Steps To Champion Employee Health And Well-Being

Studies show major discrepancies between employers and workers when it comes to employee health and well-being. More than 90% of employees value workplace well-being as highly as pay, but fewer than a quarter believe their employer cares about their mental health. For employers, there are numerous benefits to championing employee health, including high staff retention rates, low risk of health-related absences, high levels of team morale and increased productivity and efficiency. In this guide, we’ll outline some simple steps to help you promote health and well-being at your business. 

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Build an employee benefits package that focuses on health

One of the best ways to promote good workplace health is to build a benefits package, which has employee well-being at its core. Review your current package, see what other businesses are doing and take inspiration from brands that are known for taking good care of their employees. Research benefits and tailor the bundle to suit your employees. Find out what kinds of perks and entitlements they would prefer. Studies show that the most important employee benefit in the US is comprehensive health insurance, followed by life insurance, pensions, paid time off and mental health support. 

Make it easy for your employees to adopt a healthy lifestyle

Employers may not be nutritionists, doctors or personal trainers, but there are ways they can encourage and support employees to help them adopt a healthy lifestyle. Examples include providing healthy office snack boxes at meetings, adding nutritious meals to the canteen menu, offering discounted access to local gyms and exercise classes, allowing time for physical activity during the day, and providing mental health workshops. 

Identify obstacles and challenges

Workplace absence due to poor health is a major issue for US employers. In 2022 alone, almost 8 million US workers took time off due to illness or injury, according to figures from the US Bureau of Labor. Health problems can affect productivity and efficiency, employee morale, brand reputation and image, and the quality of the service your business provides. It can also increase pressure on other members of staff, who may have to work overtime or take on additional tasks. To lower absence rates, it’s wise to identify obstacles and challenges. Use data and feedback from your employees to understand which types of illnesses and injuries are most common and pinpoint causes. Try to find solutions to help you address pain points swiftly. 

Stress has become more prevalent in recent years and work is the most common cause. Studies show that over 75% of employees experience work-related stress every month. Talk to your employees and work together to find ways to reduce risks. Perhaps your employees feel they don’t have a good work-life balance, for example, or they think your expectations are too high. More seriously, they may not feel as valued or have as strong a sense of belonging within the organization as they should do. Adopting inclusive leadership practices, adjusting working hours, giving employees more flexibility, hiring additional staff members and encouraging workers to take paid time off could help.

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Employee health and well-being should be a priority for all employers, but most employees feel their boss doesn’t value their well-being. If you run a company, there are many ways you can actively promote and champion health and well-being, including putting them at the core of your employee benefits package, making it easy for your team to adopt a healthy lifestyle and identifying common illnesses and their causes and risk factors.