Create Workplace Wellbeing Programs
There are some well-established studies that show that “wellbeing” in the workplace makes a lasting difference to the bottom line.
Apart from these studies, by university psych departments as well as business schools, it’s logical if you think about it. Employees who are uncomfortable at work, who carry problems into work and don’t find a release at work, logically are not as productive as happy, engaged employees.
Employees who are engaged at work – who identify with their teams and the company, who feel pride in theirs and the group’s achievements, work more productively. Unlike their disengaged, unhappy counterparts, they jump at the chance to contribute to something they believe in.
All workplaces try to create “wellbeing” in one form or other. Think of the Friday drinks. But workplace wellbeing, leading to solid employee engagement is more than just the regular social event.
How do you create a working wellbeing program?
Wellbeing programs are more than the odd and unrelated activity. Social events help. So do corporate gym memberships, table tennis tables in the rec room, and comfortable chairs. They all have merit but taken individually they have no lasting impact on the bottom line, and, at worse, could seem token.
Watch the video to see how to create a holistic program of wellbeing in the workplace.
In order to create a holistic program that focuses activity toward the goal of an engaged workforce, you need first to get to know the employees. It seems obvious but in a busy workplace people don’t often get to discuss their needs (as employees), their expectations and their motivational drivers. If your corporate vision is clear, getting to know your employees should start to allow you to ascertain if their work-profile is in alignment with the vision and values. You can then identify what you need to do to continue providing them with messages about the benefits of their subscribing to the vision, as individuals, and as part of a tribe.
Having this clear not only sets you up to design a focused wellbeing program but also clarifies what you look for in any future hires.
When you create your wellbeing program it needs to be holistic – not a series of activities or opportunities, but rather a diversity of activities that combine to drive the values of the business, around the needs and expectations of the staff. The diverse activities and opportunities need to build one on the other, rather than be diverse and stand-alone. For example, physical activities (gym memberships and table-tennis facilities) for employees who relate to letting off steam, need to be available alongside regular barbeques for those who prefer unwinding socially. However both need a purpose. Perhaps the physical activities can be aligned to work targets, where a league of sorts can use points from attendance alongside points for work targets achieved. Perhaps the regular barbeques are also opportunities to celebrate “wins” for employees and teams who displayed significant alignment with company values that month.
These baseline wellbeing activities can also be built on by then providing a second level of activity such as a less frequent award of a paid vacation for “best performer” arising from baseline wins.
In all cases, the activities, opportunities, and awards need to be overtly aligned to the vision and values of the business. The message is that work is not about having fun; it is about having fun while working toward a focus.
Finally, any system or program needs continuous monitoring, so create a simple system to monitor what is happening, the results (measuring alignment of behaviour to the vision), and adjusting as required.
It is always important in the monitoring to correlate wellbeing activity and results with business KPI’s.
If you want to join in the conversation about wellbeing in the workplace, get over to my website at teikoh.com and post a comment. Let’s see what you think about wellbeing at your workplace. As a business owner, let’s hear what you think about creating simple, but holistically related programs.
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