Increased hours, heavy workloads, tight deadlines, information overload, new technologies, stretched resources, skills gaps … these are just some of the factors that employees in modern workplaces are now facing. Where an organisation is focused on operating at a high level, these factors are now commonly being seen as contributing to an overwhelming environment in which people are becoming highly stressed, and which ultimately results in a rise in absences due to anxiety, depression or other physical ill-health caused by stress.

Employers have a legal obligation to look after the health and safety of their employees – perhaps directly through health and safety reviews and health and safety training, or holistically through mental health signposting. However sometimes this can be a tick-box exercise resulting in the creation of wellbeing policies and staff socials, but the intention doesn’t carry through to an improvement in wellbeing.

Deloitte’s “2024 Wellbeing at Work Survey” is one study which captured the reality, with 90% of executives believing their organisation contributed to their employees’ wellbeing but only 60% of employees agreed. The survey also found only 43% of workers agreed that their employer had contributed to their wellbeing and left them feeling better than when they had started.

So, if you are committed to genuinely improving the wellbeing of your workforce, what does that look like and what is the business impact?

Wellbeing is a whole person concept which is not centred simply on physical health but considers mental, social and emotional states, and how each of these energies interact and engage with one another. Embracing the whole person will create a cycle where thriving humans will enhance and improve organisations, and those performing organisations can feed back into the employee.

Transformation starts with the leaders of the organisation. These key personnel need to develop and share a deep understanding and belief in people-focused wellbeing to create authentic engagement. When it is perceived to be truthful, top-level buy-in feeds down throughout the organisation. Managers are the lynchpin of genuine wellbeing in the workplace, tailoring their approach to meet the needs of each individual. Empowering and training managers to create these tailored, meaningful wellbeing touchpoints will enable a workforce to thrive and excel.

Also key in resolving the disconnection between stated intention and reality is monitoring and evaluating wellbeing. Setting metrics that will measure an organisation’s performance, and measuring the achievement of these, can be linked to an annual bonus scheme which motivates managers to put their people first and demonstrates the commitment to employee-led wellbeing.

You might feel it is difficult to measure wellbeing but tracking sickness, turnover and engagement rates, creating feedback systems, surveys and assessments to consider the mental and physical health of your teams are all ways to gather data. Being transparent with this data will help to create a culture of trust and belonging. Having trained mental health champions and first aiders within the organisation but outside of the HR function will also have a positive impact on wellbeing.

In creating an environment which positively impacts your employees’ work wellbeing, there will inevitably be an impact on their wider lives, creating a ripple effect across communities and societies.

This then creates, as is highlighted within the Deloitte research, organisations that focus on human sustainability, helping their employees to be better, stronger and more well-equipped to deal with the expected stresses of the workplace.

Fundamental change needs to be seen, with the future of wellbeing in the workplace shifting from being a “tick-box” exercise to demonstrable solutions. Changing the perspective to move from it being considered, and used, as a wellness plaster, and instead to developing and deploying a list of tactical tools that can be employed by an organisation. Instead, wellbeing needs to be ingrained into the fabric of the organisation – lived, breathed and then embodied by employees, managers and leaders alike.

When it becomes a reality in this way – when wellbeing becomes about the whole person’s life ambitions, rather than the business ambitions – then teams, their leaders and the business will truly align to transform it from the inside, out.

For more information on how Loch Associates Group can work with you by coaching your teams to boost wellbeing or training your management to improve workplace culture, contact our expert trainers and accredited coaches today at [email protected] or call 0203 667 5400.