In the contemporary times of the fast-paced corporate world, employee wellness is becoming increasingly vulnerable. No organization wants to settle for any compromises in employee productivity. But, don’t you think it’s weird how companies expect employees to be at their best every single day without caring for their employees’ wellness?
Can The Avengers save the world if they are themselves exhausted and unwell? The same is the case with your employees who add value to your business.
61 percent of workers report being burned out in the workplace.
The Career Builder survey featured by Forbes report that employees are being affected by constant stress and anxiety because of their workload. Further, these mental health issues lead to physical health ailments. Not to forget, the ongoing pandemic is making everyone even more apprehensive and stressed.
No doubt, businesses are thriving on telecommuting and Zoom meetings. But do you ever spare a thought if your remote workers have drained energy levels?
The bottom line is that the risks to your employees’ well-being may lead to massive declines in their productivity.
On humanitarian grounds, as well as from an entrepreneur’s acumen, you should start investing in employee wellness. As per Virgin Pulse, 78 percent of employers have already incorporated employee wellness initiatives. They have been smart enough to identify the merits of caring for employees.
In this blog, we’re going to take a look at the advantages that come with being considerate and caring of your employees. You can take your business to the next level with satisfied and ardent employees.
Every business leader understands the salience of having engaged and productive employees. While high performers make a part of the assets, disengaged employees can be counted as liabilities.
However, we cannot blame employees for disengagement if they never received empathy and support from their leaders.
With wellness initiatives in place, engagement levels and productivity can be boosted. Wellness programs will help employees to manage their stress better and rather focus on performance. The American Institute of Stress cites that 41 percent of employees report loss of work efficiency due to stress.
Wellness initiatives with an emphasis on mental health are desirable in the workplace. If a large portion of your workforce begins to lose their productivity, the growth of the company will be stalled.
Did you know that high engagement can enhance productivity by 21 percent!? This is, in fact, a credible finding by Gallup that was done to find the correlation between employee engagement and various other factors. Hence, employee wellness should be among your top priorities for upscaling employee engagement.
When employees are at the best of their physical and mental health, they will deliver quality work. They’ll more than likely step up to take on additional responsibilities as well. Also, employees will hold a sense of gratitude toward their employers in lieu of wellness programs. This feeling of gratitude will translate into more commitment, dedication, diligence, and positivity at work.
With such a wide spectrum of benefits, what’s keeping you from investing in employee wellness right away?
Retaining top talent is a key priority for all organizations. Businesses do realize the cost of turnover and how the vicious cycle of hiring and rehiring affects overall performance. In fact, as per Forbes, turnover costs up to 33 percent of an employee’s salary.
Hence, there is a constant focus on devising strategies to upscale the retention rates. Here, it is critical to shed light on why employees have the tendency to quit. While career advancement is one valid reason, there are other causes of employee attrition as well. These include a lack of empathy from the employers, a constant feeling of being burned out in the job, and the inability to address the issue of stress.
The good news is that initiating wellness programs at your company can be game-changing.
When you begin to care for your workers’ health, they find meaningful reasons to stick to the organization. You have to make them believe that your organization cares for their well-being like no other. To retain your top talents, you need to foster a culture of empathy and gratitude with wellness programs.
These little things make a massive difference. This is the reason why Google, Microsoft, and Accenture are the dream organizations to work for. These companies have excellent employee wellness programs that do not let employee turnover become an issue. They know how to give enough reasons to their employees for retaining them.
You can always learn from the industry leaders and incorporate the best practices. Employee wellness programs are worthwhile best practices! Make your employees feel wanted, and see how they reciprocate with diligence. Unlike other investments, employee wellness has assured returns.
Do you know that the actual costs of workplace stress can be quantified? As per some significant statistics on workplace stress, companies in the US lose USD 300 billion per year due to stress-related absenteeism. That is much higher than what investments in healthcare programs will cost, isn’t it?
Wellness initiatives will help you reduce absenteeism in the workplace and hence avert the related losses. If the workplace offers stress management opportunities, employees will love to come to work every day.
You can negate the losses and maximize the contribution from your staff to achieve organizational goals.
There is enough empirical evidence to suggest that wellness programs can reduce healthcare costs for the employer. Here it is important to consider the example of Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson’s wellness program saved the company USD 38 million in four years.
Some studies suggest that thoughtful employee wellness programs can bring an ROI of up to 3.27. For every dollar spent on employee wellness programs, your company can save three dollars in healthcare costs. Hence, the idea of wellness makes you a caring as well as a smart business leader. Cost is a big consideration for employers to launch new initiatives. But as you can see, investment in wellness will bring you greater returns.
Wellness initiatives in the workplace can also be used for positive branding. Clients and customers will be more inclined to buy from businesses that care for their employees’ wellness.
In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in consumer preferences.
They are more attracted to businesses that show a social and environmental conscience. Besides, when employees feel well, they will radiate that positivity to the consumers and potential buyers. Your employees will not be able to deliver rich customer experiences if they are overworked and burned out.
As a business leader, you do realize the significance of customer experiences. How your company deals with clients is a part of your word-of-mouth marketing strategy. So, even from this perspective, caring for employee wellness is essential. Caring for people is an exemplary trait of democratic leadership.
When you show a keen interest in employee wellness, it drives motivation among employees to serve better and it affects the reputation of the organization positively. Based on this positive branding, you will also be able to hire new talents that add more value to the company. Creating a positive image in terms of addressing employee wellness issues is your best chance to attract high-caliber employees.
The reasons for investing in employee well-being are only getting better, aren’t they? But, the actual implementation of wellness programs is more important than the thought of it. You should be aware of the smartest ways to make wellness programs successful to leverage these benefits for the company. The better the execution, the greater the contribution of your wellness initiatives will be to the growth of the organization.
Positive company culture, positive employee relationships, and a conducive work environment are ingredients of organizational success. However, in most workplaces, stress overrides the thoughts of positivity, making the work environment toxic. There is a lack of support in such a hostile work environment, more conflicts among colleagues, and greater disengagement.
No one would want to work in such a toxic work environment. Even you would not enjoy being in your own office given the overwhelming negativity. But, with wellness programs, you can create a positive workplace environment. That is what incredible leadership skills are all about, after all. You have to look for ways to keep their motivation going.
Good health is a driving force for intrinsic motivation.
The logic is simple; wellness programs will help employees to manage their stress and anger better. You will have more open and happier faces in the workplace cooperating and supporting each other. There will be positivity in the mind frames of employees, and they will positively support each other.
Moreover, employees will no longer be tangled in their struggles and will take the initiative to curate healthy relationships. Besides, wellness programs will improve the employer and employee relationships in a drastic way as well.
When you support the cause of your employees’ wellness, they will be more respectful and affectionate. Now, what wonders positive workplace relationships can do is something you already know.
Positivity can unlock new doors and make success a more feasible idea than before. With employee wellness initiatives in place, you can empower your employees to leave behind their stress and unleash their best creativity, innovation, and other prowesses within them.
To conclude, the idea of employee wellness does not have any rational counters. While it makes you a favorable leader for your employees, it also benefits your business in multifaceted ways.
From cost benefits to important operational considerations like employee engagement, wellness programs have amazing merits to offer. It is an investment worth making to take your business to the next level.
Most importantly, in this pandemic your employees need your empathy and support. Caring for their wellness and rewarding them with healthcare is really the least you can do. This is what great leaders do: They care for the entire team!
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