Why the Smartest Minds Prefer Healthy Workplaces
Attracting the best talent to work in your organisation is not always easy.
The best talent and smartest minds come with high expectations for workplace culture, aligning values, competitive salaries, benefit packages, and more!
But research has shown that a healthy workplace and employee wellbeing initiatives are becoming increasingly more important to employees across the globe.
In this blog, we’ll look at why healthy workplaces are important, the things companies can do to implement it, and what the data shows.
Contents
Video on Why the Smartest Minds Prefer Health Workplaces
5 Reasons Employees Are Seeking Healthy Workplaces
- Shift in Priorities
- Increased Life Expectancy
- Work-Life Balance
- Desire for a Good Workplace Culture
- Career Development
The Return on Investment of a Healthy Workplace
5 Practical Steps to Create a Healthy Workplace
- Develop a Health and Wellbeing Strategy
- Gain Leadership Support
- Enhance the Work Environment
- Provide Learning and Development Opportunities
- Promote Physical Activity
Video on Why the Smartest Minds Prefer Health Workplaces
5 Reasons Employees Are Seeking Healthy Workplaces
Healthy workplaces are becoming increasingly desirable and the top talent often aren’t willing to compromise.
Here are some of the reasons why a healthy workplace matters to employees.
1. Shift in Priorities
The global pandemic led to a complete shift in the way many companies work.
Employees were now able to work from home, had less travel time, were able to juggle home life better, and had time in their day to prioritise health.
Now this has been highlighted, employees want it to stay and the best talent won’t settle for less.
According to research by Gallup, across all generations, working for an organisation that cared about employee wellbeing was in their top three criteria.
This data also showed that among millennials and Gen Z, this was the number one workplace want!
With insight like this, employees who are not creating a healthy workplace are potentially missing out on the smartest minds and best talent.
2. Increased Life Expectancy
A significant yet often overlooked advantage of a healthy workplace is its contribution to increased life expectancy.
The correlation between work-related stress and health issues, including cardiovascular disease and mental health disorders, is well-documented.
A workplace that prioritises the health and wellbeing of its employees can play a crucial role in mitigating these risks, promoting longer, healthier lives.
Research from the American Psychological Association (APA) highlights how stress, particularly work-related stress, can have a profound impact on physical health, including the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.
Reducing stress through healthy workplace practices not only improves immediate wellbeing but can also contribute to a longer life expectancy and the best talent knows this.
3. Work-Life Balance
Employees across the globe are now seeming to value and appreciate the importance of work-life balance.
Employees want good jobs, but they also want good lives too.
Understanding this, is important for all employers to attract the best employees.
Creating a culture that promotes work-life balance is another way to attract the best talent.
People value family time, recreational activities, and projects outside of work.
All of which contribute to better wellbeing.
In the UK, stress is responsible for approximately 17.1 million working days lost and the best employees do not want to be a part of this statistic.
Being able to fulfil home and work duties is becoming increasingly more valuable to employees.
4. Desire for a Good Workplace Culture
Workplace culture is a combination of the beliefs, values, behaviours and environment that form the working experience within an organisation.
A positive workplace culture can have a vast range of benefits including:
- Increased Productivity
- Good Team Collaboration
- Higher Employee Engagement
- Attracting Top Talent
- Innovation
- Enhanced Company Reputation
- Reduced Absenteeism
- And more!
A survey of 5000 employees from the UK, USA, France, and Germany found that before joining a company 77% of them would consider the company culture.
73% also said they would not apply to a company that didn’t align with their personal values.
5. Career Development
The best talent often wants to develop their skills, knowledge and progress within an organisation.
According to the LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, 7/10 people say learning improves their sense of connection to their organisation.
8/10 people say that learning adds purpose to their work.
Creating a learning culture within an organisation makes it more attractive to potential employees.
Whether it’s learning about specific aspects of their career or health workshops to support their wellbeing, continuous learning is a part of every healthy workplace.
It is also reported that highly effective learning organisations have higher levels of talent retention.
Another strong point to creating a healthy workplace culture.
The Return on Investment of a Healthy Workplace
The smartest minds and the best talent know how beneficial a healthy workplace can be for all parties involved.
A healthy workplace can not only benefit employees, but also employers.
A study by the WHO found that investing in a healthy workplace makes financial sense.
