Best Practices to Ensure Employee Well-Being in the Workplace

An employee well-being program is a great way to create a healthy workplace environment. With the ongoing pandemic, many companies have come to realize the importance of having well-being initiatives for their employees.

Employee well-beng initiatives are crucial because they can promote social, physical and mental health at the workplace. Employee well-being initiatives can help improve employees’ productivity and motivate them. With employee well-being programs, it also becomes easier for businesses to retain their employees.

Organizing employee well-being activities for employees is one way for senior management to show that they value and respect their staff and this will boost employee morale. During the pandemic, employee well-being has become even more important. Bringing employees together through well-being programs online will help reduce feelings of loneliness while working remotely.

Best practices to ensure employee well-being in the workplace

• Offer Benefits

To show support and concern, employers can offer various things to their employees. Health insurance, shopping discounts, or even gym memberships can boost the well-being of an employee. You don’t have to limit the offers to work-related issues only. Offering benefits outside work can be beneficial too. Oftentimes, workers who are affected by different problems outside work tend to be distracted and unproductive. Reach out to them and know what kind of offers you need to give.

• Have Flexible Working Hours

Having flexible working hours will help your employees maintain a great home and work life balance. There are many things outside work that are important. Give your employees time to tend to other meaningful things outside the workplace like faith and family. Flexible working hours can benefit the company as well. Employees will be motivated to meet their deadlines at work so that they have time for their personal activities.

Keep in mind that constant supervision and strict working hours do not boost productivity. They can lead to employees becoming stressed or burned out. On the other hand, flexible working hours will allow your staff to do their best work at the right time that suits them. With flexible working hours, you need to trust your employees that they will still be able to successfully deliver results.

• Adopt Healthy Habits

Go the extra mile and implement some healthy habits around the workplace. Encouraging workers to be healthy is important, but actions will show them the concern you have. Come up with a canteen at your workplace that offers healthy food. You can also encourage walks during lunch breaks. A walk can also help get rid of the after-lunch boredom in the office. Once in a while, invite a nutritionist to chat with the staff on healthy eating habits.

• Mental Health Is Important

Educate your staff on mental health issues. The knowledge they gain will help reduce the stigma associated with mental health at the workplace. They will also know how to handle people suffering from it. Being supportive of addressing mental health issues creates an inclusive environment in the office. Employees being mindful of each other helps those with mental problems to feel more relaxed and included. It also enhances productivity in general because employees will focus on work rather than what others think about them.

• Financial Well-Being Programs

Educate your staff on financial issues and try to offer ways to help ease the staff’s financial burdens. Some people find difficulty in managing their finances because they lack financial literacy.  You can invite financial advisers to offer advice to your employees on better ways to handle their money. People work to earn money, and they should know how to manage their money and follow a budget. An advisor will help the workers to understand what to prioritize in their lives and what not to. Money is one of the biggest stressors everywhere. Having financial well-being initiatives will relieve employees’ stress, and in return, they will be more productive.

• Maternity and Paternity Leave

When a staff member has a new baby, give them enough time with their child for the first few months. Some top companies offer unlimited leave. If you can’t afford that, provide them with at least a few months to nurture the baby.

While most companies have these kinds of leaves, some managers can make employees feel that they are replaceable while they are on leave. Ensure that your team members feel safe when taking maternity and paternity leave and that they will still have jobs when they get back to the office. This will show that you care for your employees’ personal well-being as well.

• Give Credit Where It Is Due

Recognizing employees’ good work and effort is the most fundamental principle of employee appreciation. Many companies overlook it.

If you want to motivate your employees and make sure that they deliver results, recognize their efforts and reward them where possible. There are many ways you can recognize employees for a job well done. You can have incentives that they work towards, or you can simply recognise their efforts publicly to motivate them.

Praise can boost the employees’ self-esteem. Recognition is crucial, especially when you have millennials working for you.

• Encourage Teamwork

When members of your staff do not get along, it can threaten all the well-being initiatives that are in place. Come up with team building activities where the whole team can participate to help build their bond. You can go for hikes or even have lunch together every now and then. Aside from ensuring the social well-being of employees, teamwork can help ensure that tasks are accomplished successfully. Everyone will be able to pass across their ideas and contribute to building the company. The underdogs in the office will be heard only when there are healthy work relationships.

Conclusion

Employee well-being has evolved from physical health benefits to a broad spectrum. If you want to ensure you give your employees the best, you can work with workplace well-being providers and find new ways of ensuring your staff’s well-being. These initiatives might not solve all your workplace problems, but its benefits cannot be denied. For all these practices to work, you should learn to listen to the staff and know what they need. Forcing programmes on them that they don’t appreciate will not help with their well-being. Ensure there is a proper communication channel and that your staff can reach you if there is a need. Having well-being programmes running might be costly, but the overall benefit is much more. It reduces absenteeism, increases productivity and encourages staff engagement in the business.