What do we actually mean by employee wellbeing?
To this day, wellbeing remains a contested word, with various definitions and spellings and still remains “conceptually muddy”. What I can assure you though – it definitely isn’t ‘wellness’.
“Workplace wellness” is usually linked with the word “health” and unsurprisingly the focus is mostly on employee physical health such as being at a healthy weight, looking at your nutrition, exercise, and stopping smoking etc. All extremely worthwhile and creditable for sure, but they alone, will not drive increased employee engagement or add to your business profits. They are nice to have’s – but not essentials if you are striving for profit and productivity boosts.
Wellbeing, on the other hand, embraces more than just physical health. It includes a positive mental state which includes our emotions, and moods, a state of good health, happiness, fulfilment, purpose and engagement. And employee engagement, from a workplace standpoint, is the emotional connection employees have with their work, their colleagues, their employer, and what they are positively gaining from working there. Make sense?
There is unequivocally a clear line of correlation between employee wellbeing and organisational profits– fact – and study after study prove the case.
A staggering 185.6 million working days were lost to stress related illnesses in 2022, which is a new record according to the Office for National Statistics and is an increase of over 35 million days!
However, absence is just the tip of the cost iceberg. A recent wellbeing study by Deloitte showed that only 2 in 5 employees are working at peak performance and that presenteeism from mental ill health alone costs the UK economy £15.1 billion per annum.
Presenteeism is the loss in productivity that occurs when employees come to work but function at less than full capacity because of ill health. Turnover costs are the cost of replacing staff who leave their job.
The split of this £15b was estimated at around 10 per cent due to the cost of replacing staff, 30 per cent cost due to sickness absence, and a whopping 60 per cent cost due to reduced productivity at work – shocking, isn’t it? Let’s just leave that figure there for a moment. Absent employees are LESS costly to you then the employees who ARE in the office, but not functioning at capacity.
The Deloitte report further suggests that improving the management of wellbeing in the workplace, including prevention and early identification of problems could enable employers to save 30 per cent or more of these costs £15b costs.
Big businesses and the sharp CEO’S already get it, and my betting is that many SME business owners feel they need to do something, but are worried that they don’t know where to start or what it’s going to cost them!
In an extensive study, it was reported that 6 in 10 boards say that the wellbeing of staff is their TOP concern. And they didn’t sugar coat their reasons either – they were honest that this was their top concern, because they understand that employee wellbeing ultimately improved business results. Wellbeing2 = profits10
How we can we help?
You can make a start by coming along to our next FREE WORKSHOP on 30th June at 10am on how to create a wellbeing strategy that’s right for your business, Book your FREE place here.
Or if you are already committed to putting Wellbeing on your agenda, then book a Wellbeing Audit with us. We will review everything that you currently do in terms of wellbeing, as well as look at all the related systems and processes you have in place that link to employee wellbeing such as your culture and values, employee performance review process, pay, rewards and perks, and your office set up/home office set up.
We then provide you with a comprehensive traffic light report which will identify where you are not meeting employment legislation or best practice standards in relation of employee wellbeing these areas will be RED, areas which you could improve upon from a wellbeing perspective which will ensure you can attract and retain the best people for your business a and improve productivity and profits will be AMBER and GREEN will indicate the areas where you are doing just fine. We then meet with you to discuss our findings and help you to come up with your very own Wellbeing Strategy for your business.
If you’d like to book your Employee Wellbeing Audit in July or August for the special introductory price of just £1,200 (that’s a 15% saving on the price from 1st September onwards) just drop us a line at hello@merakihr.com or you can book a call with us here to discuss the Wellbeing Audit or Book your Audit here.