They state that every $1 invested in treatment for employee wellbeing issues like depression and anxiety, leads to a return on investment of $4.
As well as the ethical and morale duty of creating a healthy workplace, it’s also financially rewarding.
The CEPR also report that there is a strong correlation between employee wellbeing, productivity and firm performance.
Whether it’s investing in employee wellbeing workshops, having a well designed wellness program, or ensuring the company has a healthy culture, it’s clear to see that maintaining employee health is essential.
5 Practical Steps to Create a Healthy Workplace
As you have seen from above, creating a healthy workplace can have many benefits, especially when attracting top talent.
But what are the practical things companies can do to cultivate a healthier workplace.
Here are 5 practical steps:
1. Develop a Health and Wellbeing Strategy
Having a clear health and wellbeing strategy is essential to creating a healthy workplace.
A wellbeing strategy should aim to address both the physical and mental needs of employees.
According to the WHO, workplace health initiatives can reduce sick leave by 27%
To get started, conduct a thorough assessment of your workplace through surveys and employee feedback.
Collecting data allows you to create a wellbeing strategy that aligns with the needs of employees.
This data driven approach means employers can target specific issues, whether it’s coping with stress, improving physical health, supporting mental health or other concerns.
A successful strategy will have clear and measurable goals that are regularly reviewed to see what impact it’s having.
This ensures the strategy is efficient and can be adapted where necessary.
2. Gain Leadership Support
Leaders play a crucial role in creating a healthy workplace and gaining their support with health initiatives is essential.
Leaders have a major impact on employees and according to Forbes almost 70% of people claim their managers have more impact on their mental health than their therapist or doctor.
Stats like this show just how vital a leader’s involvement can be on their employees.
To help gain leadership support companies should present the positive case for health and wellbeing initiatives.
Organisations should not only demonstrate the value it brings for employees but also for the company.
Involving leaders in the planning process will also help to give them a sense of ownership which will contribute to their commitment to the strategy.
Leaders who actively participate in the initiatives themselves will act as powerful role models which can encourage wider employee engagement and reinforce the company’s commitment to wellbeing.
3. Enhance the Work Environment
Creating a comfortable and healthy physical environment is another great way to enhance the wellbeing of employees in the office.
Research indicates that a positive work environment has been shown to improve employee performance and commitment.
Employers should aim to use ergonomic furniture which can reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders.
Employee wellbeing statistics show that musculoskeletal disorders are responsible for approximately 27% of working days lost in the UK which means having ergonomic furniture is likely to reduce this statistic.
A work environment with natural light can also help improve the wellbeing of employees, albeit not always completely achievable for all office environments.
Other things such as air quality, noise pollution, and recreational spaces are also things that can contribute to the working environment.
Focusing on physical improvements within the workplace will have a positive impact on the overall health of each employee.
4. Provide Learning and Development Opportunities
Enhancing employee skills and knowledge contributes to better job satisfaction, improved wellbeing and is beneficial for both employer and employee.
To implement successful L&D opportunities, companies should focus on creating personalised learning paths to align with employee goals.
Organise regular training to support employee development.
These can include traditional training workshops, mentorship programs, online courses and unique workshops that focus on wellbeing and personal development.
Investing in L&D is not just about developing employee skills but about empowering them to reach their full potential, contributing to a healthy workplace.
As someone who has delivered a range of workshops to support employee wellbeing, I have seen first hand the positive impact it can have on employee morale, health and sense of belonging.
5. Promote Physical Activity
Physical activity and exercise have an amazing impact on employee wellbeing and contribute to a healthy workforce.
Research has shown that physical activity can reduce the risk of a vast range of health issues that all workplaces would like to avoid.
To promote physical activity at work, companies can introduce health challenges to help motivate employees to take action.
Employers can incentivise healthy behaviours, provide discounts or access to gym memberships, promote walking meetings, organise team hikes, exercise related charitable events and more!
Integrating physical activity into the workplace helps to create a healthy culture that supports employee wellbeing for the long term.
Overall creating a healthy workplace does more than attract the smartest minds.
A healthy workplace contributes to improved employee performance, happiness, commitment, retention and more.
Companies who focus on creating an environment for the long run are in the best position to keep growing their business.
Author
Tyler Lowe – Health & Wellbeing Speaker
BSc Sport & Exercise Rehabilitation
