Depending on who you ask, there are anywhere from four to six pillars of employee well-being. For example, Mercer has it at four. REBA, on the other hand, has it at six. We’ve split the difference and settled on five. They all focus on different areas that have an outsized impact on employee wellbeing.
To learn a little bit about each one – and what you can do to ensure that your organization fulfills these needs for each and every staff member – we’ve put together this deep dive on the pillars of employee wellbeing.
Financial Health
Financial health isn’t about having overwhelming amounts of cash; it’s about security. Your role needs to pay enough for you to meet your basic requirements. Everyone has a right to shelter, clothing and sustenance.
Employers have a responsibility to ensure that employees are fairly remunerated for their efforts. If they rise in seniority or their role changes rapidly, they have to be rewarded commensurately.
And while employers don’t have a duty to monitor the spending of their employees, they can point their staff members in the direction of savvy financial advice. This could include pension schemes and investment opportunities.
Physical Health
Employers are seeing integrating healthy lifestyle choices into the days of their employees as more and more of their responsibility.
If you’re expected to leave a largely sedentary lifestyle during your work hours – sitting at your desk for hours at a time – you might want to consider exercising during your lunch break. Even if you can only squeeze in a few reps at the gym, it is well worth doing.
Employers can encourage this kind of activity with different schemes and benefits. There is a government-endorsed scheme to boost the number of people cycling to and from work. And exercising during your commute is a great way to squeeze in a physically demanding activity into an already cramped schedule.
On the other side of the spectrum, if you’re working on a potentially hazardous construction site, you have a right to safe working conditions. Employers can minimize risk by outfitting every employee with safety equipment and carrying out extensive risk assessments of every project.
Mental Health
There has been a swell of support and an intense focus on covering mental health in recent years. This newfound sympathy should extend to employers too. If there are things at work that are negatively impacting staff members’ mental health, there have to be steps taken to address these issues.
Whether it’s something on the job or something at home, employers have to show a level of sympathy and direct their employees to the right places to receive the support they need.
Career
There are numerous things to do with their career that can influence a person’s wellbeing. It might be a lack of opportunities or long working hours with little respite, it could be a dearth of time spent thinking creatively. There are so many different things that can impact their day-to-day wellbeing.
Take the time to talk to your employees about their frustrations with their roles. From there, you might be able to tweak their responsibilities to improve their satisfaction with their career.
Support
An often overlooked part of employee wellbeing is emotional and mental support. At times, work can be lonely – especially during the pandemic. The social aspect of an organization shouldn’t be overlooked. Forging relationships with your staff members can boost their well-being and make them feel valued and part of the team.
It might mean being open to giving them time off when they’re going through a difficult period or organizing events that bolster team spirit.
Tags: morale, well-being, workplace
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