Employee wellbeing is crucial to business success, and employees require access to health insurance, mental and emotional support and an uplifting work environment.
Social change organizations that prioritize wellbeing have made listening and experimentation the foundation of their approach, finding that well-being stipends help their grantees access classes, subscriptions, or activities which promote healthy living and resilience.
Getting the board and workforce on your side
Becoming the go-to expert for employee wellbeing programs requires having both board and workforce support. A positive work culture improves productivity, reduces turnover, fosters innovation, retains customers, and drives revenue growth. Fostering mental wellbeing through an environment which prioritizes mental health is also beneficial to employees’ overall well-being as it impacts personal lives and relationships.
Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH is an associate professor in Medicine, Medical Education, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine as well as Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. Additionally he serves as Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education for Trainee Well-Being as well as Chief Wellness Officer at Mount Sinai Health System. Jonathan maintains multiple leadership networks such as CHARM’s Chief Wellness Officer Network & GME Well-Being Leaders Network to advance clinician wellbeing further while developing key content to further advance clinician well-being further.
High-performing organizations understand that staff wellbeing is an integral aspect of business performance and should prioritize it accordingly. To do so, they require dedicated leaders who can implement transformative changes and foster a new narrative about employee wellbeing. The Workforce Well-Being Leadership professional development program provides solutions-focused learning in an inclusive space designed for discovery, discussion and practice.
Creating a culture of well-being
An employee wellness culture can be an effective means of recruiting and retaining employees. By encouraging healthier lifestyle choices for employees, companies can reduce absenteeism rates as well as healthcare expenses.
Fostering a culture of wellbeing begins with leadership. Leaders must demonstrate its values by serving as role models. Additionally, leaders should create space for employees to discuss issues freely while offering emotional support as needed. Finally, leaders should demonstrate why prioritizing their own wellbeing is so essential.
Establishing a culture of well-being requires taking a series of steps. The first is measuring employee well-being and identifying needs in order to select suitable programs and measure both mental and physical wellbeing in the employee survey. Furthermore, conducting regular pulse checks on employee engagement will allow you to respond swiftly and build connections and trust between staff.
Investing in continuous learning
As the nature of work evolves, employees need to have the capabilities necessary to adapt and stay competitive. Continuous learning is the cornerstone of establishing this capability – it also helps employees gain skills that benefit them personally.
First step to encouraging continuous learning among your team members is making them understand its value. They must see it as something worth prioritizing in their daily work or they’ll stop engaging in it altogether. Make sure they have access to resources – whether self-study, online courses or structured mastermind groups – that allow for continuous development.
Establishing a continuous learning culture takes time and effort, but the benefits are invaluable. Studies show it increases employee engagement, retention, productivity and innovation – as well as being less costly than hiring new staff retrained separately. Furthermore, continuous improvement fosters business resilience to change by building an organization culture dedicated to ongoing improvement.
Creating a plan
Wellness plans are tools designed to assist individuals in meeting their life-enhancing goals across different life aspects – this may include physical, financial, social, emotional and intellectual well-being. When life gets overwhelming it can be easy to focus on things out of our control but creating a wellness plan can refocus attention and ensure we do all we need for ourselves.
As part of any wellness program, it’s vital that employees participate early on, so as to tailor it specifically to their needs and interests. Furthermore, employee involvement from the beginning will foster participation as well as foster ownership which in turn results in increased performance and productivity resulting in reduced sick days/leaves of absences and improved customer satisfaction while at the same time decreasing company expenses through reduced healthcare expenses and premiums.
