Wellness and Work: What Are You Doing?
People spend an average of 9 hours a day at work. That means that they spend more time in the warehouse, at their desk, and in the office than they do anywhere else.
Since healthy staff are happier, it only makes sense that employers would want to cultivate a workplace that promotes and supports wellbeing. After all, the better your professionals feel when they're on the clock, the more devoted they'll be to your brand.
As skills shortages continue to plague most industries, many organisations have begun to invest more effort into commercial "wellness" programs.
Healthier people work harder, accomplish more, and are often more efficient too. On the other hand, unhealthy recruits can sometimes be sluggish, accident-prone, and desperately searching for other forms of employment.
According to some experts, every pound spent on a wellness program comes back to your bottom line through reduced sick days, and greater productivity. What's more, by showing your hires that you care about their wellbeing, you will even create an employer brand that helps you to attract top-tier talent.
Many professionals are beginning to prioritise health and work-life balance over benefits and job titles.
Here's how to add wellness to your company culture.
1. Know What Everybody Needs
It's easy to assume that a wellness programme involves setting up a juice bar in your staff room, or giving your staff access to a nearby gym, particularly if you see that's what your competitors doing. However, there's no one-size-fits-all strategy for wellness.
Like most things in the employment world, a wellbeing strategy works best when it's tailored to suit the needs of your professionals and the goals of your business.
Start by asking your employees what they need to perform at their best. Perhaps your teams would love some guidance on how to handle stress.
Once you know what your people would like from you, consider how their expectations line up to your ambitions. For instance, a less stressed accounting pro will make fewer mistakes on your invoices, that means happier customers and bigger profits for you.
2. Lead by Example
Buy-in is an important part of running a successful wellness program. While you can introduce exercise plans and nutrition courses to your team members, you can't make them take advantage of those opportunities.
Unfortunately, you'll only begin to see all the positive results of your wellbeing plan when your employees are ready to embrace it. With that in mind, look for ways you can motivate them into getting involved.
Leading by example is a great solution because most professionals will constantly be looking for ways to impress their managers and supervisors. Get higher-level staff involved first and ask them to advocate for the benefits of your plan to uncertain people and new hires.
3. Have Some Fun!
Most people, particularly millennials, want to live a healthier lifestyle. However, when your recruits are busy making money for your business, they might not have time to think about going to the gym or spending an hour on meditation.
A great way to improve the success of your wellness programme is to make sure it doesn't feel as though you're just adding another task to your team's to-do list.
Have some fun with wellness, by inviting people to take part in games, or blow-off their schedule for a couple of hours to enjoy some stress-management sessions. During these break-out moments, make sure to introduce small, simple practices that your staff can incorporate into their daily routine.
4. Focus on Education
Studies suggest that 96.3% of employees will actively participate in plans to improve their health. What's more, 87.4% of hires believe that wellness has a positive impact on work culture.
It's clear to see that your people want improved wellness. The problem may simply be that they don't know how to balance good health with success at work. Providing the people in your company with guides, information, and training sessions that teach them about things like preventative care and healthy eating is a good way to set them up for success.
An onboarding programme that includes health education may even stop your new hires from leaving as soon as they arrive.
5. Reward Better Wellbeing
Finally, you can't force people to live a healthier life, but you can reward those who take steps to prevent illness. For instance, consider setting up a system where your recruits can share the fitness goals they want to achieve, and win points every time they reach a certain milestone.
You can also have specific recognition strategies in place for when your team members lower their cholesterol, achieve better blood pressure, or even lose weight! The key is making sure that you experiment with different methods for acknowledging your healthy employees.
The more people notice the value of living a healthier life, the easier it will be to transform your company culture into one that prioritises and celebrates wellness.
About First2Recruit
First2Recruit, are an owner managed recruitment consultancy providing a full recruitment service including; permanent and FTC positions in Accountancy Practice and Insolvency across the UK.