Ensuring employee wellness is a great deal more than a conducive work environment with all the amenities of the pre-pandemic era; it is a revolution in itself that is in its evolutionary stage.

Wellness or Well-being is the most sought after subject these days. Prioritising employee wellbeing has become most crucial for organisations worldwide especially after the COVID -19 pandemic.

What does employee wellbeing entail?

Wellbeing is all about feeling healthy, happy and socially connected. It includes having

•  Good mental health

• Emotional strength

•  A sense of meaning or purpose

•  High resilience skills 

• Ability to manage stress

However, I do feel that wellness is a continuous process that needs conscious and consistent attention. When we talk about wellness, there are five dimensions that define our complete wellbeing which includesPhysical, Mental, Social, Intellectual and Spiritual wellbeing.

Employee wellbeing goes beyond providing a healthy snack bar, a games room, or a gym at the workplace. It is about providing ample opportunities to employees for creating and maintaining a holistic view on their wellbeing. Many people exist in a constant state of stress and anxiety, just trying to make it through the day. Whether it is work deadlines, relationships, parenting commuting in traffic, or in most cases, a combination of some or all of these, just getting through every day without losing one’s cool is increasingly challenging. That is why many forward-thinking wellness programs are shifting to a much more holistic approach that includes emotional, occupational, social, intellectual dimensions in addition to the traditional physical wellness people normally associate with good health.

Maintaining a holistic perspective of overall wellbeing and satisfaction is increasingly important now that many people are working from home full or part time.

The importance of employee wellbeing

An average employee spends almost 50 hours a week and eats about 1/3rd of their meals at work. To transform the culture of the organisation by making it more fulfilling, it is imperative for organisations to create a more holistic view towards employees’ wellbeing.

Some important points to note about the need for Corporate Wellness–

• “Organisations with highly effective health and productivity programs report 11% higher revenue per employee, 1.8 fewer days absent per employee per year and 28% greater shareholder returns.” “Of employers offering wellness programmes, 67% reported increased employee satisfaction, 66% reported increased productivity, 63% reported increased financial sustainability and growth and 50% reported decreased absenteeism” (IFEBP)

A survey conducted by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) revealed that effective workplace wellness programs increase employees’ loyalty, improve work performance, increase productivity and reduce attrition rate. Approach towards employee wellbeing Workplace wellness is essentially the well-being initiative that an organisation adopts as a policy to support healthy actions and to improve the overall well-being of the employees. Workplace wellness helps employees to enrich their physical, mental, emotional, occupational and social well-being.

Holistic wellness includes all those aspects which are required by an individual to carry out their professional and personal lives. Maintaining an optimal level of wellness is absolutely crucial to living a higher quality of life. Wellness matters because everything an individual does and every emotion he/she feels directly relates to their well-being and their professional goal achievements, and in turn, affect the organisational performance.

By hosting regular Wellness workshops and Wellness Transformation sessions, organisations can benefit largely as it becomes apparent to the employees that you care about their health and well-being, and leads to improved morale and higher performance.

Employee wellbeing initiatives to undertake

While a Wellness programme includes a broad spectrum of activities that an organisation can offer to their employees, some of the activities that can help employees  in their emotional, social and mental well-being are:–

Mindfulness

Being mindful is about paying attention to what is happening within and outside us without judging it. It helps in being more aware of the state of mind and thus creating a stronger connection with self. Consequently, it facilitates the organisation in increasing productivity while developing a resilient and happy workforce. Organisations such as Google, Nike, and Apple have already implemented mindfulness into their culture.

Mindfulness activities include:–

• Mindful Meditation: The practice of meditation focuses on one’s breathing and it helps in getting the mind to focus on the present and stop it from wandering or even worrying. 

• Mindful Gratitude: Being thankful and caring towards co-workers and in general to those around is a great technique to appreciate teamwork and collaboration. People who express gratitude are happier, have stronger immune systems and are almost 50% more productive than those who do not.

• Mindful Affirmation: Personal Affirmations help in bringing positivity and reminds one to be ‘mindful’ in life.

Yoga classes

Yoga has many physical benefits. It is an effective way to incorporate self-care, and doing it at work helps in ensuring a body that is physically fit to endure any challenges.

Social and Teambuilding

Virtual Social activities such as creating Book Clubs, Game nights etc., are some activities that can help create stronger bonding between employees, thus creating happier and positive relationships for the workforce.

Key factors for executing

Wellness initiatives Implementing workplace wellness programmes warrant organisations to follow some specific steps which revolve around:– z Setting Goals: Creating wellness goals that are beneficial to both the organisation and the workforce is imperative to the success of the wellness programme. z Forming a team: It is essential to form a team that is responsible for planning and executing the wellness programme which should have people from different departments of the organisation. 

• Planning: Designing the wellness programme forms the essence of how will it be rolled out. At this stage, budgets are created, ideas are researched and employee needs are ascertained.

• Taking Feedback for improvements: For the wellness programme to be successful, regular feedbacks should be taken and the necessary improvements or amendments should be done on a regular basis.

The future of employee wellbeing

Wellbeing is no longer an additional perk that is to be offered to the workforce but it’s a business imperative now more than ever. Being proactive about wellbeing is the way forward for any business to succeed. Wellbeing needs to be integrated within an organisation as a consistent drive and movement through initiatives such as meditation and mindfulness sessions, wellness talks, employee fitness campaigns etc.

In the ever-changing world and the unprecedented times that we are in, workplace wellbeing continues to be a huge priority for business continuity and success.