Are your wellness programmes effective? Common issues and how to resolve them

Post Covid the work landscape has changed significantly.?As we stepped out of our houses and back into society, the great rethink began.?Within this, people were critically evaluating their roles, employers, company culture and work/life balance.

Companies are more focused than ever on engagement and retention and wellbeing and wellness programmes exist in most organisations to help enhance the lives of employees and hopefully reduce attrition.

However, not all programmes are having the desired effect.?

What I am hearing from staff is that the policies and initiatives are not hitting the spot for the following reasons:

1.?????????????The initiatives are not relevant to the needs of the staff:

Companies are spending money on programmes and offering incentives that are not useful and do not address the issues faced by their employees.

Solution:

Before implementation and for the duration of any wellbeing initiatives feedback should be gathered from the staff to identify the problems they are experiencing and ideas on what would be useful.?This can take the form of a meeting, feedback forms or a questionnaire.?This can avoid ineffective programmes which can further damage, rather than enhance engagement and save money in the long term.?People like to feel heard

2.?????????????There are some wellbeing offerings in place and therefore management consider wellbeing is covered

The hit and hope or tickbox approach is where a Company offer some wellbeing services (subscription to meditation apps, run some seminars, hold monthly drinks) and consider that wellbeing has been addressed.?It can also be the case that a single event is held and nothing else is changed or provided for a significant amount of time. ?Employees report that they find the initiatives useful but nothing else has changed, or they feel it was offered just to say they are considering wellbeing. ?

Solution:

Changes to culture, attitudes and expectations need to run alongside any initiative to truly have an impact on employee wellbeing.?As with making sure any provision is useful, checking back after events and initiatives can help gauge where staff may need help

3.??????A wellbeing policy and initiatives have been agreed and publicised, but some departments or managers are claiming exclusion or not implementing

A frustration reported as worse than no wellbeing consideration at all, is that a policy has been set with the relevant initiatives; but that some departments or management are not adhering to them.?For example, meeting free Fridays have been agreed to ensure staff have enough time to complete actions, but a department head insists on holding multiple meetings on that day because it "needs to be done".?The policy states that staff can take time off to care for loved ones at short notice if required, but a manager states that it is not possible in the event that it happens

Solution:

Ensure that the policy and expectations or culture changes are clearly communicated to all staff and is may also be necessary to have an escalation route to where this is not happening.?It is vital that the leaders in your Company (who set the values and culture) are all implementing and following any provisions and policies in place.

Taking time and effort into creating a wellbeing provision can increase engagement, productivity and reduce attrition.?In addition, staff are more likely to recommend as a good place to work, which enhances reputation and provides free marketing for consumers as well as potential employees.?If you are spending the money on developing a wellbeing offering, it is important that you gain the maximum benefit.

If you would like to talk about your wellbeing provision, DM me for a virtual coffee or email at

[email protected]