Employee wellbeing is on the agenda. January 2021 was recorded by the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS)* as the worst for mental wellbeing since 2012.
Further research also revealed that 63% of employees struggle with mild anxiety and 58% suffer from mild symptoms of depression.
But how does employee wellbeing affect your business?
In this blog, we highlight the importance of wellness and wellbeing in the workplace, plus how you can improve it moving forward.
Why employee wellbeing is important
Improving employee wellbeing reduces stress for the individual and creates a better work environment for the entire business. Employee wellbeing is important for the following reasons:
1. Reduced absence
Further reports from the ONS reveal that 118.6 million working days were lost in 2020 because of sickness or injury. To put that into context, that’s 3.6 days lost per worker, annually. The mental health charity, Mind, claims work-related mental health costs the UK economy £26 billion every year – a direct result of absenteeism, staff turnover and reduced productivity.
Employees who are physically and mentally healthier are likely to miss fewer days and stay more productive while working.
2. Increase productivity
Not only do issues of absenteeism affect companies but so does presenteeism. Both these issues combined are estimated to cost the economy £73 billion a year*. Presenteeism can come about for several reasons where the employee feels they must work over their scheduled hours or even when they are sick.
Believe it or not, this overload of work causes negative effects for the company and individual. Better workplace wellbeing contributes to higher levels of productivity. Studies show happier employees work harder and achieve more for their business.
3. Boost morale
According to the American Psychological Association, low morale at work can cause depression and even heart disease. Happier employees create a more cohesive, efficient, and positive work environment. Higher morale increases engagement, motivation and efficiency which can only benefit the business.
4. Improve engagement
As we’ve seen with productivity and morale, engagement advances the same when employees feel happier at work. Healthy and happy employees are more likely to focus on their job and want to improve in the future.
5. Employee Retention
Having high levels of employee wellbeing is not only going to attract the top talent for future roles, but it will also keep them happy in the job. After all, why would an employee want to leave a company where they are happy?
However, one study shows how a quarter of employees plan to leave their current role after two years due to poor wellbeing conditions.
6. Company culture
The health and happiness of an employee can be directly affected by the culture within a company. A company with a toxic culture will struggle to compete, make decisions, and adapt to change.
Bulitin reports that 88% of employees believe a strong company culture contributes to success with 94% of executives agreeing.
7. Cost-effective
Investing in employee wellbeing will improve the working environment and boost productivity, which in the long run will save the company money. A Harvard study reported that every $1 spent on an employee saved employers $6, $3 on healthcare and $3 on absenteeism. Result!
How to improve employee wellbeing
Making proactive changes to employee wellbeing should be on the agenda rather than making reactive changes. This way, employers can combat employee wellbeing issues before they manifest themselves and cause harm to the individual and business. CIPD reported this number was up 41% from 27% in 2021, compared to 2020.
Encourage a work-life balance
Work-life balance is becoming more important in society and for businesses.
However, 45% of employees still don’t believe they’ve found the right balance yet.
According to Mind*, the key to encouraging a good work/life balance involves:
• working sensible hours
• taking full lunch breaks
• resting after busy periods
• avoiding working on the weekends
• taking full annual leave entitlement.
Workspace as a service improves employee wellbeing
Achieving a successful work-life balance is facilitated to best effect through flexible working arrangements. Workspaces as a service (WaaS) is a contemporary solution to accommodate flexible working, contributing to positive employee wellbeing and work-life balance.
Serraview revealed 12% of employees are more likely to be happy with their job when they have freedom and autonomy in their work environment. WaaS provides greater employee wellbeing through creating a dynamic, comfortable and flexible workspace.
A good WaaS provider will supply every component for the company both remotely and on-site. They’ll also maintain security, efficiency and productivity while supporting each specific need of the employee.
There are many benefits to WaaS (https://bit.ly/3GBP3gu) that also improve employee wellbeing. For example, WaaS provides flexibility, security, and comfort for each employee with unique customisable features to suit each employee’s needs at home or in an office space.
Investing in a workspace as a service solution is more cost-effective too. The flexibility of WaaS means it can adapt to unprecedented situations, be it to individuals or upon society.
For example, every year employee wellbeing drops during the winter months due to seasonal affective disorder. (https://bit.ly/3rydg2M) Due to WaaS being a proactive workplace alternative, it can combat these erratic issues that are bound to arise.
Our Offices
If you want to establish positive employee wellbeing in your business, you should contact Podia. We have an innovative wellbeing and community platform designed for the modern hybrid workforce known as Rise.
Rise provides is a community collaboration platform, supporting all employees’ wellbeing in work and life. Not only do employees have access to a better working environment, personal development, and exclusive events, they also join a virtual community to enhance their employee wellbeing even further.
Targeted content can also be created by managers for their employees, such as questionnaires. This can help businesses evaluate employee wellbeing throughout the company.
Whether you want to bring the office home or create a cutting-edge modern office space for your team, Podia has a range of choices and flexible payment options that guarantee a worthwhile ROI.
Ready to rise?
* https://www.ons.gov.uk/
* https://energym.io/blogs/news/whats-the-link-between-wellbeing-and-productivity
* https://www.mind.org.uk/media-a/4662/resource3_howtopromotewellbeingfinal.pdf