How to develop a staff wellbeing framework

Developing a staff wellbeing framework is no easy feat. There are plenty of considerations, and getting it right is crucial. Like anything, a robust strategy is necessary to make the best impact – which also applies to employee wellbeing.

Unfortunately, not all organisations understand how to develop a staff wellbeing framework. Workplace health and wellbeing can be a confusing endeavour – but it doesn’t have to be! We’re going to explore how to construct the foundation of a staff wellbeing strategy. 

Not just any staff wellbeing strategy, but one that will drive health, wellbeing and happiness for all in your company. Great businesses are built on greater teams. If there’s one reason to consider rethinking or developing your strategy, let it be that. 

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"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." – Napolean Hill

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What is a staff wellbeing framework?

Simply put, your staff wellbeing framework is the cornerstone of your wellbeing strategy. It’s the checklists, questionnaires and employee wellness metrics that form a better understanding of three things; health, wellbeing and happiness. 

By developing your staff wellbeing strategy, you are able to enhance employee output, create higher job satisfaction, better business performance and more. It will become the hymn sheet that leadership teams must collectively sing from. 

It’s a blueprint as much as it is the solution. Our article is designed to help you construct your own staff wellbeing framework – we’ve left nothing out. After all, employee wellbeing is deserving of such an extensive guide. 

Without giving close attention to your staff's wellbeing framework, you can expect to fall at the first hurdle. Now we've explored the definition, let’s jump into the first consideration!

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"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." – Benjamin Franklin

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A bird’s-eye view of a staff wellbeing framework

Your staff wellbeing strategy is a combination of research and action. We must understand how our current health and wellbeing efforts perform before we move forward. 

Before you dive into our staff wellbeing framework process, we recommend assessing what’s working well already. Below, we’ve outlined just exactly what we’re going to cover. 

• Questionnaires, surveys and wellbeing meetings
• Metrics, KPIs and goals
• Reassessment of employee benefits and perks
• Must-have wellbeing formulas for HR teams
• Other Heka resources for your staff wellbeing framework
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Questionnaires, surveys and wellbeing meetings

Starting with questionnaires, surveys and meetings – or in simpler terms, communication and listening. Two skills that can really drive a more streamlined and successful staff wellbeing strategy. 

When it comes to employee feedback, there are thousands of questions to ask, spanning multiple themes. It’s important you niche down your set of questions so that they focus on the health, wellbeing and happiness of your people. 

Questions around job satisfaction, employee benefits, engagement, peer relationships, management and leadership align with the feedback you want. Keep in mind that if you have too many questions, you risk receiving broad insight. 

Maintain just enough questions so you can save time and find accurate solutions with your staff wellbeing framework.

Tip: Here at Heka we regularly produce practical resources for HR professionals. You can find them all listed for free download on our resources page.

If you’ve made the most of questionnaires and surveys, and you’re looking for more feedback, it’s time to consider wellbeing meetings. These conversations are a great way to really dig deep into the positives and negatives of workplace wellbeing.

Why? Because through direct questions on a one-to-one basis, employees are able to comfortably open up to managers about how they think and feel. Unfortunately, many workplaces are driven solely by performance reviews. Some leaders even neglect the reasons for poor performance or productivity, choosing to only criticise.

A staff wellbeing framework that lacks wellbeing meetings, is a poor strategy. It’s a leader's duty to listen and act on the needs and concerns of employees.

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Metrics, KPIs and goals

In any business operation, metrics, KPIs and goals must be set. It’s hard to know what to aim for without any idea of what you want to achieve. When it comes to your staff wellbeing strategy, there are many metrics and KPIs you can include. Let’s take a look at some of them below.

As for KPIs and goals, there are many options to choose from. Your KPIs should remain realistic and achievable. It is not worth trying to revolutionise your staff wellbeing strategy in a week if the company just can’t afford to. 

Instead, try to add the new wellbeing perk here and there until you reach a satisfactory level. KPIs you can include in your staff wellbeing framework are as follows:

• Try to introduce 10 new wellbeing benefits and perks in the next twelve months
• Introduce wellbeing meetings in Q2 so that my team feel heard
• Start tracking key metrics relevant to employee health and wellbeing
• Utilise feedback and data to make the best decisions for my team
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Reassessment of employee benefits and perks

After looking at metrics, KPIs and goals, it’s time to discuss workplace benefits and perks as part of your staff wellbeing framework. In the modern workplace, your employee benefits are a driving factor for choosing to work for your company.

Employees want to know there are ample benefits in addition to their salary. Salaries alone just aren’t as impactful. Instead, employees want everything from healthcare costs to commuting costs to free gym memberships and more. 

A robust staff wellbeing strategy cannot exist without rethinking your benefits package. It’s where many health and wellbeing initiatives live for companies. So, what exactly should you do with your current benefits package?

