Why I should focus on my employees’ wellbeing?
Guest article from Sue Pardy, Face2Face HR
Is the wellbeing of your employees something you need to consider? In my view, absolutely and here’s why – these are the many benefits:
Performance
High rates of employee wellbeing correlate strongly with improved performance at work. Improving job satisfaction is a central focus of employee wellbeing and there is plenty of evidence that high job satisfaction increases performance in terms of quality of work, productivity rates and financial performance.
Feeling their employer considers their wellbeing a priority increases the ‘goodwill’ factor and causes employees to be more co-operative, more collaborative and more willing to go the extra mile.
Improving general health rates through a focus on wellbeing can improve energy rates at work, and therefore productivity, and can also enhance cognitive abilities, improving rates of creativity and problem-solving abilities.
Sickness absence
Lower sickness absence rates – partly because they are less likely to go down ill but also because recovery time will be quicker.
Work-related stress is likely to be less common, and employees who do go off sick are less likely to suffer from the ‘dreading going back’ effect.
Recruitment and retention
Employees are more likely to feel engaged and to enjoy coming to work. This obviously improves retention rates, leading to a drop in the amount of time and money spent on recruitment, including lost productivity for new employees and lost management time for supporting fresh recruits.
A reputation for prioritising employee wellbeing can also make your company more attractive to candidates for jobs, enhancing and increasing the pool of applicants when you recruit.
Disputes and concerns
Employees are less likely to raise a grievances or complaint which are renowned for being a drain on management time, productivity and cause huge disruption and negativity particularly in a small workplace.
Have enhanced relationships with colleagues, reducing disputes or negativity between them, which can again reduce productivity and cause a negative atmosphere at work.
Hopefully you can easily see that all the above effects of focusing on employee wellbeing have a direct impact on a business’s bottom line. If financial performance and productivity are up, and the time and money spent on sickness absence, recruitment and managing disputes is reduced, this will have a positive bottom-line impact on your business.
Sue Pardy
HR Consultant
Email: sue.pardy@face2faceHR.com