Take the first step towards a healthier, happier, and more productive workplace.
“Promoting wellbeing at work can help prevent stress and create positive working environments where individuals and organizations can thrive,” states the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
And that’s not all! When your organization's wellbeing is prioritized, employees are less likely to take sick days, will deliver higher performance, and have lower rates of burnout and turnover, according to Gallup.
Building a culture of wellbeing at work sets your employees and organization up for success. But how do you get started? This blog post highlights how you can embed wellbeing into your workplace culture.
Key takeaways:
Wellness at work reduces sick days and absenteeism
Tailor-make your wellness program to suit your employees
Make wellness a part of your culture to improve productivity, health, and happiness
What is a Culture of Wellness?
A culture of wellness celebrates and encourages employees to adopt healthier habits, both at work and in their personal lives. A holistic approach is taken to promote health and happiness, creating more motivated and hard-working employees.
Example activities of a workplace that promotes wellness may include hosting:
Regular fitness challenges
Group meditation sessions
Healthy eating workshops
Education sessions on mental health and wellbeing
Building a culture of wellness at work takes time. But the sooner you add the bricks to the foundations, the quicker you’ll have a strong and robust workplace company culture. So start adding those bricks!
How to promote wellbeing in the workplace?
There is no one way to promote wellbeing in the workplace—you’ll need to incorporate a mix of solutions to help support and get the most out of your workforce.
Upskill managers and leaders to support employee wellbeing
Provide managers with the tools and skills to identify signs of stress and poor mental health at work. Further, equip them with the necessary training to offer guidance and support where necessary.
It’s also a good idea to equip your employees with the tools to recognize signs of stress, burnout, and poor mental health. Increasing education allows for better awareness and an emotional buy-in from employees.
In other words, if they know why and how to be more active and live healthier lifestyles, they are more likely to participate.
Create a bespoke wellbeing program
No two organizations are the same. Their wellness needs might be similar, but creating a tailor made program will help you achieve the best results and ROI.
To get started, create employee wellbeing surveys and administer these to employees. Make sure these are completely anonymous to help you collect the most accurate and useful information.
But what should your survey include? There are numerous questions you can ask, such as:
How would you rate your work-life balance?
How often do you feel stressed at work?
How often do you exercise during work hours (for example, a lunchtime walk or run)?
Have you ever taken a day off for your mental health?
Would you say you have access to healthy food options at work?
How would you rate your opportunity for career and personal development at work?
How satisfied are you with the company's efforts to promote wellbeing at work?
If you were stressed, burnt out or were undergoing a mental health issue, would you feel comfortable talking to your manager?
The above questions are an excellent starting point. At FitPros, we conduct numerous employee surveys and anonymous interviews with your employees to better understand their wellness needs. This data allows us to create a bespoke wellbeing program that is tailor-made for your employees. Whether or not you choose to work with us, we’d advise you to take a similar approach!
Organize employee wellbeing challenges
Workplace wellbeing challenges help get your employees moving during and outside of work hours. Weekly and monthly challenges can improve employee happiness, health, and productivity at work.
For example, you might host weekly/monthly movement, hydration, run, or cycling challenges. Reward participation and distribute gift cards and other rewards to the challenge winners.
Read our blog post, Workplace Wellbeing Challenges: Benefits & How to Set Them Up, for more info on how to get started.
Regularly “take stock” of employee wellbeing
Line managers and HR teams can tackle the causes of mental health problems at work by “taking stock,” as suggested by the mental health charity, Mind. Routinely taking stock at work allows you and your team to:
Assess the effectiveness of your current wellness program
Identify problem areas
Understand what factors affect mental wellbeing in your workplace
Plan improvements to improve productivity, happiness, and team morale
When taking stock, look for triggers of stress and mental health problems. These can include, but are not limited to:
Working long hours with little to no breaks
Unrealistic deadlines and expectations
Inability to use annual leave
Poor communication
Poor management support
Job insecurity
Micromanaging and a toxic work environment
Taking stock is not something you do once a year. You should routinely check what’s working, what problem areas may arise, and how your employees respond to your new wellness efforts.
You can take stock by educating upper management on how to recognize the signs of poor mental health and by asking employees to fill out anonymous surveys on the effectiveness of your current program.
Create an environment of transparency
The more transparent you are with your employees, the easier it will be to build trust at work. Maybe that looks like providing insight into the business or financial plan or what goals you have for the next year, and the following five years.
You can also be more transparent about wellbeing and mental health. For example, being more open around personal struggles—if you feel comfortable doing so—and extending an open door policy for employees to talk whenever needed.
When your employees feel trusted and a part of the team, there’s a good chance they’ll perform better at work.
Continue to invest in wellbeing culture at work
To build a top of the class, thriving wellbeing culture at work, it’s not a one and done investment. You need to continually invest in your wellbeing culture. That means hosting regular wellness challenges, investing in mental health and wellbeing education, and regularly examining the effect of your program on your employees to help them get the most out of your wellness dollars.
How do you build a thriving culture at work?
To build a thriving wellness culture at work, start encouraging and incentivising healthy habits, from achieving regular movement goals, to cooking nutritious meals, taking regular breaks, and prioritizing wellness education.
The more you invest into your employees, the more they’ll invest into your organization. That includes reduced absenteeism, improved productivity, and overall, a better place to work!
For a more personalized approach on how to build a culture of wellbeing at work, reach out to the FitPros team. We’ll be in touch within one business day.
FAQs
What are examples of a positive work culture?
Examples of a positive work culture include supporting colleagues, encouraging self-development, taking regular breaks, hosting regular wellness challenges, and not assigning blame for mistakes.
What is a red flag of a bad company culture?
There are many red flags of a bad company culture. But some may include a high employee turnover, working through lunch and on the weekends, unrealistic expectations, and lots of absence.
What does a good wellbeing strategy look like?
A good wellbeing strategy is tailored to your workforce. However, it may include regular wellness challenges, opportunities for self development, education on mental health and upskilling upper management, to name a few.
Join FitPros to Host Your Challenges
FitPros hosts new challenges every month for your employees, from step and movement challenges to mental health and sleep. You can track challenge progress on the app and compare results on the leaderboards. We also distribute prizes for you.
Looking for more? Contact a Wellbeing Manager to discuss your organizational wellbeing needs.
We provide workplace teams with mindful practices, personal and professional wellbeing growth, fitness instruction, and opportunities for social connection. We aim to inspire the highest potential in people at work, in life, every day, so they can show up healthy and at their best.