Prioritising workplace wellbeing is essential for creating a happy and productive work environment.
Staff who don’t feel like their wellbeing is prioritised are likely to feel disengaged and lose their sense of loyalty to your business.
In other words, taking the time to prioritise wellbeing in the workplace is good for everyone. To help, we’ve put together five key strategies for prioritising workplace wellbeing in your organisation.
Table of Contents
Understanding the Importance of Workplace Wellbeing
Workplace wellbeing is essential for fostering a healthy and productive environment. It involves promoting mental, physical, and emotional health among employees, which can lead to increased job satisfaction and reduced turnover rates.
By prioritising wellbeing, organisations can enhance employee engagement, boost morale, and ultimately drive better business outcomes. When employees feel valued and supported, they are more likely to contribute positively to the workplace. On the other hand, when employees don’t feel valued, they are likely to actively disengage from the workplace i.e. ‘quiet quitting’.
Making a case for prioritising workplace wellbeing is a big topic. Whilst a lot of businesses understand why wellbeing is important to their employees, getting senior-level buy-in can still be difficult.
In a separate blog titled The 4 Pillars of Wellbeing at Work, we’ve covered the main areas of workplace wellbeing and how they positively and negatively impact your workforce. If you’re trying to understand how to get buy-in, this is a great place to start.
To give you an example, the cost of poor mental health at work alone costs UK employers £51bn annually. If that figure doesn’t start raising eyebrows at buy-in level, then I’m afraid nothing will!
Fostering Open Communication and Supportive Relationships
Open communication is vital in creating a supportive workplace culture. Encouraging employees to share their thoughts and feelings helps build trust and fosters collaboration among team members.
Moreover, supportive relationships can mitigate stress and improve overall mental health. Regular check-ins and creating safe spaces for dialogue can empower employees to voice their concerns, leading to a more harmonious work environment.
This is all well and good on paper, but how does it work in practise? Sadly, it’s not as easy as just announcing that we all need to share our feelings now – people don’t work that way.
The best way? Start at the top and work down. Train your managers and leaders to help support people with their mental health. Encouraging them to have an open door policy and to host regular check-ins will increase the likelihood that colleagues will share. As the saying goes, you can take a horse to their manager’s office, but if it’s not open they’ll struggle to open it. Well, you get the idea.
Essentially, if you instil the importance of prioritising workplace wellbeing in your managers, they will be able to build a positive culture around mental health within their teams.
Equip Managers with Mental Health SkillsGive your managers the right tools to support the mental health of themselves and their teams. |
|
Equip Managers with Mental Health SkillsGive your managers the right tools to support the mental health of themselves and their teams. |
|
|
Implementing Flexible Work Arrangements for Better Balance
If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything (other than how to wash our hands properly), it’s that work doesn’t always have to happen between 9 – 5 in an office. It can happen practically anywhere in the world, at any time.
Flexible work arrangements, such as remote work options or adjustable hours, allow employees to balance their personal and professional lives more effectively (ever tried getting a doctor’s appointment after 5 pm?). This flexibility can lead to increased job satisfaction and higher productivity, with staff safe in the knowledge that they can address their personal responsibilities, too.
Additionally, accommodating different work styles and personal responsibilities can significantly reduce stress levels, ultimately benefiting both employees and employers. Organisations that embrace flexibility often see improved retention and loyalty, too.
When prioritising workplace wellbeing, this aspect can be crucial to many of your colleagues. Why not take the time to formalise a flexible working policy, so that everyone is on the same page?
Encouraging Physical and Mental Health Initiatives
Promoting physical and mental health initiatives is crucial for enhancing workplace wellbeing. This can include providing access to fitness programs, mental health resources, and stress management workshops. Here at New Leaf Health, this is what we do every day – and our clients see fantastic engagement when they make the effort.
By encouraging employees to take control of their own health and wellbeing, organisations can create a more resilient workforce. Healthy employees are not only more productive but also more engaged and motivated in their roles.
A word we use here a lot at New Leaf Health is ’empower’. When we help our clients’ employees learn their blood pressure score, we’re giving them knowledge. But when we help them understand what their score means, and what they can do to improve it, we’re empowering them to make a change. We’re not talking about Superman-levels of omnipotence here, but for some people, knowing their scores can be life-changing.
Creating a Positive and Inclusive Workplace Culture
A positive and inclusive workplace culture is essential when prioritising workplace wellbeing. You need to ensure that all employees feel valued and respected at work as a standard. This involves recognising diversity and fostering an environment where everyone can thrive, no matter who they are.
When employees feel included and their contributions are acknowledged, it enhances team cohesion and drives collective success. If you make someone feel like a prisoner to their work, your colleagues will do the absolute bare minimum, with zero passion. And rightly so.
Organisations should actively promote inclusivity through training, policies, and recognition programs. And more importantly, document this intent in your workplace wellbeing strategy to show that you prioritise workplace wellbeing. Even more importantly, make sure that your employees can see the wellbeing strategy – it shouldn’t be a mysterious set of rules and guidelines that hide in the background.
Prioritising Workplace Wellbeing for the Future
It’s important not to forget that workplace wellbeing is an ongoing process. As I like to think – a workplace wellbeing strategy is for life, not just for Christmas.
In other words, you can’t just set your wellbeing priorities and forget them. Make sure you regularly communicate with your employees to find out what they want from your wellbeing strategy, and what matters to them. This is how you actively demonstrate that you are prioritising workplace wellbeing.
Have you got a wellbeing strategy but aren’t sure what interventions you need? Or do you have no idea where to start? Here at New Leaf Health, workplace wellbeing is our lifeblood. We’re here to help you, no matter where you are on the journey.
Get in touch with one of our workplace wellbeing experts – you can call our team on 01384 877 855, or you can email enquiries@newleafhealth.co.uk.
