Many organisations now understand the importance of an employee wellbeing strategy. However, it’s crucial to ensure that your wellbeing policies are relevant and up-to-date. On the back of this, your wellbeing strategy reflects the needs of your current employees and your organisation’s aims.
In this Wellspace blog, we have recapped what an employee strategy is and why it’s important to have one. We’ll also cover how you can find out if your strategy is working and ideas for how you can spring clean your employee wellbeing strategy.
What Is An Employee Wellbeing Strategy?
An employee wellbeing strategy is a plan to support and improve the wellbeing of your employees and make your organisation a healthier and happier place to work.
Employee wellbeing strategies can include a range of guidelines, policies and offer to help people engage with their work and working environment in a way that supports their own mental and physical wellbeing.
Why Is A Wellbeing Strategy Important?
Employee wellbeing strategies are an excellent way to promote a healthy work environment.
The benefits of employee wellbeing are well documented and include:
- Improved job satisfaction and focus
- Reduced stress
- Better working relationships
- Improvements in both physical and mental health
A wellbeing strategy benefits your employees, but it’s also good for your business!
Employees who feel supported with their wellbeing are more engaged, productive and more resilient – meaning they’re capable of dealing with potential workplace stressors. Employee wellbeing can also reduce sickness and absence rates, help you retain your employees and attract new employees to your organisation.
Is Your Current Wellbeing Strategy Working?
Your organisation may already have an employee wellbeing strategy in place, but how do you know if it’s working?
It’s important to reassess your wellbeing strategy at regular intervals and when things change in your organisation so you can be sure that it reflects your current aims and employees.
Evaluating how things are currently going, helps you to assess where your wellbeing strategy is working well and where changes or improvements are needed.
You can include your employees in this process too, either on an informal, ongoing basis or by collecting and analysing their feedback through an employee wellbeing survey.
How To Spring Clean Your Employee Wellbeing Strategy
To spring clean your employee wellbeing strategy, you can begin by asking some questions.
What concerns are your employees raising at the moment? Or what particularly stresses or difficulties are your team experiencing? Could a change to your employee wellbeing strategy improve any of these?
Who are your employees? Does your wellbeing strategy cover their needs? Employee wellbeing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Your employees are individuals with their own specific circumstances and concerns both inside and outside of work. Understanding their needs can help you put strategies in place to support your employees at work.
When spring cleaning your employee wellbeing strategy, here are some areas to consider.
Mental Health
The mental health and wellbeing of your employees will directly impact their quality of life and as a result, will affect their satisfaction and performance in work. Protecting and improving the mental health of your team is, therefore, a vital component of an employee wellbeing strategy.
Health Promotion
Health promotion covers both physical and mental health and is about encouraging your employees to take steps to improve their own health and making it easier for them to focus on their wellbeing.
Health promotion can take many forms, from gym memberships to wellbeing hours, and private health insurance. Workplace wellbeing apps can also help with health promotion. The Wellspace App enables your employees to track their sleep, activity and mental health, with a community element and content hub.
Working Environment and Relationships
Where you work and who you work with is a huge part of your daily life. Whether your organisation is office-based, embracing working from home or a mixture of both, the environment can have an impact on your employee’s health and wellbeing. This can be anything from the physical space itself to equipment, atmosphere, and workload.
Working relationships are also vital, with teamwork, communication, management styles and employee voice all crucial aspects to consider when formulating an employee wellbeing strategy.
Training and Development
Encouraging your employees to identify their own training and development needs can help them engage with the process of professional development, rather than feeling as though they are being told what is required of them and expected to follow a set path of training and development regardless of their individual interests, strengths and weaknesses.
Financial Health
Many of us feel financial pressures both inside and outside of work, whether it’s the cost of living increases, negotiating a pay rise, comparing pension options or simply trying to understand our finances better. An employee wellbeing strategy that includes financial health can reduce employee stress and help your employees stay focused.
Get In Touch
We hope this blog has given you some ideas to spring clean your employee wellbeing strategy. For more tips and advice about employee wellbeing, check out the Wellspace blog.
Wellspace can help you spring clean your employee wellbeing strategy. Our wellbeing app allows employees to monitor and improve their wellbeing through small achievable steps, celebrating progress along the way. We also offer health and wellbeing training to help your employees become the best versions of themselves.
For more information about how Wellspace can help you prioritise wellbeing in your organisation, get in touch today. You can also call us on 0808 178 0748 or email info@yourwellspace.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
