Is Wellbeing a nice to have or a necessity?

Employee ill health is on the increase costing UK businesses an average of ￡11 billion per year*. Organisations can no longer afford to ignore that if they want people to be their greatest asset, looking after their health and wellbeing is a critical investment, and not a nice to do if there happens to be money left over in the budget.

So, what does this actually mean in practice. Wellbeing is a broad term that to some could suggest anything from effective stress management; an Employee Assistance Programme; health checks; onsite massage to introducing free fruit on a Friday. 

The World Health Organisation defines wellbeing as: 'a state of mind in which an individual is able to realise his or her own abilities, cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.' 

The challenge for many organisations therefore is ‘how much do I need to spend on wellbeing, and on what specifically, to achieve the optimum return on investment?’. There is no easy answer to this as it will vary for different types of organisations and cultures i.e introducing a walking club at lunchtimes may have little or no effect on a workforce who is already active as part of their role.  

I consider the key to be in conducting a thorough gap analysis of the current state, identifying the issues, gaining buy-in from the top, then deciding on the priority areas to address.  These will undoubtedly include initiatives that focus on the mental, emotional and physical health of employees.   An important aspect of this process is also to arrive at a dashboard of qualitative and quantitative measures used to demonstrate the links between wellbeing, performance and ROI.

Get in touch if you’d like to discuss this approach in more detail. You may be a manager or HR professional who is looking to work with someone who can bring wellbeing expertise to your project.

*(XpertHR, 2015 “Sickness absence rates survey”).