Free Fruit Fridays

An article in People Management made some very powerful points about employee wellbeing. It’s a huge topic, getting lots of interest and, the article points out, there appears to be a lot of knee jerk reactions that may not be paying dividends.

How can you make sure your investment in employee wellbeing is likely to hit the mark?

Define your purpose and be clear about what problem you’re trying to fix. Greater levels of engagement, reduced absence or building resilience are different aspects of wellbeing and call for different responses.

Understand where your workforce is at greatest risk – sometimes this may be clear, but a health and wellbeing survey is a very useful approach to target efforts effectively.

Take the time to look around and research options. There is a plethora of employee wellbeing solutions out there. It’s important to find the one’s that meet your specific needs and fit both your culture and budget. Culture is important if you are to effectively engage employees in the solution e.g. it’s fun, creative, technology or activity based, self-driven etc. It’s surprising how many organisations overlook this aspect when choosing wellbeing tools or initiatives.

Be aware of the more superficial initiatives such as Free Fruit Fridays or gym memberships and think more about how to build a healthier working environment where employee wellbeing is at the heart of the culture. Senior leadership buy-in and role modelling, line managers who encourage employees to take care of themselves and initiatives that are accessible, flexible and require some effort on the part of the employee, so they have an investment, will go a long way to raising the importance of health & wellbeing.