How to Create a Culture of Wellbeing in Your Workplace
Traditionally, employees were told to value the physical wellness of their employees, but in recent years it has become apparent that there is far more at play when it comes to overall employee health and happiness.
Nothing determines business success (or failure) more than workplace culture. This is especially true with employee health and well-being, where bad culture can sabotage even the most well-designed employee programs.
Creating a Wellness Culture Means Doing More
To create a healthy, high-performance workforce, employers will have to dig deeper to identify and address the many and varied factors that affect their employees and influence their health and wellness.
Ultimately, this means that employers will also have to examine the role that workplace culture plays in employees’ overall well-being because health and wellness don't happen in a vacuum. We know that social factors play a significant role in peoples’ well-being.
For most employers, creating a culture of health and wellness isn’t just a matter of choosing the right gym program, introducing a dynamite team challenge, or changing the cafeteria menu. It’s a matter of making sure that health and wellness are woven into the cultural fabric of the organization.
To optimise the health and wellness of employees, take note of the these following priorities. They will lead you on the path to employee wellness.
Building a Culture of Well-being
Workplace cultures must be assessed and re-engineered to ensure they support employee well-being. This requires that culture itself must become the primary strategic priority, managed with objectives, timetables and accountabilities.
Assess the current culture
Companies must first understand the existing workplace culture as it relates to employee well-being, for better or for worse. Conduct surveys, focus groups and in-depth discussions throughout the organization to hear, first hand, from employees what they need and want. Employee well-being must become a core value that infuses all organizational procedures, policies, leadership traits and even how managers and leaders are evaluated. Make changes showing that taking action to improve employee well-being will be recognized and rewarded.
Involve employees in program design and implementation
Involving employees in the selection and design of the specific well-being programs ensures that the right programs are selected and creates a sense of ownership. This reflects and reinforces a supportive culture.
If stress is an issue (and it always is), consider resiliency training. If depression is rife within the workplace, work with managers and develop initiatives that remove stigma and encourage getting early and effective treatment. This, too, is a culture change. And given that many workers struggle with personal finances, infuse the culture with education and opportunities to reduce financial stress and improve personal finances.
Change manager evaluation criteria
It’s been said that people don’t leave bad jobs; they leave bad managers.
Companies must reorient managers with training and resources to help them become effective leaders. Nothing is more culturally important than that. Managers must (1) become see the connection between employees well-being and company success; and (2) be incented by rewards (or consequences) that foster employee well-being in all forms. Managers’ futures must depend on how they treat their employees and foster their well-being.
Ultimately, managers must become enthusiastic about supporting employee well-being, rather than seeing it as a hurdle to hitting their numbers. And if they cannot see their way to that end, they must be fired. That puts an exclamation point on the cultural values you’re espousing, and employees will surely notice.
Encourage workplace socialisation
Strong friendships are formed at work. This is not only good in itself, it can become the glue that holds organizations together and reduces turnover. Workplace socialization can form the foundation for strong peer support that encourages happier employees and healthier lifestyles.
Employers should give workers time to congregate and socialize in lunch or break rooms, or a central area for physical activity. Clubs, team contests and group activities foster a stronger work environment. Bottom-up, rather than top-down, is best, so encourage this sort of activity as an integral part of the culture.
Nurturing Cultures of Well-being
Once established, new cultures of well-being must be nourished and maintained. In truth, a culture of well-being is not so much an “initiative” as it is a permanent change in how work is conducted.
Culture is not just an HR responsibility. It requires constant vigilance and thoughtful monitoring as a standing C-suite priority to safeguard and protect an organization’s most critical asset: its workforce and intellectual capital.
To successfully promote workforce wellness and enjoy its benefits, care about employees, and support and help them achieve what counts for them. You then will have a far greater likelihood of getting them onboard for other changes that can help them and your bottom line.
Taking cultural change seriously, making the workplace an environment that supports people’s initiative, creativity, responsibility, and meaning; and helping employees address issues with which they struggle are the real building blocks to creating a workplace that reflects great health and wellness that is also self-sustaining.
Reference:
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-create-a-workplace-culture-of-wellness-1917968