Protecting the health and wellbeing of your employees is of the utmost importance. Happy and healthy employees go a long way to helping your business or organisation achieve its objectives.
The employer/employee relationship has many aspects, but trust is a central one. As an employer, you want to trust your employees to carry out their duties and responsibilities in a competent and professional manner, whilst employees will expect safety, security and fair treatment from you.
So, how can you protect the wellbeing of your employees to ensure you are getting the best from them?
Health and safety
The first place all employers should be looking to protect their staff is basic health and safety. This is critical in every workplace, no matter the environment or conditions. Hazards and threats may be different but they all need to be assessed, evaluated and mitigated as much as possible; if you’re unsure about how to write a safety policy, you may wish to talk to a health and safety consultancy and work with them to get your policy written down.
Employees that feel safe and secure on the job will be able to concentrate more effectively on their work, whilst limiting distractions and concerns should ensure that they are more productive. For example, measures put in place could be hi-vis clothing for those working at night, face masks and protective clothing for those in healthcare settings or safety boots for construction workers. Each job will demand different measures and procedures to keep staff safe.
Mental health support
Fortunately, the working world has welcomed conversations around mental health more in recent years which has been a significant step forward for everyone involved. If your business isn’t already encouraging discussions around mental health and offering support to employees, then look at ways to introduce such measures.
Mental health support can take many forms including confidential discussions, flexibility around working arrangements, one-on-one support and many others. If employees feel as though they can raise any issues or concerns with employers without stigma, then they are more likely to want to.
Healthy company culture
Your company culture is a huge factor when it comes to employee wellbeing. A healthy company culture inspires, enthuses and galvanizes a workforce, whilst an unhealthy one pushes people away, demotivates and exhausts employees.
Healthy company culture may mean different things to different businesses – but most will require inclusivity, equality, acceptance and fair policies with regard to working patterns, sick pay, effective management and clear progression opportunities.
Financial support
Another area that has become more widely discussed in workplaces recently is financial wellbeing, particularly with the economic uncertainty and vulnerability that many people are facing. Offering financial guidance and support may be much appreciated by employees if they are struggling.
It’s not always possible to give everyone pay rises, however, offering advice and support on how to make existing income go further can be just as effective in improving their financial wellbeing.
Flexible working
Finally, everyone knows that life can throw many things at you unexpectedly and people often need time to deal with these things. Working patterns and methods have traditionally been fairly rigid which can make managing a work/life balance more difficult.
Creating more flexible working patterns allows employees to take charge of their work/life balance and can contribute significantly to greater wellbeing and reduced stress. Flexibility doesn’t have to mean working when you want, where you want – it can be little things such as letting someone finish earlier to pick up their children or allowing an extended lunch for people to get things sorted during the day.
Employee wellbeing is significant for many reasons, so you should invest all you can in it. Happy employees can produce more and better quality work – so think about introducing some of these steps above if you aren’t already.
