Today’s workspace is evolving fast. More and more job hunters (and existing talents!) are actively looking for employers that focus on corporate wellness. From healthy-at-work snacks to financial benefits, training initiatives and more, wellbeing in the workplace is essential not only as an HR focus area, but as a company-wide priority of all business leaders. It helps employees feel supported and productive while also contributing to an open and positive work culture.
Definition of workplace wellness
If you are wondering what workplace wellness is, read on carefully; You may have heard the term used also in a different way, as “corporate wellbeing”. Both terms have the same meaning and have been widely used by companies across the globe over the past few years.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), wellness in the workplace is “a comprehensive set of health promotion and protection strategies implemented at the worksite that includes programs, policies, benefits, environmental supports, and links to the surrounding community designed to encourage the health and safety of all employees”.
In some cases, employees themselves look after their wellbeing by focusing, for example, on better eating habits, their mental health or developing wellness habits like mindfulness to reduce stress levels and more.
Workplace wellness can take many forms, and be applied either in the office or through virtual initiatives, but either way, it remains key to your employees and the organization they work for.
Why is workplace wellness important?
Have you ever thought of how many hours you spent at your workspace during your life? A full-time employee spends on average approximately 50 hours of their week at work. That’s a considerable amount of time, so it is very important that the work environment is a happy, content, and safe place for the people, where they also feel comfortable and satisfied.
Just imagine working in an environment that lacks balance and is stressful, resulting in negative emotions. People working there would feel uninspired, unhappy and demotivated, among others. During these 50 hours every week, employees should feel productive while also having a space to relax, enjoy healthy meals and habits and find some quiet time when needed.
Remember that physical and mental health are both equally crucial to employees’ wellbeing. A balanced corporate environment boosts organizational productivity, engagement and helps develop happy and encouraged teams and leaders. Also, talent acquisition and retention rates remain high while turnover decreases, when employees are happy.
How to build workplace wellness?
Of course, building corporate wellness is a dynamic process. But how do you get started, and how do you achieve it in today’s ever-changing workplace?
First thing’s first. Before starting to promote workplace wellness, you need to gain a deeper understanding of your workforce. Different generations have different expectations when it comes to working environments and this is something you should consider when designing your wellness strategies. For example, while older generations might be focusing on health insurance and financial benefits, younger ones might be more interested in flexibility, working remotely and building work-life balance.
Still not sure how to survey your teams and get useful insights? We can help.
Once you have highlighted what’s important to your employees, you can explore a variety of strategies and initiatives to start promoting health and wellness in the workplace. Many wellness programs and incentives are available in the market today, depending on the business size and objectives. From ready-to-implement training programs to tailor-made consulting and business strategies, either outsourced or in-house, you should do careful research to find out the best for your organization.
Here are 3 ways to initiate a wellness culture:
Start with Diversity & Inclusion (D&I)
The importance of staying connected is evident now more than ever before. More and more businesses around the world today have already started rethinking their organizational model to design a more diverse and inclusive work environment (physical or virtual!) where their employees feel like they are truly a part of a team. Simply put, an employee-supportive space where they experience equitable opportunities for personal success and to contribute to the organization’s performance.
As Mary Bitouni, Managing Director of Humanis, mentioned in a recent interview with Manage HR magazine, “ D&I is not merely an ethical issue anymore; it is a mindset and powerful leadership tool for organizations to build responsible leaders, nurture high-performing teams, foster a collaborative culture, and demonstrate excellence.”
Build a resilient workplace
If you want to help your employees address real-life challenges, and develop the right skillset to face any personal or professional difficulties, invest in building a framework of resilience. Resilient employees and organizations were able to survive the disruption that Covid-19 caused worldwidly and emerge stronger than before through the turmoil. Here’s everything you need to know to get started.
Introduce Mindfulness at work
Mind Full or Mindful? We know the difference and in one of our most sought-after training programs We help leaders be consciously aware of what is taking place within them and the impact they have on their teams and the world outside of them.
Mindfulness can influence your personal and professional workplace performance, therefore helping you improve your wellbeing at work and in life. Find out more details about it here.
Are you ready to start crafting your annual operating wellness plan for workplace wellness?
If you feel you still need more guidance and help, get in touch with us today!
