5 Things Your Organization Can Do To Improve Employee Well-Being

ByPatricia Lotich, MBA January 17, 2024January 17, 2024

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

We recently received an update from our insurance company informing us of some added services to our plan.

The informational brochure shared some added services that deal with what they call ComPsych, which includes services for counseling, financial issues, legal support, work-life, guidance, and will preparation – many of which are at no or little cost.

These new services intend to provide services to families to improve an employee and their families’ well-being.

Employee well-being has become a strategic focus for many organizations because of the correlation between employees focused at work (void of personal problems) and the bottom line.

The dictionary defines well-being as: “a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity; welfare.”

The Case For Well-Being

The Gallop Business Journal makes the case for Well-being support by businesses and describes five essential elements of employee well-being.

• Career Well-Being – liking what you do every day. We all go to work and want to enjoy our time on the clock.

• Social Well-being – having relationships and love in your life. Relationships are key to a happy and productive life.

• Financial – effective management of financial life. Financial freedom is one of the core desires of all employees.

• Physical – having good health. It is easy to take our health for granted – until you lose it. Help employees foster and appreciate good health.

• Community – engagement within the community in which you live. Community is important to all, and fostering an active role is what employers can do to help.

There has been a focus trend on employee physical wellness in recent years.

Most of this is driven by the rising cost of healthcare and the understanding that a healthy workforce is more productive.

However, more organizations are noticing that the person’s well-being, as a whole, results in higher engagement, increased productivity, and improved bottom line.

The average cost of a sick day is $200. However, employees with high levels of well-being are sick less often, resulting in lower costs for the organization.

And engaged teams have less absenteeism, lower turnover, fewer accidents on the job, less theft or unaccounted-for merchandise, and fewer quality defects.

“If we leave the human factor out of our business
calculations, we shall be wrong every time.” 
William H. Lever, founder of Lever Brothers

5 Things Your Organization Can Do To Improve Employee Well-Being

1. Provide Purpose for The Job

Some employees have mundane jobs that can feel like there is no benefit to what is being done.

However, every job has a purpose.

Take the time to help employees understand why what they do matters and connect the dots to show how it impacts the people that the organization serves.

Clarify your guiding mission and vision and help employees see how what they do helps to fulfill that purpose.

For example, a close friend worked as a machinist for an airplane factory.

His job was repetitious, tedious, and mundane, but anytime we were with this guy and he saw an airplane in the sky, he pointed to it and told us of his part in building that plane.

He had pride in his work.

Help employees see the big picture no matter the job.

2. Make Work Social

We spend more hours at work than with our families, so enjoying the people we are with is essential.

Having friends at work improves engagement and productivity.

Encourage social interactions by creating an environment that fosters teamwork, relationship-building, and water-cooler moments.

For instance, create an inviting lunchroom or lounge that allows employees to have a meal together, chat, or simply hang out.

3. Enable Financial Literacy

Paying the bills can be a source of stress for many people. Create an environment that fosters financial literacy by providing education, support, and counseling for everything financial.

Host lunch and learn events and highlight speakers that help employees get out of debt, save for the future, or plan for retirement.

Take the barrier out of retirement savings by automatically enrolling employees into the company retirement plan.

4. Encourage Healthy Lifestyles

Wellness programs have become the norm in an attempt to improve the health of employees.

• Offer incentives for employees who lower their cholesterol, quit smoking, or increase physical activity.

• Offer educational programs on diet, food preparation, and portion control.

• Create activities that get employees up and moving around.

For instance, I worked for a healthcare system that organized a walking program at lunch.

They mapped out the path and recruited groups of employees to walk during their lunch break. I committed to a daily walk during my lunch break and truly enjoyed that time of moving around. I also took pride in counting my steps.

That was more than 30 years ago for me, and I still walk daily because of the habit they helped me form.

5. Sponsor An Organization in Your Community

Get employees involved in the community by creating a corporate volunteer program.

Conduct a focus group with employees and brainstorm organizations that rely on volunteer help. Develop the program and put employees to work.

Offer paid volunteer opportunities to get employees out of the office and into their community.

This engagement with their community will help them feel like they are making a difference and supporting an important mission.

The goal with all of this is to support the whole employee with the end result of getting them completely engaged at work.

Consider The Cost Of Not Supporting Well-being

We all know that there is a real dollar cost for turnover, a cost for sick employees, and a cost for unhappy employees. 

Employers absorb these costs as a business expense.

Now might be a good time to sit down with your leadership team and create a plan to improve the well-being of your employees to see if these costs go down!

Learn more tips on employee wellbeing by exploring this TSB pick.