Building Workplace Wellness
The Basics
What do we mean by "building workplace wellness"?
When people talk about “workplace wellness” they are often thinking about specific health promotion or protection initiatives for employees. This might include things like access to health screening services through the workplace, supports for employees’ health needs (e.g., policies related to sick days, accommodations, or benefits), strategies to promote psychological safety, or ways to encourage work/life balance.
These kinds of initiatives are important: we can all imagine how wellbeing can be impacted by things like not having paid sick days or clear policies around workplace accommodations. However, having health and wellness programs in place doesn’t guarantee that people will use them. Lots of things can influence an employee’s capacity or willingness to engage with workplace programs, and one of the most important is the culture. We will explore the concept of culture and how your workplace can cultivate an environment that supports employee wellbeing.
“Workplace culture includes the norms, values, meanings, and beliefs that sculpt the expectations and behaviour of a workplace.”
Why is it important?
“A survey of over 1,000 HR leaders reveals that workplace culture is the biggest roadblock to improving employee wellbeing and engagement.” -Virgin Pulse, State of the Industry Employee Engagement Report, 2018
Why might culture be a roadblock? Well, we know from research that people won’t use resources or access different kinds of support if they think there’s a penalty or risk associated with it. For that reason, the value attached to employee health and wellbeing has to be signalled very clearly and championed throughout an organization in order for it to be established as “normal” practice. As an employer, you have a much better chance of success where leadership, management, and co-workers understand the benefits of wellness and can collaboratively build a supportive culture.
“A working environment where employee health and safety is valued, supported and promoted through workplace health programs, policies, benefits, and environmental supports.”
So what are the potential benefits for workplaces with a supportive wellness culture? Benefits for employers and employees include:
- Reduced workplace stress
- Increased staff retention
- Increased staff engagement and inclusion
- Increased likelihood of employees disclosing a health condition
It’s important to note that building a wellness culture isn’t just the responsibility of employers. Employees have an important role to play. For instance, accommodating an employee will have limited benefit if the employee’s colleagues behave differently towards them for getting “special treatment” or if the work environment is so stressful that an ergonomic work station won’t help minimize flare-ups.
Where to Start
When it comes to building a wellness culture there’s no quick fix. That said, each step forward helps. The How to Support Wellness section provides suggestions to build incremental changes towards workplace wellness.
It is important to understand that having wellness programs doesn’t necessarily mean you have a supportive wellness culture in your workplace. You need to check in with your employees and see how they identify the workplace culture. Ask them if they a) know about the wellness initiatives you have available, b) think those initiatives are relevant and helpful to them.
The next sections will provide more detailed information on workplace wellness:
- Factors that support workplace wellness
- Examples of ways to support wellness
- Benefits to employees and employers
- How to support a wellness culture