Top Five Ways to Promote llbeing

What is ‘wellbeing’?

Wellbeing is something of a holistic term – it relates to happiness, emotional state, physical health and mood, amongst other things. When it comes to employee wellbeing we are also talking about job satisfaction, stress levels, career expectations and environment, for example. Any of these factors, and more, can have an impact on the wellbeing of an employee.

These are five easy ways to promote and sustain the wellbeing of your employees:

1. Improve the work/life balance

Number one on the vast majority of employees’ wish lists for their lifestyles is an improved work/life balance. This can be as simple as flexible hours or as game-changing as remote working.

Giving people the freedom to work their hours at times better suited to them lets them build their working day around their families/interests rather than the other way around – and so it’s a very effective way of building wellbeing and engagement. Allowing people to work from home full- or part-time gives them back some time in their day – commute times, coupled with unexpected issues like delayed trains or traffic jams, can really eat into what is supposed to be ‘free time’.

It has the secondary effect of making your staff feel more trusted – once again improving their job satisfaction and enjoyment.

2. Encourage cycling to work

A healthier employee is a happier, more productive employee. You can encourage cycling to work in a number of ways – offering incentives and bonuses, signing up to cycle-to-work schemes where bikes are subsidised, or simply installing and maintaining a good quality cycle parking area or bike shed.

3. Unlimited holidays

It’s probably the most revolutionary suggestion we’re making on this list, but an increasing number of companies offer unlimited holidays to their staff. This works by emphasising project results and individual achievements – deadlines and goals still need to be met – and rewarding staff with as much time off as they feel they can take while still meeting organisational expectations. It’s a great way of preventing burnout as staff move from one project straight into another – and you get the benefit of refreshed, enthusiastic and motivated employees.

4. Optimise the environment

If you really do need to keep your staff on site for their working hours, why not make the site better? You can invest in comfortable office chairs, stylish and professional-looking lockers and high-quality desks and cupboards to make their time more comfortable. You might be competing to keep these staff members against a company that would let them work from the comfort of their own homes – a little money spent here can save on recruitment and training in the long run.

5. First aid

We all know that there are legal requirements in place to ensure that employers have first aid equipment on-hand. Go one step further with first aid and health and safety-related signage – your staff will feel more relaxed and comfortable knowing that there are measures in place to keep them safe, and they will feel genuinely cared about.

Author Bio: First Mats started life as safety matting specialists, but have since expanded to become a complete industrial and commercial supplies company. The focus of First Mats is to provide safety-focused products that improve the wellbeing of staff through quality approved products, backed up by extensive knowledge. www.firstmats.co.uk

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