The importance of employees’ health and wellbeing has come to the fore recently. Across the globe, burnout has become very real for a lot of people over the last couple of years. And if they sense their company doesn’t care about their physical and mental health, they’re calling it quits in search of a role that does.
Wellbeing is a strong passion of mine, and I’m welcoming this shift in focus. Optimum health is key to producing great work and when employers properly invest, productivity surges along with an overall sense of satisfaction and positive team culture.
With talent gravitating towards companies who give a damn about their health, it’s a good idea to include a wellness program in your EVP and retention efforts. Here are a few considerations to get you ahead in the wellness game!
Why you should include wellbeing benefits in your EVP
The Great Resignation is seeing millions of employees quitting their jobs all over the world. They’re asking themselves questions like, has my employer treated me well? Does this job give me the work life balance I need? Does my effort reflect the rewards? And many are realising that spending precious time in a company that doesn’t care about their health, is no longer worth it.
Additionally, a recent Gallup survey said the top two things that employees look for in an employer is that a) the organisation cares about employees’ wellbeing, and b) leadership is ethical. So, if you haven’t invested in looking after your employees this year, don’t expect loyalty.
Designing your wellness programs and tools
There are a few organisations in the market that do wellness particularly well that you can look to for inspiration. From firsthand experience, LinkedIn was one of the best I’ve seen. They provided healthy whole foods in their on-site cafes, as well as on-site yoga, personal training, meditation training and online wellness programs.
When it comes to designing your own wellness program and tools, you may have to adapt them to be practical for your business. I get that many global companies have challenges around long hours and high pressure projects, so initiatives need to be achievable.
Even the smaller wellness practices have a huge impact on health. For example, Citigroup’s introduced ‘Zoom-Free Fridays’ to combat screen fatigue knowing employees are going to be so much better for it. I’ve also seen some companies shorten all meetings to 50 minutes and introduce regular ‘Days of Rest’ to give employees time to recharge.
You could even engage a specialist service such as Wellineux, Smiling Minds or Health at Work – an online education platform that gives employees easy access to a range of mind and body resources to support their health and wellbeing whether working from the office or home. Kaido is another digital platform that fosters a wellbeing culture for businesses working remotely, which runs fun daily challenges to keep teams connected.
Communication framework
Once you’ve decided on the best wellbeing initiatives for your people and you know exactly what you’re offering, you need a communication framework that you can easily integrate with your EVP.
The best way to do this is to create pillars for wellness specifically. I’ve seen this laid out as values around wellness, or ‘batteries’ for certain areas for example, physical, mental, financial, home life and learning and development. Base these on the program you’ve put in place to help employees manage their wellness.
When it comes to promoting the initiatives internally, it’s important people are aware of what they have access to, how to use it, and how to integrate it into their day so they can make the most of it.
Depending on the size of your organisation a great way to do this is to, appoint a Chief Wellness Officer or Wellbeing Committee to support employees and drive participation.
Many companies are looking for ways to stand out as an employer right now and showing candidates and employees that your organisation values wellbeing is a great way to do it.
I’ve also seen many businesses take positive action internally yet aren’t doing enough to promote it externally. So, once you’ve created the experience and designed a messaging framework, make sure you have a structured communications plan to confidently take it to market.If you need help creating an effective EVP that helps you market your wellness program and other employee benefits, schedule a call and let’s chat.