Defining Wellbeing
Looking after your employees' wellbeing has never been easy and it seems that there is always a new threat to health and safety. A few generations ago, the main concerns would have been war, terrible industrial safety and tuberculosis. Now your employees are more likely to worry about cancer, financial insecurity or the "obesity timebomb". Looking after the overall wellnes of your staff is more important than ever now. Industrial injuries now take second place to RSI, asbestos to wood dust and even manual handling injuries and falls (common as they still are) seem to be eclipsed bythe ill-effects of inactivity and sedentary lifestyles. A well-designed wellbeing programme will address all of these issues as well as workplace stress - and get to the ones that matter in your workplace. In the 2005 HSE worker survey, stress was found to be the most widespread perceived hazard, with 20% of those questioned expressing concern. Hardly surprising in today's world of information super-highways and blackberries!Organisational wellness
You have probable heard of sick building syndrome,You have probably heard of sick building syndrome, but the culture of your organisation can have just as profund an effect on the health of your employees. Put simply, if your employees do not feel that they are valued, important and have opportunity to grow and develop, they will neither perform well, nor want to stay with you. When we evaluate a business we not only examine the trends in personal health, sickness and retention, but also ask targeted questions to see how employees view the employer. That's why Rightway initial reports always include advice on how small changes to your working practices can be made (usually at little or no cost) to improve the overall health (and bottom line) of the business. By increasing engagement and satisfaction amongst staff we can really help you make a difference.
Individual Wellness
Of course no matter how hard you work on your environment and culture, for people to be truly "well" they need to be free from (or managing) disease, illness or injury. You need your team to live well if they are going to work well. Rightway can help by educating them to live better, advising on a healthy reward scheme and motivating them with regular health updates. Some of the best results, however come from their own team, and we can help you to appoint, train and manage workplace health champions.Employee Wellbeing
Organisational and employee wellbeing initiatives are not just an additional staff benefit. As employers, we know that you take your duty of care seriously - and with good reason. it makes good financial sense to keep a healthy, happy workforce given that the annual cost of sickness in the UK was estimated at over £665 per employee by the CIPD with a total cost of over £13bn in 2009 reported by the annual absence survey. Estimates put the cost of presenteeism at almost double that. Of course you cannot put a cash valu on a well-motivated team member, but you do not need us to tell you that productivity is higer when staff are happy.
The term Employee Wellbeing embodies many things, but a good wellness strategy will often address the following issues: -
- Health Promotion - in and out of work
- Work Environment
- Working practices and culture
- Communication routes within the organisation
- Training, development and self-worth of employees. And managers!
- Absence and attendance management
