Employee wellbeing: Caring for

your people
Flexible work hours, health insurance plans, yoga
classes... Companies increasingly rely on benefits like
these to boost employee wellbeing. By introducing such
perks, employers feel confident that staff gains better
work-life balance and feels more positively about their
jobs and workplace. But a recent Gallup report showed
that 76% of employees have admitted experiencing
symptoms of job burnout for reasons ranging from poor
management to unmanageable workload to unfair
treatment at work. Sadly, the gloomy stats don’t stop
here.

ALEXANDRA MARINAKI
Contributor

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According to a CIPD 2020 survey report about Health and

Wellbeing at Work, there has been a 37% increase in
stress-related absence at work since last year
(absenteeism), and 89% of employees said that they have
worked while feeling unwell (presenteeism). Also,
a McKinsey source states that workplace stress costs
employers in the US nearly $200 billion every year in
healthcare expenses.

So despite all the fancy perks and activities companies

plan, employees do still get overly stressed at work. This
negatively impacts both their mental and physical health.
Sometimes, they may request sick leave to disconnect
from their duties and recover. In other cases, struggling
with bandwidth and work commitments, they might feel an
extra urge to work even despite feeling under the weather.
These issues do not only affect individual wellbeing, but
also the business as a whole through decreased
productivity and performance.

Contents

 Blessings of employee wellbeing

 Obstacles to sustaining wellbeing at work
o Leadership style

o Workload

o Reduced social support

o Task clarity

o Motivation
 Bridging the gap
o Know yourself first…

o Praise for effort and growth

o Preventing vs. Reacting

Blessings of employee wellbeing
The employee wellbeing definition refers to the state of
employees’ mental and physical health, resulting from
dynamics within – and sometimes outside – the workplace.
These include their relationships with colleagues, use of
tools and resources, larger business decisions that impact
them and their work, and many other factors. In business
terms, securing employee wellbeing can translate to:

1. More productivity: Employee wellbeing boosts

productivity and performance. When feeling well,
 employees display healthier behaviors and better
decision-making.
2. Higher employee morale: Employees feel more
competent and valued when their needs are met at all
levels, including physical, mental, and financial.
3. Better talent: When your company has a good
reputation in the market as an employer who respects
and supports work-life balance, you’re more likely to
attract skilled candidates and retain your existing
employees for longer periods.
4. Improved CRM: Happy employees are your best brand
ambassadors. If you treat them well, that positive
energy will pass on to your customers. Those
employees will be motivated to understand how your
products and services will best serve customer needs.
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To secure these assets, employers offer a wide range of

benefits to employees such as:

 Financial benefits – pension plans, income protection,

etc.
 Physical health benefits – life insurance, gym
discounts, sick leaves, etc.
 Mental health benefits – mindfulness meditation,
coaching sessions, counseling services etc.
 Work-life balance benefits – PTO, parental leave
schemes, sabbaticals, etc.
But based on several business examples and the
discouraging stats on burnout above, even when most of
these aids are generously offered by employers,
employees can still experience stress at work. This is why
you shouldn’t perceive and face this problem as solely
benefit-related as it’s more complicated than that.
Obstacles to sustaining wellbeing at work
The most common stressors that can negatively impact
wellbeing at work are:

Leadership style

You probably have heard that employees quit bosses, not

jobs. According to the CIPD survey mentioned earlier, a
poor management style can increase employee stress
massively. Take micromanagement as an example: having
to explain every single nut and bolt of your daily task
deliveries to your manager is inefficient and exhausting. It
can also make the employee feel incompetent and
unreliable.

Workload

Employees with heavy workloads due to understaffing or

urgent business needs get often stressed about meeting
deadlines. With less time to work on valuable projects,
they often compensate for quality, and they worry that
their results are inadequate. Helplessness, doubt and
fatigue are the top feelings in such conditions.

Reduced social support

In order to thrive, employees need to be in a supportive

environment that puts a positive value on effective
collaboration and individual contributions. When
competition is high and your performance is always
compared to your peers’, lack in self esteem and toxic
relationships arise, and can be difficult to resolve quickly.

Task clarity

Guidance in the form of training or mentoring, whether it’s

practical (e.g. how to use a specific tool) or goal-oriented
(e.g. what the end goal of a project is) is vital for
employees to get the job done. Without clarity in work,
employees feel confused and struggle in determining
priorities or setting smart goals.

Motivation
We sometimes overlook that work should be a positive
experience; employees are not merely reinforced by their
monthly paycheck to keep up the good work. The more
they enjoy what they do and take pride in it, the better
results they’ll deliver. So, if most of their daily tasks are
dull, employees might feel less motivated to go the extra
mile.

This list is not extensive. These are some basic

constraints but remember, each of your employees has a
different background and not everyone is driven by the
same incentives and events. For instance, some people
find working in a competitive environment exhilarating,
chasing bonus after bonus with excitement, while others
would simply burn out in such an atmosphere.

