Your Employee Wellbeing Strategy – 5 Tips
Working with a wide range of businesses and organisations means I get to see how much employers already do to improve employee wellbeing. Through occupational health services, counselling, learning and development interventions, and more, employers are enabling and encouraging staff to develop their curiosity and grow the new neural connections that are so vital to our sense of personal wellbeing. But surprisingly, they didn’t always see these activities as part of a wellbeing strategy.
Your Employee Wellbeing Strategy
When you consider the health and wellbeing of your employees, think big and think wide. Don’t stick to the obvious. Be brave and celebrate the great things you are already doing. The best employee wellbeing strategy is unique to your organisation. It may simply involve pulling together your current employee offerings and clarifying your intentions.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
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Why wellbeing?
Be clear about your purpose. Are you aiming to reduce absence, increase engagement, reduce turnover or attract fresh talent? Perhaps it just feels like the right thing to do. That’s a good enough reason too!
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What is wellbeing to your organisation?
Your people are best placed to tell you how you can support them at work. So ask them. You’ll be surprised at the creative low cost ideas that arise.
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Avoid the temptation to follow the herd
What works for one organisation won’t necessarily chime with your culture. After all, not everyone likes bean bags and fruit on a Friday. So be sure to make your wellbeing strategy authentic and part of who you are as a business.
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What do you already do?
Health benefits like medical insurance and occupational health are great, but they’re not the whole story. What about the training, flexi-time, the lunchtime running club and the volunteering time you offer employees? These activities (and more) all drive personal wellbeing.
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Measure and evaluate
Some interventions will require budget but others will be free or low cost. Start your measurements now and compare in 6, 12 and 18 months. This will help to justify future budget requests. Celebrate success and don’t be afraid to tweak and make changes to your strategy. Plans don’t always work out first time round.
How are you tackling employee health and wellbeing? Share your thoughts in the comments below. And for help developing your strategy, get in touch.
