What is employee well-being?
Employee well-being is about optimizing the health of all employees. It is not only about physical wellbeing, but other components of wellbeing that cannot be ignored when talking about healthy and well-functioning individuals or employees.
Employee wellbeing is more than just absence of illness among employees. It is about optimizing the health of all employees and various elements that impact it.
Studies show that strategic emotional wellness makes workplaces psychologically safe, open to knowledge and in turn, more conducive to learning.
Emotionally strong people display higher achievement-motivation and perform better.
Why Employee Psychological Well-being Is More Important Than Ever Before
With recent COVID-19 outbreak, many employers noticed the impact employee psychological well-being has on their performance, and consequently on the business results. Employees were distressed and worried, and employers had to find ways to accommodate the rising needs for empathy towards their employees.
Nowadays, stress is an overwhelmingly present factor in all our lives. A lot of it can come from the workplace, but even if it does not, it still affects your employees' performance. According to research, 84% of direct effects on productivity loss and 93% of indirect influences can be attributed to mental and physical health. More specifically, psychologists have warned that quarantine can spark increase in diseases such as depression or even PTSD.
Take a look at why employee wellbeing is more important now than ever before.
Companies started realizing that preventing issues related to poor employee wellbeing such as burnout, stress or sickness was more profitable than reacting to all these issues when they already happened.
Moreover, employees who say they often or always experience burnout at work are 63% more likely to take sick days. That means that employee wellbeing is directly related with absenteeism and its cost for employers.
According to research, 85% of companies say wellness programs support employee engagement. When an employee wellbeing program is implemented, employees feel more connected, their health is elevated, and consequently their happiness is increased.
Employees who handle stress better are less likely to experience burnout. Overall, when employee wellbeing is optimized, employees are more focused on their work and their productivity increases.
Introducing employee wellbeing initiatives can significantly improve your employees' morale.