In a recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), 72 per cent of organisations consulted said they had experienced presenteeism over the past 12 months and a further 29 per cent had seen an increase.
Healthy and highly engaged employees are, on average, up to 30 days more productive, and organisations promoting health and wellbeing are 3.5 times more likely to be creative and innovative. Aside from an increase in creativity and productivity, retention and the attraction of talent is also assured when employees feel their health and wellbeing needs are being catered for.
The provision of employee wellbeing services is vital for employee engagement and creating a positive working culture. Wellness programmes need to stem from a well-thought-out and measured strategy. The programme should allow for a good balance of company-wide initiatives and personalisation, both in and out of work, and cover a broad spectrum of factors such as physical, mental, social and financial health.
Gone are the days of simply offering a free gym membership or a weekly box of fruit to staff. A successful organisation will go on a journey with their teams, which will see education, information-sharing, recognition and reward as part of the strategy. This is where personalisation is key and ultimately helps to ensure a successful strategy embraced by as many employees as possible.
Wellness shouldn’t be a universal solution. Every employee’s journey to a healthier lifestyle is unique and it should be treated as such. Digital platforms enable employers to create and host personalised experience for employees. The technology can also be used to help connect employees with similar health and wellness interests as well as supporting and rewarding individual progress.
Employers can expect to see higher participation rates with a more personalised approach to employee wellness. Technology and digital platforms come into their own with multi-site and retail organisations, and those with a mobile workforce. They allow a company to provide a much-needed solution to the entire staff team, not just those who work in offices.
The key to launching and managing a good and effective wellbeing initiative is ongoing measurement and evaluation, starting before you launch. With the right platform, the company will be able to monitor team engagement, understand what’s popular and what employees would like to see more or even less of.
hero can work in partnership with you to create your strategy and ensure it’s tangible, with clear and demonstrable return on investment and value on investment
This should also be analysed by department, age, gender and location-specific data to understand the true dynamics of specific populations, remembering a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. Health is personal to the individual and so the reporting and monitoring can be done at departmental and functional levels. The dashboard hero offers invaluable insight that enables senior managers to make informed and rational business decisions.
We recommend companies carry out a free employee wellbeing survey. This feedback is invaluable and will help you to shape your strategy. hero can work in partnership with you to create your strategy and ensure it’s tangible, with clear and demonstrable return on investment and value on investment.
Finally, 57 per cent of employees in the CIPD report said they would stay in their job longer if there was more effort put into looking after their wellbeing and 58 per cent believed their work would be of better quality if there were more wellbeing measures in place. We believe it’s important for businesses to act to tackle this growing problem before it’s too late.
For more information about hero please please visit www.herowellbeing.com
