Stressed out, overworked employees and not enough output? A fast-growing sickness record and yet another recruitment drive?
Put a strategy in place to maximise the potential of your current workforce. Bring employee health and happiness to the top of your agenda and reap the rewards in under three months.
Employee Well-being
Employee well-being is a hot topic in the business world right now, and it’s more than a trend. Employers want to get the most out of their people.
Employees are craving a better work-life balance. It’s a win-win solution and there’s a huge shift is coming. In the UK, 47.7% of organisations planned to put a strategy in place in 2017.
The changes don’t have to be huge. Small initiatives can make a big impact in showing you care. These range from monthly fruit deliveries to health checks or yoga classes.
How do you create an employee well-being strategy?
1. Get support from the decision makers
You need buy-in from the top, your senior leadership team need to be on-board.
2. Money matters
Decide on a budget. It’s better to over-estimate the costs. Allow enough money for the full duration of your plan (a year is a good amount of time to start with). The average annual spend per employee is £51-75 in the UK.
3. Understand your people
Ask your employees what they need. Consider trends and patterns in staff absence and issues that arise.
4. Explore the options
Research what tools are available to you for the areas of need you’ve decided to focus on. Some things to consider:
- During working hours or in their own time
- Online or in person
- Accessibility – you want as many people as possible to be able to utilise it
- Ease of use – it should be simple and effective
- Cost – it needs to be affordable
5. Well-being representatives
Put together your team. The size of the group will depend on the size of your organisation. If you are a small business one or two people will do. If you have 100+ make sure you have an ambassador in each department or team. These individuals help with the roll out of the programme. Hold regular meetings to discuss feedback and keep momentum throughout the year.
6. Internal promotion
Make a big deal of launching the program, advertise it everywhere. Get people interested so they make the most of the options available to them.
High-Pressure work life
There are some SCARY stats out there about work-related stress.
Health and Safety Executive outlines that in 2015/16, as much as 45% of all working days lost were down to stress. They report the main contributors as:
- Heavy workload
- Lack of support
- Organisational change
Employees don’t leave stress at work, unfortunately it can also affect their home life. High stress levels can contribute to negative sleep patterns too.
Yoga to improve well-being
A successful well-being program takes a holistic approach. Yoga benefits both the mind and body. It has benefits for both the organisation and the individual employees. Yoga offers a low-impact activity that people of all ages and abilities can practice.
Benefits of yoga for your organisation
Empowered Leaders
The board can benefit too. It’s easy to think of employee-well-being as something that is for the people ‘on the ground’. Senior leaders struggle with work-life balance as much as the rest of the workforce, if not more. SVYYASA University conducted a study on yoga based stress management for executives. The results showed that yoga can develop leadership qualities.
Engagement, Reputation and Retention
37% of wellbeing strategies in the UK focus on increasing employee engagement. Yoga promotes a positive attitude and reduces stress. It allows you to focus on the present moment and be more mindful of what you are doing.
Engaged employees work harder and smarter, they also inspire those around them to do the same.
Implementing tools that enhance well-being such as yoga improves organisational culture. Resourcing isn’t easy in a market where employees will jump ship for a better package. Building a positive culture with happy employees with give you a great reputation. You’ll become more attractive to future employees and keep your top performers.
Productivity and the bottom line
Yoga improves blood flow and sends more oxygen to the brain. This results in increased mental clarity and improves productivity at work. Better performance across teams leads to an increase in profitability.
Healthy people = Lower absenteeism
CIPD report the average number of sick days per employee as 6.3 for 2016. That amounts to £522 per employee in lost hours. Yoga improves health and well-being. Research shows promotion of healthy lifestyle activities can lead to lower absence levels.
Benefits of yoga for your employees
Physical and Mental Health
These are the most popular items on the well-being agenda in the UK. This pro-active approach encourages positive behaviours when it comes to health. There are many therapeutic benefits of yoga, both physical and mental.
Physical health benefits include:
- Strength
- Balance
- Flexibility
- Posture
- Increase blood flow
- Detoxification
- Respiratory Function
- Reduction in aches and pains
Mental health benefits include:
- Mental Clarity
- Balanced emotions
- Reduce stress, anxiety and depression
- Self-confidence
- Relaxation
- Addiction recovery
- Improve insomnia and sleep patterns
- Reduce fatigue
- Enhance mood and quality of life
- Increase energy levels
Yoga provides a much-needed ‘time-out’ to re-charge and relax.
A Holistic Solution
Health and well-being apps are increasing in popularity. They are one of the fastest growing initiatives for improving employee well-being.
Kalimukti is an online yoga and mindfulness app, suitable for all levels of ability and ideal for beginners. Here are the key takeaways:-
- Employees can enjoy yoga whenever they want
- We’re 10x cheaper than heading to a physical studio (based on going twice per week)
- Quick to implement and easy to manage new joiners and leavers
- Employees can pick classes that match their mood and goals
- Employees win points and achievements, levelling up as they progress through their journey
Incorporate yoga into your well-being strategy to support employees in feeling well and boost the productivity of your organisation.
From: Kalimukti
