Employee Wellbeing

The desire to have happy employees is not just a social aspect, which is highly commendable. The well-being of employees must also be proactively promoted from an economic perspective, because:

• Happy employees develop an emotional connection with the company.
• Happy employees are more productive.
• Happy employees are less ill.

Integrate employee well-being into the business strategy

Counteracting the shortage of skilled labour

Every HR employee knows the challenge of finding qualified specialists. Depending on the position, qualified applicants are spoilt for choice between different job offers. Benefits and review portals such as Kununu can then play a decisive role.

Satisfied employees represent a company positively to the outside world. Companies such as Google also rely heavily on the emotional connection between employees and the company, as few things are more valuable than qualified employees with the relevant company knowledge. Company retention and loyalty can therefore definitely be a goal when defining an employee wellbeing programme.

Productive, efficient, satisfied

Since the industrial revolution, employees have been campaigning for fair working conditions. Fortunately, almost all companies today realise that motivation has an impact on productivity and efficiency. However, this motivation is not achieved in the long term through threats or rewards, but only through sincere measures that strengthen employee satisfaction in the long term. Ultimately, satisfied employees are not only more productive and efficient, but also more resilient.

Wellbeing as a tool for reducing costs

Chronic headaches, depression, burnout: sick employees quickly cost a company a lot of money. A study commissioned by the German Social Accident Insurance back in 2013 shows that investing in occupational health and safety pays off: Similar to the well-known return on investment, a return on prevention (ROP) was determined. The result was that every euro invested could be more than doubled. The comprehensive report on the study can be found here .

The Employee Wellbeing Programme

Now that we have established why employee satisfaction is so important for a company, the question arises as to how we can ensure this satisfaction. Many companies introduce an Employee Wellbeing Programme for this purpose.

Wellbeing with an employee wellbeing programme

By introducing an employee wellbeing programme, the company recognises the importance of the topic. Such a programme can be easily embedded in the company's business strategy. The programme should analyse risks and problems, set goals and expectations, draw boundaries and define measures.

As part of the introduction of an employee wellbeing programme, it should also be defined how the performance of the programme will be measured. Indicators can be

• Employee participation
• Employee survey that deals with the programme or well-being
• Reduced costs, for example through less illness
• Higher productivity

Which KPIs make sense depends on the objectives, expectations and measures.

How do I increase employee well-being?

How employee satisfaction can be increased depends heavily on the existing corporate culture. However, sustainable satisfaction cannot be achieved with short-term solutions. Some starting points are presented below:

• Reduce uncertainty: Employees often feel stressed by uncertainty. This can be prevented through optimised internal communication. The management level of a company must be able to make standardised statements about where the company is coming from, where it wants to go and why certain measures are being taken. Every employee should also know what his or her role in the company is and how he or she contributes to its success.
• Living the corporate culture: Well-being can be strengthened by a defined corporate culture that is actively lived and to which people want to belong. Flat hierarchies, a sense of belonging and trust in employees can form the basis for a pleasant corporate culture.
• Regular Appreciation: Fresh fruit or good coffee can leave a positive feeling every day. But be careful: while employees are welcome to be reminded of these offers, it is also important to maintain them. If the fruit basket is cancelled unannounced after a few weeks or the coffee machine goes stale, the well-intentioned gesture will have a negative effect.
• Voluntariness: The offers may be advertised, but they must be voluntary. Everyone should be valued as an individual. The Employee Wellbeing Programme must therefore appeal to different people: While one employee wants a regular working day, another appreciates flexible working hours and a merging work-life balance. A carefully implemented programme does justice to both.

HR Campus finds: Happy Employee, Happy Company.

The topic of employee wellbeing is particularly close to our hearts at HR Campus. We see only advantages and opportunities in investing in this topic. HR departments and managers should proactively promote the well-being and satisfaction of each individual employee. This mission can be implemented and monitored with an Employee Wellbeing Programme. We look forward to working with our customers to develop and implement individual programmes.

Specialist articles: Employee Wellbeing Software