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Well-being programs give your employees the tools they need to achieve a better quality of life, both inside and outside the office. With a successful well-being strategy, your employees will be both physically and mentally healthier. The result is often fewer sick days, more satisfied team members, and reduced talent churn. And did you know that happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy ones?
There is more to supporting your team members than providing the right software and hardware for daily tasks. All over the world, businesses are discovering that a successful workplace starts with the right well-being strategy.
Of course, if you're new to well-being programs, it's often difficult to know how to get started. How do you create a plan that will deliver the right results, and get your employees involved?
There are tons of examples of successful well-being programs available. For instance, the Chesapeake Energy company offers its employees a 72,000 square foot fitness center to help them stay fit.
However, the well-being plan that works for one company might not work for another. If your employees' roles include large amounts of manual labor, they might not need extra exercise.
Your team may need help managing a work life balance or assistance addressing mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, or coping with the stress of the job.
Conduct assessments to find out what your employees need and want in a well-being program. You can send out an anonymous survey if you think your team members might feel nervous speaking to you face-to-face.
You might discover your employees have multiple points they want to address to improve their well-being. However, it's often best to focus on one point at a time. Running too many programs could overwhelm your team members.
Based on the information you collect during your evaluations, pinpoint the issues that seem to be the most significant to your team members. This information will give you a focus area, such as healthy eating, dealing with stress, or overcoming bad habits, like smoking.
You could allow different portions of your well-being campaigns to take over for a few months at a time, then shift to a new focus when your employees feel comfortable.
Sometimes, participating in well-being activities after work can feel like agreeing to working longer hours. Exhausted employees might not see the benefit of spending more time in the office to take part in well-being initiatives.
To encourage participation, consider setting goals and giving your team members incentives for taking part. For instance, you could reward team members after completing the first couple of wellness sessions.
Alternatively, you could consider hosting some of your sessions during working hours, so that your team members feel as though they're getting a "break" rather than adding more time to their work day. Experiment with a few methods to see what works best for your team.
Not everyone will respond to well-being programs in the same way. If you run a month-long mental health campaign that only offers group sessions, you're going to isolate the people who are not comfortable discussing issues among team members.
Think about how you can deliver programs that are inclusive to your entire team. When Union Pacific created a smoking cessation program, they provided both pharmacological assistance and lifestyle coaching to team members. The number of employees who were successful in quitting smoking was nearly 20%.
If you are not sure what kind of support your employees need most, ask for feedback. Let your employees check off things like one-on-one sessions, group therapy, gym events, and so on.
Running a business requires countless decisions and work for you as a business owner so, it is easy to overlook your employees' general happiness. However, it is important identify dissatisfaction and prevent it from festering among your team members. If you do not address these feelings it can spread throughout your staff and bring down the mood of the entire office. In fact, unhappy employees will often reduce the overall work quality, because they are not deeply committed to their tasks.
Creating well-being programs is one way to show your employees that you care and are invested in their physical and mental health. However, be sure to address other sources of friction as well. True well-being stems from a healthy and supportive environment, and you must promptly identify and address any grievances within your workplace.
The faster you can jump into action, the easier it is to address and eliminate the problem of employee unhappiness. This will result in less employee turnover and a better culture all-around.
