How to Establish an Effective Wellness Strategy in your Workplace

According to CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development), “mental health related absence is the most common cause of long-term sickness absence in UK workplaces”. Mental health challenges have been exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, and an employer who neglects to protect the wellbeing of employees is more likely to experience higher employee turnover, reduced employee engagement, and an increase in presenteeism. It’s vital that we protect the wellbeing of employees by addressing mental health at work.

 

How to Address Mental Health at Work?

In today’s climate, employers need to prioritise the development of an effective employee wellbeing strategy. At Impression, we work closely with industry experts to ensure that our clients are referred to the best possible people. We direct our clients to mental health professionals who can offer advice regarding your wellness strategy, and help you to cultivate a healthy workplace.

Sally Bendtson, founder of Limelight HR and one of our industry experts offers her advice on embedding an employee wellbeing strategy:

“If you want to attract game changers and develop superstars, you need to develop and implement an effective wellbeing strategy.

Potential employees are more likely to apply for jobs at companies which are known for valuing their people, and customers would rather spend their money with companies who look after their people. Treating your staff well isn’t just about being nice, it’s about your bottom-line.

And workplace wellness isn’t just about mental health, it’s about physical, nutritional, financial, social and digital health too. These factors all have a major impact on how well your team is able to focus, perform and manage under pressure.”

 

How to Develop an Employee Wellbeing Strategy?

It takes a collective effort and strong leadership skills to drive this kind of organisational change. In order to implement an employee wellbeing strategy that is unique to your organisation, it is useful to break the process down into four key areas:

• Leadership: Lead by example by prioritising your own mental health and talking openly about your experiences. As well as being responsible for taking care of your employees, you are responsible for monitoring your own health and wellbeing.

• Access to services: A simple and cost-effective way to encourage and promote health and wellbeing among employees is to provide your workforce with a toolkit of mental health resources, such as mental health awareness training. This will help to improve absence management and employee performance across your organisation.

• Awareness: Increasing awareness of mental health can help to break down the stigma surrounding the topic and pave the way to a more open and inclusive culture. One way to initiate mental health dialogue in your workplace is to participate in or advocate for a peer support model.

• Culture: Listening to your employees is key to supporting their wellbeing. This means fostering a culture where employees feel comfortable enough to share their experiences and have opportunities to do so in a safe and genuine way. Give your employees the chance to raise any concerns by regularly checking in and asking them how they are. Prospective and existing employees are interested in the culture your organisation fosters, especially when the job market is crowded.

At Impression Recruitment, we take employee wellness seriously. We understand that having employee wellbeing at the heart of your organisation’s people management strategy is crucial for driving job satisfaction, increased productivity, sustained growth, and long-term success.

 

Prioritise Wellness

We can refer you to industry experts who can assist you with the development of your employer wellbeing strategy. Get in touch with our specialist recruitment agents in Harrogate and Darlington today: https://www.impressionrecruitment.co.uk/contact/