Why Employee Wellbeing Should Be Your Top Priority
The way we view wellbeing at work is changing, and for the better. Our physical health, mental wellbeing and how we live our lives is what we should be focusing on first and foremost.
The 5 Pillars of Wellbeing
People’s priorities have changed drastically with over 53% of workers being more likely to prioritise their wellbeing over their work and people putting their family and their personal lives as a top priority. And why shouldn’t we?
The more we focus on looking after ourselves and those we love, the better we show up each day in various areas of our lives. Prioritising our wellbeing is essential for living a healthy and happy life. If we don’t look after ourselves, we’ll become burnt out.
Wellbeing Initiatives
Training & Education
Educating employees to take control of their wellbeing is a great first step in improving employee wellbeing. Workplace training sessions surrounding the five pillars of wellbeing and how employees can manage and improve these areas will give employees the resources and methods needed to manage these areas of their lives.
Private Healthcare & EAP
Offering private healthcare and employee assistance programmes (EAP) are some of the best perks to give employees as it offers security and support with regards to their physical, mental and financial wellbeing. With almost half of employees reporting high anxiety levels with regards to their health, offering health cover proves that you care about your employees wellbeing and will be there to support whatever they’re going through.
Contributions Towards Fitness
Giving employees contributions to put towards physical activity is a great perk. It might be a gym membership, a yoga studio, boxing classes or rock climbing, but being able to use it in ways that suit individual employees is a great incentive for improving wellbeing. Physical activity has been shown time and time again to have an impact on our self-esteem, energy levels and sleep quality as well as reducing
stress.
Focus on Work/Life Balance
Whether it’s flexible working, a work from anywhere policy, a four day week or early finish Friday's, more employers are adopting policies and work schedules that give their employees a better work life balance which has a huge impact on wellbeing and productivity levels.
Celebrate Achievements
Employees want to feel recognised in the workplace, they want to know that they’re valued for their skills and abilities. Take opportunities to praise your employees through regular feedback, a little bit of recognition goes a long way in making your employees feel like a part of the business.
Benefits of Employee Wellbeing
Improved Productivity
A healthy and happy workforce is a productive one. Warwick University found that happy employees are 12% more productive. The experiment found that happier workers use their time efficiently, get work done quickly and their work is of a high quality.
Improved Company Culture
Company culture and employee wellbeing go hand in hand, it’s a symbiotic relationship where one influences the other. If your business is made up of employees who are all happy, healthy and performing at their best - this will do wonders for your company culture.
Improved Retention Rates
Ensuring your employees feel happy with regards to their physical and mental wellbeing will have a hugely beneficial impact in regards to retention. Employees priorities have changed and factors influencing career choices include workplace benefits that have an impact on individuals health and wellbeing.
How an Intranet can Improve Employee Wellbeing
Employees are kept in the loop
In order to do our jobs properly and thrive in our careers, everyone in an organisation needs to be working towards the same goals and this can only be achieved with clear communication and collaboration.
Having a company intranet gives your workforce a unified place to work on projects, share resources, communicate immediately and efficiently and receive important company information.
Hubs & Communities
Forging positive relationships at work is a huge contributor to our job satisfaction and creates a sense of belonging for us in our job roles.
Hubs and communities help to keep your company culture alive and encourage employees to create bonds with one another through outside interests, organising activities outside of work or just having regular conversations and catch ups.
Social Intranet
Hybrid and remote working shouldn’t stop us from connecting and collaborating. Social feeds help keep us connected to colleagues and share what’s going on in our work and in our lives and instant chat functions mean you can talk to colleagues, teams or anyone in the organisation instantly.
Recognising employees is also great for boosting morale and making employees feel valued with employee recognition tools right at your fingertips.
Remote Working Made Easy
With the right tools and tech, managing remote, hybrid and office based workers is a breeze. Dedicated mobile apps give employees instant access to their intranet wherever they are and document management integrates with a number of third party platforms to ensure employees can do their work wherever they are.
Want to know more?
Download your very own free guide to learn more on how to improve employee wellbeing and see how Oak Engage could work for you.