costs organisations annually almost £600 per member of staff. Public sector absence levels and costs are higher at nearly ten days per employee every and £680 per member of staff.
Improving your employee wellbeing reduces your absence rate, which ultimately saves your business a substantial amount of money. You should focus on creating a workplace in which everyone feels included, valued and respected which will result in improved working relationships and contribute to productivity and business development.
Introducing Wellbeing Into Your Business
In their ideal form, wellbeing initiatives are proactive and work to enable employees to achieve their full potential. Introducing wellbeing doesn’t have to be a large cost or investment, it can be incorporated into existing policies and encouraging employees to take control of their wellbeing.Â
Every organisation will have unique requirements and challenges when it comes to adopting a wellbeing strategy. Any of your policies will need to be flexible, relevant and understood by the business as a whole and, most importantly, proactively used and communicated so that the benefits are translated for different audiences. Employee wellbeing needs to be part of the regular business dialogue and to be deeply embedded into your organisational culture to be effective. Wellbeing is a subjective experience. It can involve practical measures such as introducing healthy food or a gym at work, or perhaps less tangible initiatives such as working to match the values and beliefs held by employees with those of their organisation.
Conclusion
Improving employee wellbeing is an important and never-ending task, it’s not something that you should take lightly or expect instant results, but companies that take action provide employees with a better work environment, and the business will increase productivity and reduce sickness and absence rates. Discover how Belfast Health and Social Care Trust addressed their employee wellbeing through our case study or if you want to learn more about creating a wellbeing strategy for your business, read our blog.
