The Future of Employee is Well-being

How to Make Employee Well-being a Priority at Your Company

Many organizations lose sight of the biggest issues surrounding employee well-being, namely the day-to-day employee experience. Too often, leaders fall into a well-being "perks and policies" trap, wondering why their people are stressed out despite access to the latest niceties to keep their employees motivated.?Organizations can transform employee well-being by building a culture of care, promoting work life integration, and ensuring inclusivity is built into the fabric of the organization, whether employees work onsite, remote or in a hybrid work environment.

Here are four ways leaders can better make the connection between well-being benefits, employee recruitment, and retention.

1.?Build a culture of care and communicate your company’s well-being benefits as a way to stem the Great Resignation

Well-being benefits are a key criterion in applying for a new job regardless of the work environment (remote, in-person, or hybrid) of the employee. While?overall employee well-being appears to be bouncing back after a slump at the height of the pandemic, workers now expect support for their mental, physical, and financial well-being as part of their benefits package. It is clear the total rewards package starts with compensation and health benefits but also needs to include a holistic package of employee well-being benefits, including financial and mental health benefits. This needs to be clearly communicated to prospective and current employees, with how to easily access these enhanced well-being benefits.

2.?Understand the importance of financial wellness benefits and be clear about what your company

An overwhelming majority of employees report being stressed about their finances and would leave for another company that demonstrates how they care about their employees’ financial well-being. A recent survey reinforces this and found that employees surveyed reported easy access to financial wellness education and training would ease their overall well-being.

3. De-stigmatize mental illness

As disruptions from the pandemic prevail, more workers are reporting symptoms of prolonged and acute stress. Employers can start to support the mental health of their workers by embedding mental health awareness into the culture - from leader communications, manager conversations with team members, and Employee Resource Programs (ERGs). Specifically,?leaders should ask themselves, does their culture de-stigmatize mental health? If yes, how? If no, what?actions can help?change the culture? Do managers show that they care about the mental health and well-being of their team members? What specific actions do they take? And finally, when employees feel stressed, do they know where to turn for assistance? Do they understand their mental health benefits? Communicating health insurance and employee assistance programs are key vehicles to easing mental stress post-pandemic.

4.?Take a regular pulse of your employee well-being benefits and identify the ones that matter most to each employee segment.

While some companies have already moved away from one-size-fits-all benefit solutions, many more must create a personalized approach to benefits. Companies can start this process by conducting regular surveys and segmenting the data by groups such as generation, work environment (in-person, remote, or hybrid), or gender to identify where there might be benefit gaps and opportunities. The goal needs to be creating an inclusive well-being benefits package that meets the needs of all segments of workers.

Employers have always known that job candidates evaluate all aspects of a new job, beyond the actual work, but now, candidates report they expect a total rewards package to include well-being benefits.

Building a culture of care and communicating this by providing a full range of employee well-being benefits is becoming table stakes to attract and retain workers and stem the Great Resignation.