Health & Wellebing
For years, employees are expecting more and more from their workplace. Whether that being additional holidays; to bigger and better employee benefits.
Through the evolution of society, an employee’s needs have become far greater than first thought. With additional daily stress to deal with like the impact of technology on employee wellbeing. Advances in technology are generally seen to have more of a positive than negative impact on employee wellbeing, although 29% are ambivalent, reporting the overall impact is neither positive nor negative. Three-quarters report that one of the main benefits has been enabling flexible working, such as home or remote working. The most common negative effect of technology on wellbeing, reported by 87% of respondents, relates to employees’ inability to switch off out of work hours, clearly linked to the ‘always-on’ culture that is a widely acknowledged feature of the modern workplace. A high proportion of respondents (70%) also refer to the stress that results when technology fails.
The health and wellbeing of an individual is far more important within a workplace. It is proven that, a workplace that supports employees health and wellbeing is proven to reduce stress and improve the performance of its employees. What seems like the majority of our waking hours spent working, providing opportunities and benefits to keep a healthy workplace is more important than ever!
If you look at mental health across the workforce, which has increased from 31% in 2016 to 51% in 2018. Levels of work-related stress and mental-health-related absence are not improving and there remains a stubborn implementation gap between aspiration and practice. The reasons for this are manifold, and some of the factors affecting people’s psychological health are external, outside the organisation’s control. The ageing population means many workers have increased caring responsibilities that can put pressure on their work – life balance, for example, and the wider political and economic climate – such as the uncertainty created by Brexit – can also influence people’s sense of wellbeing. Further, our survey shows the mixed impact of technology on mental wellbeing, with 87% of our respondents citing an inability to switch off out of work hours as the main negative effect on employees.
Although we all like to get positive feedback, appreciation or a note of thanks, another way of providing this is through rewards and benefits.
Companies with highly engaged staff report employees taking an average of 7 absence days per year, approximately half the 14 days per year reported in low engagement companies. Those employees in high engagement companies also report significantly less workplace stress, 28% versus 39%. According to those who described themselves as happy in their role were less likely to take ‘sickies’, than those who described themselves as unhappy, with almost three in 10 (27%) of unhappy workers having embellished the truth about being ill to take a day off on at least one occasion, compared with 20% of contented employees. More than one in twenty (6%) to taking a ‘sickie’ more than five times in one year.
If your workforce is tired, grouchy and generally demotivated it is probably time to make some changes.
How can you help your employees to be happier? This isn’t about hiring a workforce of Tibetan monks. It’s about helping your people to be comfortable, healthy and happy. It’s about investing in staff wellbeing as a priority and reaping the rewards.
Businesses with healthy and happy staff enjoy high levels of staff morale and productivity and, ultimately, enjoy healthy long-term profitability.
Gone are the days of businesses ruling by fear and treating staff mean to keep them keen. Millennials especially want work environments that are creative, collaborative, innovative, inclusive, joyful, diverse and thoughtful; and they want to work for companies that value teamwork, diversity, ethics and responsibility.
One way of promoting wellbeing is to have workspaces that employees can engage with and feel comfortable in. Conversely, a poorly designed workspace can quash any thoughts of creativity, good performance, engagement and innovation.
As interior design experts believe that good design should always be at the forefront when planning to change an office space or when moving to a new location. However, employee wellbeing should also be at the heart of a workplace to improving wellbeing, morale and productivity.
At Remus Rewards, it’s not all about the benefits. Our Wellbeing is of great importance. Not only does it keep us as well-rounded individuals, but it also can help with preventing health problems down the line. Our growing and comprehensive wellbeing portal will allow you to ensure that your employee’s health is paramount and show you as a compassionate employer.
Remus Rewards
Remus Rewards, a division of People Value Limited, is an REC, FCSA and APSCo Business Partner, a TEAM Service Provider and a market leading provider of reward and loyalty solutions. We specialise in providing solutions to the contractor and temporary labour market across the UK. By using our cloud based reward technology, businesses can improve their proposition, performance and increase engagement, morale and loyalty. Take advantage of savings on high street shopping, including 7 major supermarkets, eating out, special rate cinema tickets, discounted gym memberships and our Fuel Card which offers discounted fuel at over 35% of the UK motorway service stations.
