Employee Wellbeing

Everybody in the workplace has a role to play when it comes to wellbeing. Colleagues, managers, the leadership and HR teams all have a responsibility to ensure employees feel comfortable and safe in the workplace.

There are many ways in which businesses can ensure wellbeing in the workplace is being prioritised through policy and behaviours. The responsibility for devising and communicating policy and procedures to help safeguard the wellbeing of their people will generally fall at the feet of HR teams. Although Business owners have an obligation to be mindful of the physical and mental wellbeing of their employees, the expertise of HR teams will undoubtedly be leveraged in order to help guide the development of any initiatives.

Supporting wellbeing in the workplace needs to be a key strategic initiative in order to be successful. Policies should support employees to feel comfortable in the workplace and open conversations about mental health should be encouraged, at every level of the organisation.

 Read our guide, Employee mental health: How can managers better support the mental health of their people, to discover practical tips for how to implement an effective wellbeing strategy.

Safeguarding in the workplace is the act of ensuring all of your employees have their wellbeing, health and rights protected when they are at work. There are a range of factors which employers need to consider when looking at employee safeguarding, including age, disability, dietary requirements, mental health requirements and more. This is explained in further detail in our guide: Top ten factors for safeguarding your workforce.

Safeguarding is important to ensure that your employees feel comfortable in the workplace, and as a way to achieve higher employee engagement and retention. There are a wide range of factors employers need to consider when safeguarding their workforce, and different elements will be more or less applicable for your business depending on the diversity of your employees.

In order to safeguard employee financial wellbeing, you need to have this built into your wellbeing strategy. Having robust policies and procedures around this really helps. For further guidance on what legislation you should follow and put into place in your business, take a look at our guide: A short guide to safeguarding the financial wellbeing of your employees.

Promoting good mental health within the workplace is very important. Businesses should ensure they have policies in place to support employees with challenges in this area, as well as encourage conversations with managers about mental health.

Promoting good mental health should also become part of the culture within your organisation. Take a look at our blog, Promoting Mental health in the workplace, for guidance on how to make this happen.

Ensuring that employees feel comfortable in discussing their mental health and wellbeing means your employees are more likely to succeed at work. By feeling cared for by the organisation, they will feel able to speak out if they are struggling or need additional help – meaning there is less likely to be a build-up of problems and work-related stress. 

This has become more challenging for many businesses with a move to hybrid working. With elements of remote working now being folded into the long term business strategies of organisations moving forward, it will be more vital than ever that businesses have a structure in place to help support their people.

Having technology which allows employees to provide feedback to the business is really important. Employees should also be ensuring they take regular breaks to rest and take some time away from work to reset and destress. This can be easily tracked alongside absence, holidays, mental health logs and physical health struggles if you have the right technology in place. 

Having frequent conversations with managers about mental health is also pivotal to ensuring stress is not built up and made unmanageable. Managers should ensure they have awareness of stress within their team. Our guide to stress awareness in the workplace explains how this can be achieved.

Managers should be encouraging their team members to be honest and open about their mental health and empower employees to be honest if they are struggling. By having frequent check-ins and catch-ups with team members and recording frequent feedback, this should help avoid any build-up of stress or uncomfortable feelings at work. 

 Stress awareness is really key for all managers. Our guide to stress awareness explains how managers can implement this within their teams. We can also offer practical advice on employee mental health for those who want to put a wider strategy in place.

Employers should ensure  mental health is a topic which is openly discussed at all levels of the business – from the executive team all the way through leadership teams and managers. Managers should normalise mental health discussions and help to raise awareness of issues and how employees can seek assistance from the business.

Our guide provides further practical advice for managers seeking to support the mental health of their people.