What is workplace well-being?

Workplace well-being, in simple terms, refers to the welfare of your employees while they are at work. It is based on all aspects of working life, such as the culture and environment of your company, but also the well-being of your employees more holistically, including their health benefits. So, an employee’s workplace well-being is more than just about feeling happy and fulfilled at work, but refers to an affirmative state of all-round wellness, not just in the office but beyond it.

Workplace well-being can be split into four ‘pillars’: physical, mental, social, and financial health, all of which contribute to an employee’s ability to work to the best of their ability. Often, these pillars are interlinked. Physical health, for instance, goes hand in hand with mental health, with physical activity shown to help improve mood and reduce levels of stress and anxiety. Similarly, mental health and financial health are also closely intertwined, with money worries the key driver of stress for almost 50% of employees as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.^[1]

As such, an employee’s sense of their workplace well-being is based on the way their company assists them with these four pillars. By providing resources for improving physical health, offering support for mental health challenges and help to mitigate the impacts of inflation, employers can cultivate a workplace that allows employees to function to the best of their ability. As a bonus, employers can reap the financial rewards of an engaged and productive workforce.

Why is workplace well-being important?

The benefit of promoting employee well-being in the workplace is clear - improve the welfare of your employees at work, and your business will be rewarded. In the UK alone, the estimated financial return on investing in well-being could be up to $450 billion^[2]. And in the US, for every $1 spent on integrated care, employers save $6 in overall medical costs.^[3]

Employees can only work to their full potential when their workplace well-being is at its best, and yet for the majority of people this is not the case. Statistics from the Cigna Healthcare Vitality Study 2023 reports that only one in five employees display a high level of vitality; 80% of employees reported experiencing stress at work and 95% reported at least one burnout symptom in the last year.

When employees suffer from these kinds of problems, so does your business. Companies often experience higher rates of absenteeism and presenteeism, low morale, high staff turnover rates, higher healthcare related costs and, ultimately, lower productivity in their workforce.

As Gallup reports^[4], this decrease in productivity translates into tangible costs. According to their US-based research, 75% of corporate medical costs are mostly accrued from preventable conditions. The good news is that by promoting well-being in the workplace, companies can take steps to improve employee health and vitality and reduce these costs.

By fostering a holistic company culture that is focused on well-being, not only will your company become a more enjoyable place to work, but it could prove to be the wisest way of investing your budget. If that isn’t enough of a reason to invest, then listening to your employees will surely convince you. With 59% of our Vitality Study respondents saying they wish they had more support from their employer to live a healthier life, doing so will improve the lives of your employees as well as lead to higher performance and productivity.

Strategies for promoting well-being in the workplace

Promoting employee well-being in the workplace often begins with well-being initiatives, each targeting one of the four pillars of employee welfare.

1. 1. Promoting physical well-being in the workplace

   With office life and hybrid working making our working lives more sedentary than ever, promoting physical well-being is essential to a happier and healthier workforce.

   Traditionally, companies have done this by incorporating a variety of wellness activities, for example by encouraging physical activity with subsidised gym memberships or group activities such as office bike rides. Providing healthy options for food at the office also ties into this, as well as encouraging regular hydration and health checks. Ergonomic workspaces that encourage good posture have also proved popular and helpful.

   However, in recent years, companies have begun to recognise that providing facilities alone isn’t sufficient to promote well-being in the workplace.

   Rather, by offering flexible working arrangements or breaks, employees can engage in physical exercise that fits in with their working and personal schedules. The infrastructure is often there, but employees need the flexibility to take advantage. By doing so, your workplace moves beyond simply providing facilities to building a culture that values and supports physical health as essential.
   
   

2. 2. Supporting mental and emotional well-being at work

   To best promote well-being in the workplace, your company must create an environment where employees feel safe expressing their emotions. This starts with the individual behaviour of managers towards employees, but spreads into a wider culture through the provision of mental health awareness programmes and spaces where employees can be vulnerable and honest.

   Implementing employee wellness days, or mental health days, for self-care and rejuvenation is also beneficial, boosting employee morale by making them feel appreciated and heard. However, while these initiatives are important, there is no replacement for providing professional mental health services, one of the best ways to support mental and emotional well-being at work.

   This can be done through the company’s health insurance plan; as the Cigna Healthcare Vitality Study 2023 found private health insurance plans are the most preferred element of health and well-being programmes among employees. This enables access to multiple services, from counselling to psychotherapy to online life skills courses, enhancing employee’s emotional well-being and performance at work.
   
   

3. 3. Fostering social well-being in the workplace

   All employees need to feel they have strong connections and a support system in the workplace to function effectively, so efforts to enhance social well-being are very important. Managers can do this most effectively by regularly recognising the work and achievements of employees, but also through more casual means such as team-building activities and social events. Positive relationships, fostered through a healthy management style and open communication, are crucial for promoting social well-being in the workplace. Again, an open culture is an important factor, with managers and employees practicing open and accepting communication.
   
   

Implementing well-being initiatives

Offering well-being initiatives is only half the battle. Ensuring that employees are using them, and deriving the desired benefit from them, should be the goal to build a stronger company culture and to mitigate the effects of poor well-being. We give four pointers on how to promote well-being in the workplace initiatives and implement them with the greatest efficacy.

1. 1. Promote your initiatives

   Posters throughout the office and emails with information about employee wellness days will help to promote the benefits of the programmes to allow employees to take full advantage.
   
   

2. 2. Ensure leadership participates and models healthy behaviour

   Leaders play an important role in prioritising health and well-being and embedding it into organisational culture. By providing clear vision, making well-being central and ‘talking the talk’, employees will follow in their footsteps.
   
   

3. 3. Ask for and act on employee feedback

   Run surveys to understand employee expectations from wellness programmes and their level of engagement with those programmes. This will help to design the most effective approach for each individual and the workforce at large.
   
   

4. 4. Enlist a wellness partner

   A wellness partner who is invested in your journey can drive well-being in your workplace.
   
   

Companies need to recognise that the well-being of their employees is inextricably interwoven with their success as a business. By fostering a culture that is focused on well-being, not only will employees have a more enjoyable place to work, it is also the greatest return on investment any business can make. By supporting the four pillars of workplace well-being: physical, mental, social, and financial health, with strategic initiatives, companies have happier and healthier employees and consequently a thriving and profitable business.