Employee wellbeing occupies a particularly significant position in the context of the top-priority organisation’s interest as the essential driver of productivity, morale, and success. As the working environment continues to exert pressure on workers, it is important to provide for their mental, physical and emotional needs. The training courses in London from the British Academy for Training and Development are designed to provide practical skills, company outlook, and interaction with your intended levels of advancement.
This article explores what employee wellbeing is, why it is important, plus the ways through which it can help improve organisational culture. Furthermore, we will look into the pillars of wellbeing of employees and strategies to measure and improve it.
“Employee wellbeing is the overall condition of an employee both in and out of the workplace, comprising physical, emotional, social, and financial health.”
Employee wellbeing involves the ability of an employee to feel involved, motivated and committed to their organisation. It is a win-win situation for the organisation because having a keen interest in the employees wellbeing ensures that you give them conditions that make them want to provide their best for the organisation.
There are numerous reasons why employee’s wellbeing is crucial for both individuals and organisations:
Enhanced productivity: Good physical and mental health of employees results in productivity and high quality of work.
Reduced absenteeism: When personnel are generally in good health, there will be few medical leaves resulting in less absenteeism and subsequent costs.
Improved morale and job satisfaction: Wellbeing is a great focus that ensures employees are treated well and that they are valuable to the organisation.
Increased employee retention: Wellbeing will lead to more of these employees sticking with the company and therefore will lower the number of people a company will need to recruit.
Stronger company culture: If organisations invest in people’s well-being, they will be promoting a good and positive organisational culture that is beneficial to everyone.
For a comprehensive assessment and management of the employee’s wellbeing, several critical aspects are required by organisations. Following are the pillars of employee wellbeing that provide a holistic approach, covering various aspects that affect employee health and happiness.
Helping employees know how to take care of their bodies is the first step in promoting their overall health. Organisations can contribute to this through fitness programs, proper workstation structures and health care options.
Cognitive health is relevant in guaranteeing that employees are content in their workplace. Managers should provide psychological assistance by offering counselling services, stress relief seminars, and valuing tolerance and understanding.
Friendships and connections at the workplace play an important role in satisfaction in the workplace. Being able to implement team catered team building activities or reinforce the idea of the employees being a community is also beneficial to employee social wellbeing.
Financial security is sometimes not considered very important while in fact it plays a big role in an employee’s well-being. Employers can provide their workers financial planning materials, retirement plans and fair wages as a way of ensuring the wellbeing of their workers’ future money.
A sense of purpose and growth are important for employee satisfaction. Carrying out training programmes, mentorship and performance appraisal that help in the development of its employees enhances their career welfare.
Wellbeing of employees results in the following advantages to the employees and the whole business enterprise. Here are some significant advantages:
Higher Employee Engagement:
Organisation’s employees who feel appreciated and supported display positive attitudes and approach their work systematically in relation to organisational objectives.
Reduced Stress Levels:
Stress can result in burnouts, absenteeism, and often terminations. Stress and other issues can be managed and avoided when you concentrate on employees’ welfare.
Better Work-Life Balance:
Balance between the work and private lives of employees is a substantial aspect of improving the quality of their lives, therefore contributing to encouragement in the long-term running of the organisation.
Enhanced Company Reputation:
Businesses that are concerned about the welfare of their employees are likely to attract talent hence having a good brand image to emulate for all companies into a certain industry.
Here are 5 strategies to measure wellbeing of employees:
People can complete surveys, including those carried out on a weekly basis, with anonymity, hence increasing the trust level. These surveys are a source of understanding the satisfaction levels and the areas of concern in the workplace. The collected data often assist in identifying areas for change in an organisation to improve the wellbeing of its employees.
By tracking simple parameters like absenteeism rates, turnover, and health-care utilisation data, one can clearly identify patterns of employee health and wellbeing. These are the pointers which point to what can be a problem concerning productivity or morale. That is why using data for health purposes helps organisations protect the welfare of their members and prevent potential challenges.
Measuring the productivity and performance information informs the level of employee engagement or lack of it. That is why fluctuation in performance can indicate underlying wellbeing issues. Measuring these factors enables organisations to adapt to provide for better and more productive employees.
The creation of communication channels for direct feedback enables employees to speak to their employer without fear. It makes them feel valued and also fosters transparency in most organisations that adapt to the approach. Feedback helps address problems, directly making the workplace environment more responsive and accommodating.
A strong focus on an employee’s wellbeing in the workplace can have a positive impact in the company culture. When employees feel physically, emotionally, and socially supported they can work together, respect each other, and also create a positive organisational culture. Wellbeing initiatives make employees feel valued and help to foster commitment to work. Furthermore, organisations committed to employees’ wellbeing have an advantage in attracting and retaining qualified employees, which in turn strengthens the firm’s culture.
In conclusion,
Investing in employee wellness is not a bonus but a mandate for organisations that would like to champion healthy working environments and conditions. When it comes to wellbeing and its outcome, the practice of identifying the measures of all the core pillars of wellbeing will ensure organisations to develop a healthy culture that fosters the wellbeing of their employees to ultimately enhance organisational success.