5 ways to promote employee wellbeing
From recruitment to retention, employee wellbeing is a key aspect for driving business success. Workers are looking for companies that can offer them an environment where they feel taken care of.
As well as attracting and maintaining talent, offering a robust wellness package and culture helps companies to drive engagement. 9 in 10 workers say they feel more motivated when leaders support wellbeing, and implementing wellness plans has been proven to improve employee morale.
Here, we’ll explore how to promote employee wellbeing across your organisation and incorporate your wellness offering as an authentic part of your workplace culture.
You can also find details about our webinar, ‘Thriving Together: Promoting Employee Wellbeing’, which takes place on 27th September - you can sign up for the event now. We’ll have a guest speaker from The Massage Company, and the first 50 attendees will get a complimentary afternoon tea, courtesy of us here at Red Letter Days. (Terms and conditions apply).
1. Provide meaningful employee benefits
As companies look to recruit workers or improve retention, benefits are often something that are used to attract attention – but when these benefits are not communicated accurately or authentically, it results in perk-washing.
Workers are on the lookout for wellness packages that are clear, fair, and actionable. When promoting wellbeing in your workplace, it’s important to make sure the benefits and schemes you offer are truly meaningful.
How to offer meaningful financial benefits
Be transparent about financial compensation and look for ways to offer financial perks that are attractive and achievable, such as:
- Incentives that are supplementary to salary, such as sales or performance bonuses
- Above-average pension contributions
- Regular rewards for loyalty or valuable contributions
How to offer meaningful health benefits
In order to combat stress and boost mental health, look for ways you can help your employees take care of themselves by providing wellbeing benefits that support their health, such as:
- Extended or private medical benefits or insurance
- Access to mental health resources
- Creative ways to support employee health through activities such as a subsidised gym membership or a budget for self-care
2. Involve employees in business decisions
Wellbeing at work extends into the way your employees feel when they show up for their jobs every single day. In order to encourage investment in performance and show that your team’s opinions matter, look for ways to reach out and involve them in business decisions.
Whether it’s a monumental move such as acquiring a new company, or something more day-to-day such as asking for ideas on a pitch for a new client, involving your team is a key way to show them you value their opinions and feedback. You’ll also benefit from receiving a diverse body of input.
As well as empowering your team, involving them in business decisions builds mutual respect and trust – which can boost your operations across the board. Harvard Business School reports that employees who feel highly engaged with their company produce better outcomes, are more likely to avoid burnout, and tend to remain with a company for longer.
3. Ensure flexible working arrangements
Work-life balance is top of mind for people across all industries, and it’s something that companies are now expected to prioritise as well.
Offering flexible or remote work arrangements can support work-life balance in a variety of ways:
Having a remote or flexible working policy also shows your employees that you trust them to perform their duties in a way that best works for them, which helps to drive engagement and loyalty.
Flexible and remote working have been revolutionised in recent years, with better technology and policies available to support both employers and employees. This also means these terms have become widespread and are applied differently by people and organisations, so it’s important to clearly define what ‘remote’ and ‘flexible’ mean for your workplace before advertising it as part of your wellness package.
4. Pay attention to the events that matter to them
Just as your business objectives and goals fluctuate across the calendar year, employee wellness should be something that you consider from a seasonal perspective.
Think about how you can support your team’s wellbeing based on events that are happening both inside and outside of work. Some key moments to look out for include:
5. Reward and recognise employee achievements appropriately
Rewards and recognition are vital for good employee engagement: lack of recognition is one of the top reasons employees leave their jobs, while organisations with robust recognition programs are more likely to see stronger business outcomes.
Taking the time to build rewards and recognition into your overall wellbeing strategy will help with retention while also encouraging engagement and boosting your overall business performance. There are many small and large ways to recognise employee achievements:
Get more tips on how experience vouchers can boost employee engagement and wellness.
Join our webinar to find out more about promoting employee wellbeing
Employee wellbeing is vital to the health of your business and is most effective when implemented as part of a holistic strategy that extends from workplace culture to benefits and perks.
To learn more about how to promote employee wellbeing across your organisation, attend our free webinar, Thriving Together: Promoting Employee Wellbeing, which will take place on 27th September, 2023 at 11am.
Elizabeth Hopking will discuss the importance of employee wellbeing and rewards, with expert advice on how you can implement a wellness strategy in a way that suits the size, scale, and budget of your business. Learn about everything from Christmas gifting to daily wellbeing practices.
We’ll also have an expert guest speaker at the event. Elliot Walker, Founder and CEO of The Massage Company, will talk about his passion for the health and wellness industry and how he has applied his experience to his own brand.