How to Design Wellbeing Initiatives that Actually Support Employee Health

How to Design Wellbeing Initiatives that Actually Support Employee Health

A no-nonsense, BS-free interview with our founder, Emma-Louise Fusari.

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Recently, I spoke to a business with a relatively small wellbeing budget who’d invested in private health insurance. When I asked why they’d chosen to invest in it, they didn’t know. And this is the thing, businesses are spending money but not necessarily in the right place. That's why you need real health data.

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What are the main health issues you find in the workplace?

The most common health issues I find in the workplace are high blood pressure (stress-related), high alcohol consumption and possible dependence (often used as a coping strategy for stress), and high levels of anxiety (caused by culture and operational frameworks that aren’t quite right).

The physical and mental problems I see stem from work-related stress and possible burnout. That ties in with the culture.

When you say the culture is ‘bad’ it makes it sound like it's a bad place to work. Often it isn’t. It's the operational frameworks – the processes – that are causing the problem. And often those problems aren’t shared equally. When a business scales and grows, it needs processes that sustain a healthy and productive culture.

A lot of digital tech companies scale and grow. They’ve been a ‘family’ (up to 15 to 20 people), and everything was nice. I’ve noticed that founders tend to hire people that are like them, but when the business starts scaling, they need to hire different people. They need new processes to control the environment better – that’s when it starts falling apart. People don’t understand their job roles and workloads are bigger than they should be.

How can we reduce the risk of work-related stress and burnout and encourage a high-performance culture?

It’s important to highlight that the high-performance culture is important. It’s embedded in a lot of people's DNA. You can't stop people wanting to be big achievers. You can't stop people from getting engrossed in their work. But we can make them healthier – so they don't burn out and so they don't end up going off sick.

A high-performance culture is also critical for many digital tech companies. But, at some point, during those periods of growth, a business must identify if they need to reduce workload or bring in more people. And sometimes, those intense periods go on for longer than they should. We aren't designed to maintain that. It shouldn't be sustained for long periods of time and quite often that's what happens.

The M.E.T.A programme considers all areas of wellbeing. I find that businesses have tried their best to improve culture, or to engage the workforce, but there’s only so far they can go. They need an expert to help bridge that gap. To consult on it and give them the support they need – not just what the people need, but what the business needs.

Recently, I spoke to a business with a relatively small wellbeing budget who’d invested in private health insurance. When I asked why they’d chosen to invest in it, they didn’t know. And this is the thing, businesses are spending money but not necessarily in the right place. That's why you need real health data.

To really impact health and wellbeing in a positive way, you need real data that tells you where you need to fix problems and where you need to focus your resources. Make sure the money you’re spending is invested in the right places.

What would you say to someone who wants their employees to be happier and healthier and who knows their employees like the initiatives they’ve put in place?

I’d ask how they know if their workplace is healthy and that people are happy. How are you finding out?

Are workplace surveys effective?

There are extensive studies that highlight the inadequacies of workplace surveys.

First, do you know you’re asking the right questions? The creators of these surveys are not usually experts in this field.

The second problem is that people are reluctant to be open and honest. Many have trust issues whether it’s anonymised or not (and many are unsure about whether surveys really are anonymised).

Another key issue is that people often don’t understand the question, or they don’t see it as being relevant to them. For example, even if a business has a tick-box health survey it can’t identify health issues if the person doesn’t tick the box. Often people don’t see themselves as having a problem.

Another major issue with workplace surveys is that even if someone does tick a box, that doesn’t identify the root cause of a health issue. A conversation about lifestyle is much more effective.

A conversation allows the individual to talk about their daily lives in a more natural way. This often reveals information that wouldn’t have been picked up on a survey. A common health issue I find relates to alcohol – people often think what they’re drinking is a normal and safe level. You don’t get that information from a survey. People who don’t relate to having problems or who don't want to admit having problems won’t tell you on a survey.

Motivational interviewing, body language and lots of other techniques find out so much more about the person in front of you. Being able to talk confidentially to a third-party provider – someone trained and experienced – means people are more likely to be open, honest and transparent. That’s why I also have culture questions in the M.E.T.A programme? health checks.

How is the M.E.T.A Programme different?

The M.E.T.A Programme is different because we’re able to provide real health data and actionable strategies.

People open up to us to explore their health because they’re talking to a registered nurse. It’s a trusted profession. They know the person they’re talking to understands health issues and is properly trained to help them. It’s confidential. Again, people understand that a qualified healthcare professional will maintain confidentiality. And, importantly, they’re asked the right questions.

The more you understand your employees’ health, the more you can improve the health of your business. You need real, measurable data to be able to plan a wellbeing strategy. Without this, your well-intentioned wellbeing initiatives are fuzzy and guesswork at best.

Do you know the right questions? Do you know what to do with the answers? Probably not.

If you’re a company investing in wellbeing, what impact is that having on your client retention? What impact is it having on recruitment? What impact is it having on other business KPIs and OKRs?

That's what’s measured during the M.E.T.A programme.?

A wellbeing strategy is not a quick fix. You can’t spend money on reactive initiatives and expect them to impact your business. We rip all the wellbeing plasters off. The yoga plaster and the banana plaster – they’re all getting ripped off. We look at (triage) the real wellbeing need and give it the right treatment.

Health isn’t static. It’s a continuum. After implementing the right treatment, we analyse the results and then reassess the health and wellbeing needs. This preventative stage is where we want your organisation to be.

Mental health, emotional health, physical health, internal factors in a business, external factors, and things going on at home for people – all affect the health of your business.

Someone's wellbeing is not just about work. They might have a problem at home, but it will have an impact on their performance at work. They're not going to put that in some survey. Our approach captures all those issues. We can help find those issues before they become huge, debilitating problems for your employee or your business.

We all know the iceberg analogy. What’s presented in the workplace is the tip of the iceberg. What’s happening underneath is what we’re trying to fix. We don’t want a business to hit difficulties because of something that could’ve been identified quite simply.

I use a headache analogy.

For instance, someone has a headache, and they go to the medicine shelves at the supermarket. They look at the shelves and see paracetamol. They don’t know if it’s more effective than ibuprofen for a headache, but they decide to buy paracetamol and see if it works. They hand over their hard-earned cash and take two tablets. Four hours later they still have a headache and take two more tablets. They still have a headache the next day, so they go back to the supermarket. They look at the products on the shelves and think, ‘I’ll try this one, it says it’s superstrength’. They buy it and they try it, but it doesn't work.

If they’d spoken to someone professionally trained to help them, they would’ve found out they were actually dehydrated or had poor posture and that's why they have a headache. So, instead of two trips to the supermarket and two purchases of medicines that didn’t work, they could’ve drunk more water or altered their seating position.

That's what businesses are doing when it comes to wellbeing initiatives.

It’s easier for an expert eye to see what needs changing. Crisis points can be prevented. You need to be drinking the water before you get a headache. We want to be looking after people before they have a breakdown or a heart attack. Identifying the real problem is key. And knowing how to address it.

Emma-Louise Fusari RGN - Founder In-House Health