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8 Ways To Improve Employee Wellbeing In The Workplace

Employee wellbeing and mental health support for employees was one of the top five concerns faced by employers in the last year, according to recent research by iHASCO – something almost certainly impacted by the changes brought by the pandemic and widespread remote working.

It’s impossible to pinpoint just one or two reasons that wellbeing is becoming such a hot topic. But one thing is for sure – the UK is seeing the demand from employees for proper wellbeing support continue to grow. Westfield Health have found that 66% of employees want more wellbeing support from their employer.

And that demand isn’t just for mental health support. Wellbeing is often thought of alongside mental health, but its reach goes much further than that. It also includes social, occupational, financial and physical health – and so can have a big impact on an employee’s productivity, engagement and satisfaction at work.

Addressing employee wellbeing in workplace wellbeing programs is more important for businesses than you might think. A 2019 meta-analysis by LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance found that higher wellbeing is positively correlated with productivity and business profitability, and research from Gallup found that already engaged employees experienced even higher performance outcomes when physical wellness programming was added to the mix.

So, with all of this in mind, how can employers help to improve employee wellbeing in the workplace?

What is employee wellbeing?

Employee wellbeing relates to all aspects of working life, from the quality and safety of an employee’s physical environment, to how they feel about their work, workplace culture and climate.

When thinking of employee wellbeing and choosing employee wellbeing programs, services or packages, keep in mind that they should address some or all of the following:

Mental health
Physical health
Financial wellbeing
Stress management
Emotional wellbeing
Physical activity
Nutrition
Social wellbeing
Professional development
Environment – e.g., temperature, office comfort, natural light, etc.

Has COVID-19 impacted employee wellbeing in any way?

The past couple of years have been extremely challenging for employees across the UK. In 2021, a study by Westfield Health found that less than half (46%) of employees reported high engagement in the winter of 2020, and 32% reported low morale.

As well as this, those in retail, hospitality and other sectors that were hit badly by lockdowns are likely to have been placed on furlough at some point in the past couple of years, and could have even lost their jobs.

Across the country, we’ve seen reductions in employee hours, impacts on budgets and spend, downscaling, isolation and detachment, difficulty in ‘switching off’ when working from home, isolation and loneliness, and a lot of anxiety and uncertainty.

Because of this, 81% of HR leaders in Westfield Health’s survey said that the pandemic had increased their focus on wellbeing strategies – support is needed now more than ever.

Why are employee wellbeing strategies important?

The creation of a positive work environment that actively promotes wellbeing and contentment benefits both employees and your organisation.

A meaningful increase in wellbeing yields increased productivity of around 10%. It’s also been found that workplace interventions can lead to improvements in diet, while counselling at work has been found to influence physical activity behaviour amongst employees.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) also recently found that, of the 1.7 million workers who suffered from a work-related illness in 2020/21, 800,000 suffered from stress, depression or anxiety.

Poor mental wellbeing like this can be extremely harmful to a business and have a big knock-on effect – from absences, to presenteeism, to an increased risk of accidents or injuries. Good wellbeing strategies don’t only make your workplace a happier and healthier place, but also a safer place.

It can also have a big impact on recruitment and retention. A good wellbeing strategy will help to create a positive and healthy working environment, which can help you attract top talent and retain your employees!

How do I manage the wellbeing of remote workers?

A few small but important measures can help you manage the wellbeing of your remote workers:

Establish boundaries between work and home life
Hold regular one-to-ones
Introduce an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
Offer discounted fitness schemes
Introduce remote mental health programmes – like stress resilience or alcohol awareness
Ensure good communication

Improve employee wellbeing with ELAS OH wellbeing services

So, now you know the facts, how do you improve employee wellbeing?

We can help. As a leading provider of occupational health services, we’ve perfected our wide range of wellbeing services to help businesses in all industries support their employees.

From building awareness of wellbeing, to improving physical health, to training mental health champions – our services are designed to offer a cost-effective way to boost wellbeing and improve employee lifestyles in your business.

These include:

Before you decide on what wellbeing services to introduce to your business, it’s always a good idea to talk to your team. They can help to identify the right strategy and initiatives to make sure that the wellbeing services you introduce will be meaningful and have the desired effect.

To talk about which services would best fit the needs of your business and employees, simply contact us today by calling 08450 50 40 60 or filling out the form on this page.