Health and Wellbeing High on Agenda

Despite the reduced impact of the pandemic, HR must still face the challenge of supporting the health and wellbeing of its employees.

The start of the new year has not brought good news for everyone. As the festivities subside the reality of 2023 is emerging with the cost-of-living crisis continuing and what Lisa Haggar, HR executive and speaker at The HR World’s first webinar of the year described as “the hangover from the pandemic” sets in.

Alongside anecdoctal evidence a report collated by change activation platform Rungway has found employee concerns on wellbeing have risen by 88% in the past year.

The report brought together data from over 50,000 workers and showed that employees are more concerned about their wellbeing than ever before.

Rungway also found that questions relating to personal challenges being posted on their platform increased by 38% from 2021 to 2022 and a third of all posts in the second half of 2022 were on the topic of wellbeing.

Towergate Health & Protection have also made a call to employers to invest in targeted wellbeing support if they really want to make a difference in the new year.

“There is always a lot of noise around keeping fit and eating well in January, but health and wellbeing support needs to go much further than this” said Debra Clark, head of specialist consulting at Towergate Health & Protection. “It must be based on a proper understanding of the issues but also of the workplace demographic and the specific needs of the employees.”

Clark advises organisations to start by understanding the risks in order to prevent illness – both mental and physical. She advises that a risk assessment – something as simple as an anonymised health questionnaire – will allow the employees themselves to understand what risks they face.

Carina Cortez, Chief People Officer, Cornerstone, also states that her business’ research last year found that there was a 1.4x increase in the demand for self-directed health and wellbeing learning content globally, reinforcing that organisations should invest in continual learning resources and tools, to help manage and maintain employee health on a holistic level.

Cortez advises that managers should receive additional training to provide mental health first aid, and to ensure they lead with empathy. This establishes a positive “ripple effect” throughout an organisation.

“Following the impact of the pandemic, which worsened work-related mental illness in 452,000 people in the UK, and an ongoing Great Resignation that has left one in five globally extremely likely to switch employers, wellbeing is at the forefront of employee needs in the workplace,” says Cortez. “Employers should remember that wellbeing is not a fleeting trend, it is indispensable to a productive and happier workforce.”

Find out more about The HR World’s recent webinar on health and wellbeing

The Webinar was sponsored by OpenUp www.openup.com.