Finally, common personal issues outside the workplace

(e.g. a pregnancy, a relationship conflict, a death of a
loved one, etc.) may also indirectly affect employee
wellbeing. Background, preference, and personal factors
indicate the complex nature of employee wellbeing. No
matter how hard you try, you’ll never be able to perfectly
control all essential wellbeing elements because every
single case is unique. However, you can take steps to
ensure a healthy work environment for your employees.

Bridging the gap

In this video, leaders and employees from NextJump,
Johnson & Johnson and USAA explained how their health
wellness programs succeeded, leading to core benefits
such as sales growth and high employee engagement:

So, there seems to be one outstanding factor in a

successful employee wellbeing program: having a work
culture that prioritizes wellbeing. In short, this means that
if you provide your people a workplace where wellbeing is
valued as much as performance, their stress levels will
probably decrease.

Now that you know this crucial ingredient of the

successful wellbeing formula, how can you create such a
culture?
Know yourself first…

The first step you should take is understanding what your

existing culture is really made of and how this affects your
workforce on any given day. Do you support employees
when they fail? What do you really measure during
employee performance reviews, results or effort?

Sit down with executives and managers to discuss what

type of culture you want to create going forward and
which parts you would be willing to change. Then, turn to
your people for feedback.
Conduct a thorough research to understand employee
needs and figure out how you can meet them. Questions
you could ask include:

 How have XYZ benefits contributed to your work-life

balance?
 Have you ever felt overly stressed at your current
workplace and why?
 What measures/benefits would you suggest to improve
wellbeing at work?
 Which one of our current benefits do you need the
least?
These survey results will show you the way. For instance,
you may find out that it’s more important for your
employees to have access to stress-management services
rather than discounts for well-known restaurants. One
possible adjustment would be to provide mental health
sessions either in the form of subscription to a
mindfulness app – for example Headspace – or through
personal counselling sessions, and put a pause to food
discounts for a while.

Praise for effort and growth

The majority of factors that hinder employee wellbeing

would hardly exist if managers invested in building
effective leadership skills. Understanding your employees’
boundaries and working habits, and respecting their
unique needs and motives will help you provide the best
opportunities to them. Ask managers to make the most of
1:1 meetings and practice providing constructive
feedback to employees.

It’s reasonable to praise employees for results, as

numbers are crucial to keep a business at the top.
However, focusing solely on results is a huge trap. In an
exclusively target-driven and competitive environment, it’s
easy to neglect the values of respect and personal
development.

So next time, instead of simply saying kudos to employees

for their results, praise them for their effort, their patience
and resilience as well. Prove to them that their growth is
your number-one priority and that you value them first as
humans and second as performers. They’ll feel safer this
way, ready to fail, learn and succeed against all odds.

Another good practice would be to tweak the narrative of

your workplace culture: How do you portray your
company’s mission and vision? What is your tone when
communicating with employees? Is your slogan caring and
inspiring? Here’s a hint: if it includes words such as
“share”, “care”, “respect” and “grow”, you are headed in
the right direction.

Preventing vs. Reacting

Based on the above-mentioned CIPD survey, most

companies take reactive rather than proactive measures
to support employees suffering from exhaustion and
fatigue. This is not the best way to go. As Erasmus said,
“Prevention is better than cure”.

For instance, if you invest in mental health services early

on, you’ll see fewer cases of employee burnout,
absenteeism, and so on. Nurture a wellbeing-friendly
approach before your employees and business are at risk
to avoid irreversible consequences (e.g. increased
employee turnover).

In a nutshell, if you’re looking for another HR buzzword,

employee wellbeing is not one of them. When employees
feel fatigued and stressed, they are unable to use their
strengths to contribute to business growth.

To support wellbeing at work, build and maintain a

workplace culture that makes employees feel safe, a
company that feels like a second home. When it’s well
thought-out and effectively implemented, you’ll see lower
incidences of employee burnout and higher rates of
engagement.

Frequently asked questions

What is the definition of employee wellbeing?

Employee wellbeing is defined as the overall mental,

physical, emotional, and economic health of your
employees. It's influenced by various factors such as their
relationships with co-workers, their decisions, and the
tools and resources they have access to.

How do you improve employee well-being?

Creating a work culture in which employees can develop

supportive relationships with their colleagues can be an
essential strategy for increasing worker well-being.
Research has found that such relationships at work are
associated with lower psychological distress, an indicator
of poor mental health.

What contributes to employee well-being?

Many factors contribute to an employee’s well-being, like

a good salary, paid vacation, and a complete benefits
package is undoubtedly crucial to workplace well-being.
Still, there are a lot of other factors that companies should
consider when attempting to build a team that will stay
loyal and motivated for the long term.