Employee productivity and well-being are firmly linked, so finding ways to promote this for employees will benefit your company and your people.
First, let’s explain what we mean by “well-being”… which is a little easier said than done. Well-being is hard to define because it encompasses multiple factors and means something different to everyone. But it should be noted that well-being is not the same thing as wellness. Well-being is more than just physical and mental health. For employees who spend much of their workday doing physically active and labor-intensive tasks, this may relate more to physical health and comfort, but it can also include feeling valued, receiving adequate breaks, and having flexibility. In contrast, for employees who sit at a desk all day or meet with clients, this may be more about stress management, public praise for good work, a positive work environment, flexible hours, and fewer meetings. The most important step you’ll need to take when creating a program to promote well-being in your workplace will be to find your employees’ pain points.
STEP 1: Talk to your employees
Depending on the size of your business, this could mean hosting a town hall, one-on-one discussions, email surveys, or departmental meetings. Whatever method of communication you find the most effective, ensure that all of your employees are included and ask the right questions.
- What are your most significant stressors at work?
- Do you feel supported and taken care of here?
- Emotionally
- Physically
- Mentally
- Personally
- If not, what’s missing?
- What could we start doing to improve your overall well-being here?
- What should we stop doing that would improve your overall well-being here?
These are some examples to start the conversation, but each business is unique, so add questions that make sense to your company and give your employees a safe space to answer them openly and honestly. Don’t stop after the first round of questions. Keep the conversation going after making changes, and check in with your team to see what’s working and what needs to be adjusted. Organize responses in a way that makes sense to your company; if different departments expressed wildly different pain points, split them up and consider creating a tailored program for each.
STEP 2: Analyze your results
What trends came up as a result of the first step? Were there a few big things, or lots of little things? Order your list according to what was mentioned by the most people and discuss the results with your leadership team to see what makes sense to change immediately versus over time.
STEP 3: Implement changes
Once you’ve addressed your team’s biggest well-being pain points, implement the changes necessary to address them; This might mean making some small changes, or it might mean addressing a bigger underlying problem that causes many small issues. This could mean anything from supplying better quality footwear for your factory workers to organizing a morning meditation for your sales department, implementing a peer recognition program, or reevaluating your paid time off (PTO) plan.
STEP 4: Check-In
Talk to your employees again after some time has passed and re-survey your team. Have the changes you implemented made a difference? If not, what got in the way? If you run into a roadblock and need further assistance or a fresh perspective, our team of HR experts is ready to jump in to help.
Don’t forget, you can also chat with us via the online chat tool in the lower-left corner of your screen. We love helping companies align their people with their business needs, and we love to share what we know.
