Is your wellbeing strategy actually working?
Here is what we know:
49% of the respondents in McKinsey’s (2021) survey reported feeling at least somewhat burnt out. Indeed (2021) claims that this number is 52%!
Burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 2.6 times more likely to be actively seeking a different job (Gallup, 2018)
76% of people agree that workplace stress affects their mental health (FlexJobs, 2020)
Poor mental health costs UK employers £45bn a year (Deloitte, 2020)
Companies want to help their employees.
Due to changes in society, as well as the new research findings, we are starting to understand the importance of mental health interventions at work. Improved mental health at work can have a massive influence on a person's happiness, energy levels and productivity.
Many companies have started offering various mental health benefits and perks, from free meditation apps to yoga classes and generalised stress management techniques. The goal of these techniques is to prevent burnout and create an engaged workplace.
Burnout was supposed to get better. It hasn’t.
New data from Glassdoor, where employees anonymously review the companies they work for, shows mentions of burnout are up more than 40% compared with previous years (Glassdoor, 2021).
The term corporate well-washing has been coined to describe businesses that appear to be mentally conscious while using wellbeing initiatives as a PR marketing tool. In reality, these initiatives may barely scratch the surface, without bringing any benefits to their staff. Offering a few one-time wellness sessions without measuring critical cultural issues may do more harm than good. Oftentimes, it is done unknowingly.
The truth is that many companies don’t know if their wellbeing initiatives are actually working. They want to do good, but they simply don’t know how to achieve the best wellness results for their employees.
There is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to mental health.
Every person experiences life differently and will need different tools to support their mental wellbeing. There is not one solution that will fit all people. In a lot of ways, mental health is like our physical health. Our bodies vary in shape, size and strength. We may have specific dietary needs, fitness goals or even underlying conditions. One fitness regime won’t fit all people. The same applies to mental health.
A wellbeing strategy must NOT:
Ignore critical issues within the corporate culture
Offer one wellness tool to everyone
Fail to measure the impact it’s making
Some companies fail to realize that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to mental health. Offering a yoga app may be helpful to some, but it’s simply impossible that it will benefit all of the workforce.
A wellbeing initiative must have some sort of impact on their employees. If the companies don't know the effectiveness of their rallying strategies, it could be competent at best and harmful at worst. Essentially it could be just a waste of money.
There is a difference between wanting to do the right thing and knowing that you've done the right thing.
At 87 Percent we believe that it is important to call out negligent HR practices. People are the most important asset in any company, and wellbeing sits at the heart of everything they do. It affects how they engage with the company, how they feel about it, and how happy they are. Ultimately it affects their productivity and retention.
To develop an effective wellness program, HR managers must dig deeper. They need to collect employee feedback to understand critical issues and organisational factors (e.g., if their employees lack autonomy, or are being overworked). A wellbeing strategy should have a meaningful and strategic approach, rather than a collection of benefits that don't align with the same goal. And finally, the effectiveness of the strategy should be measured. If done correctly, a wellness strategy can have a significant positive impact on the company culture.
Studies show that engaged employees:
Exercise more, eat more healthily and have better health (Gallup, 2012)
Are happier in life (Kansas State University, 2009)
Suffer from 41% lower absenteeism (Gallup, 2012)
Are 17% more productive and provide 13% better customer service and 40% better product quality (Gallup, 2012)
If you’d like to learn more about wellbeing strategies and how to measure wellbeing at work, don’t hesitate to book a free consultancy session with us.