Workplace wellbeing

A 2021 study by Gallup, predicted that in a war for talent: “The winners will be organisations that create engaging and thriving workplaces with high wellbeing, where employees can integrate work and life more effectively.” The purpose of this article is to look at the key drivers of workplace wellbeing and provide guidelines on how to make a wellbeing programme work for a small business. Firstly, let’s have a look at the potential benefits for your team and your business.

Benefits

WorkWell is an organization supporting NZ businesses to implement wellbeing programmes. They identify the following benefits of workplace wellbeing:

To get started on implementing a wellbeing programme it’s important to understand the drivers of employee wellbeing, so that you can allocate resources to initiatives that make the biggest difference.

Understanding workplace wellbeing

The What Works Centre for Wellbeing (UK) has developed an evidence-based framework for assessing the key drivers of workplace wellbeing and has identified the following five factors:

1. Health

Physical and mental health including:

• diet
• exercise
• breaks
• stress management

2. Relationships

Support from others including:

• supportive and fair line manager
• respectful communication

3. Security

Financial and emotional security including:

• freedom from harassment and bullying
• job security

4. Environment

The physical working environment and company culture including:

• facilities, working patterns and tools
• fairness and identifying with company values

5. Purpose

• clear goals
• accomplishment
• workload, competence, career development

This framework enables employers to assess the current state of their workplace wellbeing and identify key areas to make improvements.

How to implement a wellbeing programme

If you’re not sure how to implement a wellbeing programme that looks after your people and suits your business, a five-step process is outlined below:

1. Engage people in the process through effective communication and collaboration with your team.
2. Use a quiz to evaluate the current level of workplace wellbeing in your business and identify the areas that will have the biggest impact for your people.
3. Implement an action plan to achieve your goals and set a budget.
4. Evaluate the impact of your wellbeing programme and make improvements where necessary.
5. Celebrate success.

 Good4work.nz is a great online resource designed to support small and medium-sized businesses to implement wellbeing programmes. Take their quiz to get an initial feel for how your business’ wellbeing compares to your industry. The quiz can then be rolled out to your staff to launch your wellbeing programme.

Summary

Employee expectations are driving an increased focus by businesses on looking after their staff to remain competitive. Investing in a workplace workplace wellbeing programme makes sense, not just to meet employee expectations but because the business will benefit from high levels of employee mental and physical health.