

Workplace Well-Being Toolkit

Organizations cannot prosper without motivated, healthy workers. Employees who love the companies they work for are engaged, productive and loyal.

The challenge for employers is to inspire their workforce to bring more of their whole selves and full potential to work every day. But how can employees possibly do this if they are physically ill, suffering from low energy levels due to poor sleep, dealing with challenging family responsibilities, or experiencing high levels of stress due to financial worries?

Over the past decade, organizations have rolled out programs and policies designed to support and improve employee health and worklife integration. However, often lacking senior leader and/or middle manager support, these approaches have often fallen short of delivering the culture change necessary to actually improve the lives of employees and reap the associated positive business results. 

Research indicates that programming and policies alone cannot create a successful employee well-being initiative if they are not widely used and embraced.

World at Work (2013) has identified four main reasons for this low utilization:

  • Poor communication
  • Lack of support from senior leadership and middle managers
  • Fear of career penalty
  • Lack of manager skills training

Research consistently shows that employees are more engaged at work when their leader cares about them as a person. (Culture of Well-being Virgin Pulse 2016)

This toolkit is designed for THAT leader who wants to put their authentic consideration into visible action.

Wellness + Worklife = Well-being

There is often confusion as to what a healthy work environment means and many terms fill our organizational vernaculars…wellness, health, worklife balance, well-being, or is it worklife integration? How can employees attend that lunchtime yoga if they don’t have a manager comfortable with flexible work arrangements? The fact is; it’s all tied together. 

For purposes of this toolkit we will embrace the following concept: WELLNESS + WORKLIFE = WELL-BEING

Worklife and Wellness and Health all rolled up into one, because you cannot have one without the other and there is significant overlap between the concepts—with scientific research to back up the symbiotic relationship between wellness, worklife integration and employee engagement.

The Business Strategy >