Signs your company needs a better wellbeing strategy

In 2022, every business needs an employee wellbeing strategy. Failure to have a plan of action sets many promising businesses in reverse. Here, we’ve explored the 5 telltale signs of a business in dire need of a better wellbeing strategy. 

To get the most out of this article, benchmark your current strategy against the five points made below. This should give you an insight into the current position of your business when it comes to wellbeing in the workplace. 

Fundamentally, a great wellbeing strategy consists of improving the health and wellbeing of people both in and outside of the workplace. It’s a set of initiatives that have meaning and impact on the day-to-day lives of employees. 

Before we jump into the 5 signs of needing a better employee wellbeing strategy, take a look at Heka’s wellness trends report 2022. 36 pages of insight into the employee wellbeing landscape.

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Your employees are noticeably unhappy in the workplace

There’s no clearer indication of the need for better wellbeing than unhappy employees. A common red flag that goes ignored by leaders. And not because they aren’t aware of the importance of wellbeing, but they simply neglect it. 

However, we cannot talk for all businesses, as there are many reasons businesses mismanage health and wellbeing in the workplace. The thing about unhappy employees is their negative attitudes and emotions can spread like wildfire - and rightly so (in some circumstances). 

But it isn’t just unhappiness that’s present in these employees. A mix of other damage-inflicting results occurs when people are unhappy at work. This includes poor engagement, a lack of motivation, performance and a toxic attitude towards other staff members… the list goes on.

Ultimately, unhappy employees are an extremely sure sign of a lacking wellbeing strategy. Start by arranging meetings and job satisfaction surveys with your team. Only then can you draw on possible reasons and begin to eliminate them one by one.  

Are you aware of the signs of unhappy employees in the workplace?

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Employees don’t stick around long

People leave their job for more reasons than we can count. It doesn’t always necessarily mean they are unhappy with their current role and responsibilities, but that alone isn’t enough. People need to feel supported in many different ways, and personal health and wellbeing are one of them. 

Take a look at your turnover rate. It’s these figures that will tell you if your employees are sticking around through the thick and thin. Ultimately, you need to achieve a couple of things here: 

1. Find out if your employees really are leaving at an unsustainable rate
2. Why they are leaving and what you can do about it

If your business has seen vast departures despite a great culture, ample employee benefits and a successful business, wellbeing could be the missing piece to the puzzle. Consider hosting “stay interviews” with your employees. These interviews are designed to delve deep into your team’s health, wellbeing and happiness. 

Employee turnover is something that haunts HR leaders and businesses. Due to the sheer scope of possibilities for why employees leave, it can be hard to minimise employee turnover. And for companies with a flawed employee wellbeing strategy, lack of benefits or a poor culture, this difficulty is far worse. 

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High absenteeism and presenteeism 

Absenteeism and presenteeism may sound like bizarre words, but every HR manager knows exactly what they mean and the consequences they carry. Starting with absenteeism, this refers to employees who are absent (typically) without good reason. Think job-hunting, interviewing and low morale.

Turning to presenteeism, this is higher in employers who experience low engagement, job discontent and a poor attitude. This occurs in team members who fulfil their duty to be present at work but achieve very little results. Often, this is seen in employees who burnout, suffer from workplace stress or perhaps the company has no paid sick days policy. 

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Similar read: Understanding wellbeing days for employees

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If you’ve seen a rise in either absenteeism or presenteeism, it could be a sign of needing a better wellbeing strategy. It’s a no-brainer that happy and healthy employees do not underperform or avoid work altogether. 

Unless you have the figures readily available, speak with your HR team and ask them to build reports on employee absences. Likewise with line managers who can report on individual performance amongst your team.

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Poor buy-in to existing employee wellbeing initiatives 

Last, but certainly not least, it’s time to analyse your current employee wellbeing package. Ask your HR team to delve deep into the data to find the following: 

• How often are employees using your wellbeing initiatives? 
• How accessible are they to your team? 
• Does the team know about the wellbeing package you offer?

These questions will help you identify whether or not there’s poor buy-in to any existing wellbeing initiatives. Ultimately, this is the case of “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. That’s because, although engagement may be low, it’s not to say your wellbeing package is awful. Try promoting and encouraging use; lead by example by using your package, and you may see buy-in grow.

If you’re still seeing low uptake of wellbeing initiatives after promoting them, it could be the quality of your wellbeing package. As mentioned above, consider speaking directly with your team to find out the kind of wellbeing benefits they would like to see. This will be the best option to correct poor buy-in from your team. 

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Conclusion

In a post-pandemic world, the future of employee wellbeing looks bright. Some leaders have taken action, others should see this as a wake-up call. A robust employee wellbeing strategy is set to shake everything from recruitment, retention and overall job satisfaction. If leaders want to future-proof their business, they must adopt a people-first approach. 

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Using Heka to build healthier, happier teams

Trying to build healthier, happier teams in the workplace? Our employee wellbeing platform offers employees thousands of wellbeing experiences, services and products. Everything from outdoor activities to life coaching and more. We understand the power of personalised wellbeing here at Heka, and so there's everything for everyone in your team.

If you'd like to find out further benefits of Heka, book a demo with one of our wellbeing experts!