As we’ve discussed questionnaires/surveys, metrics and KPIs, let’s start there. Firstly, you want to have conversations with employees about the kind of benefits available to them already. Also, do they align with the goals you’ve set in your staff wellbeing framework? 

The conversations you have with employees will reveal their true feelings towards your benefits package. If you notice a lot of negative feedback, it’s time to look at new perks – and perks that support workplace health and wellbeing. 

If you’re ready to consider new perks already, here are a few for you to research and consider:

• Flexible working (hybrid and remote)
• Wellbeing allowances (Heka can help with that one!)
• Private healthcare costs
• Mental health support
• Paid fitness classes and gym memberships
• Wellness days
• Quiet workspaces for employees to step back from work (office-based)
• Unlimited holiday allowances

The list goes on. There are many more for leaders to consider, but these are just some of the popular wellbeing benefits for businesses. 

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Must-have wellbeing formulas for HR teams

Moving on, let’s look at some must-have wellbeing formulas that HR teams should consider. Any robust staff wellbeing framework should include the use of formulas. Whether it’s a spreadsheet or some other online calculator, there is plenty to make use of for your staff wellbeing strategy.

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Employee retention rate

Your employee retention rate will help determine the percentage of your workforce that sticks around during a set period. Typically, leaders should assess this on a quarterly or yearly basis – but that’s entirely up to you. 

The formula for calculating your employee retention rate (according to Lattice) is as follows:

(Remaining headcount during the start of the set period / the number of employees at the start of the set period) x 100

With your answers, start to analyse why certain employees are leaving. Is their poor management driving unhappiness in a particular department? Speak with other senior leaders to devise a plan to increase employee retention.

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Absence rate

Next, let’s look at the absence calculation. Absences can strongly suggest poor health and wellbeing. It’s very hard to gauge why people are absent from work, without speaking to them about it directly. Here’s how to calculate your employee absence rate in your company:

Total absence days / (number of employees x number of working days) x 100

For a fully working absence rate calculator, try Omnicalculator.com.

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Productivity formula

Lastly, let’s talk about productivity calculations. These will give you a clear indication of how well your team are working. If you find a huge slide in productivity, it doesn’t necessarily mean your team are working less effective. 

It could be due to personal health and wellbeing reasons – something a leader must find out. Let’s take a look at the calculation for productivity in the workplace (according to Smartsheet.com):

Total output / total input = productivity

(If your company produces £110,000 worth of goods or services in a year, then simply divide that number by the number of employees)

As we mentioned above, this list is by no means exhaustive. Make sure to research more formulas to give your team the chance to create a strong staff wellbeing strategy. 

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Other Heka resources for your staff wellbeing framework

What good is our guide without some other references for building a solid staff wellbeing framework? Our guide shouldn’t be the end of your research. 

Check out some of our content listed below for a better grasp of employee wellbeing, benefits and how they can contribute to your staff wellbeing strategy.
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Blog posts:

• 11 benefits that make employees happy at work
• How to choose employee wellbeing providers for your business
• What is a wellbeing day, and why does your team need them?
• 4 employee benefits that support your remote team
• Wellbeing officer: why your company needs to hire one

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Conclusion on developing a staff wellbeing framework

Ultimately, it is no easy task to develop a robust staff wellbeing strategy – but it is essential! As we’ve discussed above, your company’s health and wellbeing efforts are detrimental to everything. 

From the hiring process to the onboarding stage and retaining talent later down the road, wellbeing must be at the forefront of businesses. 

As an employee wellbeing platform, we’re confident that healthier, happier employees are the cornerstone of successful businesses. It’s no surprise that some of the biggest employers in the world are driven by a people-first approach. 

These are prime examples of businesses that have reached great achievements and revisited their staff wellbeing framework regularly. Just as your business grows, the same ethos must be adopted.

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How Heka can play a role in your staff wellbeing strategy

So, now you’ve been through our guide to creating a staff wellbeing framework, what now? Why not find out more about Heka? Heka is an employee wellbeing platform built to support thousands of employees across the UK. 

We believe that in addition to your staff wellbeing strategy, Heka can really play a role in helping build healthier, happier teams. Going back to your employee benefits, this is where most of your health and wellbeing initiatives will sit. By including Heka, you’re including 3,000+ experiences, products and services.

It’s this sheer variety that drives wellbeing personalisation with Heka and makes employees feel valued by their employer and happy and healthy. What’s more, Heka ties in well with your overall staff wellbeing framework. 

Think about it. There are HR formulas to track the use of your current employee benefits, and the cost they pose to the business. This way, you can find out for yourself if Heka is an affordable and effective choice for employee benefits. 

Also, when you’re listening to your team about the kind of benefits they want, or making use of questionnaires and surveys, you can tailor them to your employee benefits. By quizzing your team on the kind of benefits and perks they want, you can cross-reference them against Heka’s offering.