Involving employees in health and wellbeing strategies is the best way for employers to see a return on investment.
Speaking in a session titled ‘Are health and wellbeing solutions worth investing in?’ at the Employee Benefits Summit in Alicante, Spain on 26 June, Susan Gee, employee health and wellbeing manager at Yorkshire Water, said that going out into the workplace and encouraging staff to get involved, through training, awareness campaigns and health screening, works best.
“It also needs to be communicated to the workforce or they won’t engage with it,” she added.
Yorkshire Water has its own challenges in engaging employees with health and wellbeing, particularly because its staff are spread across Yorkshire. “How are we going to get them involved with the wellbeing strategy?” asked Gee. “It’s something we have to face.”
The organisation began by surveying employees and asking them what they would like to see in the orgfanisation’s health and wellbeing strategy. Early results showed that staff were interested in more physical and social activities in the workplace. Gee added: “We’ve got a good place to start.”
She also emphasised that seeing a return on the investment in employee health and wellbeing could take three to five years, but employers must ensure that a strategy has a sustainable, long-term focus.
“Wellbeing is never done,” she said. “It’s like a golden thread that goes through your organisation.”