share on
Encouraging physical activity with subsidised gym memberships isn't sufficient to promote physical wellbeing – FWAs may be a better solution to today's workforce challenges.
This article is brought to you by Cigna.
Workplace wellbeing is the welfare of your employees while they are at work. It is based on all aspects of working life, such as the culture and environment of your company, and the holistic wellbeing of your employees, such as how they’re feeling.
There are four ‘pillars’ of workplace wellbeing: physical, mental, social, and financial health. Often, these pillars are interlinked, and they all contribute to an employee’s ability to work to the best of their ability.
Promoting workplace wellbeing is important not only for your employees’ overall sense of health, but for your company’s health too. In the UK alone, the estimated financial return on investing in wellbeing could be up to $450bn. And in the US, for every $1 spent on integrated care, employers save $6 in overall medical costs.
With this magnitude of numbers, it’s important that you cultivate a workplace environment that looks after your employees – allowing both your team and your business to thrive.
How to promote workplace wellbeing
According to the Cigna Healthcare Vitality Study 2023, six in 10 employees hope to receive more support from their employers on their health.
Promoting employee wellbeing in the workplace often begins with wellbeing initiatives that address the four pillars shared above, and detailed below.
1. Promoting physical wellbeing in the workplace
Our working lives may have become more sedentary than ever, with work-from-home and hybrid work arrangements.
Promoting physical wellbeing is essential to a happier and healthier workforce.
Traditional ways of doing so include:
- Encouraging physical activity with subsidised gym memberships,
- Organising in-office workout sessions, such as yoga or a mass walk,
- Providing ergonomic workspaces, including an adjustable desk.
However, in recent years, companies have begun to recognise that providing facilities alone isn’t sufficient to promote wellbeing in the workplace. Instead, flexible work arrangements or breaks may be a better solution to support employees. This allows your team to engage in physical exercise routines that fit in with their work and personal schedules.
By doing so, your workplace moves beyond simply providing facilities to building a culture that values and supports physical health as essential.
2. Supporting mental and emotional wellbeing at work
An environment where your employees feel safe to express their emotions is one that promotes good mental and emotional wellbeing.
This starts with the individual behaviour of managers towards employees, and is enhanced by the provision of mental health awareness programmes in the office. You can also consider implementing employee wellness days, where your team is encouraged to take the day for self-care activities.
Additionally, while these initiatives are important, it is even more important that professional mental health services are accessible to your employees. This can be done through your company’s health insurance plan; by ensuring that there’s coverage for services such as counselling to psychotherapy to, even, online life skills courses that may help.
3. Fostering social wellbeing in the workplace
Strong connections and a good support system in the workplace are essential to your employees’ wellbeing.
You can foster positive relationships by adopting a healthy management style and encouraging open communication in the office. As managers, regularly acknowledge and recognise the achievement of your team; as well as organise team-building activities and social events, to help your team get to know each other, inside and outside of the office.
On top of introducing wellbeing initiatives in the office, it’s imperative that your leadership team participates and models healthy behaviour. Leaders play an important part in shaping workplace culture; and should they walk the walk by leading a healthy lifestyle, it eventually becomes entrenched in the office environment too.
Simple ways of doing so include:
- Supporting work-life balance by discouraging and limiting after-hours messages
- Sharing openly about personal ways of managing mental health and dealing with stress
- Practising empathy and active listening when engaging with employees
Fostering a culture that prioritises wellbeing not only makes your office a more enjoyable place to work, but is also the greatest return on investment any business can make.
After all, it’s only when our employees thrive, that our business does too.
If you’d like support on creating a health-promoting office culture, reach out to Cigna Healthcare for comprehensive plans that are customisable to your needs.
share on
