For many, many years, employee wellness has been seen as a kind of a desirable perk. It has been viewed as a way to boost morale, offer competitive benefits, or enhance employer branding. Yet, things have definitely started changing, as leading organizations are nowadays realizing something very different. In short, they are realizing that workforce health definitely influences productivity, resilience, and profitability as well as long-term growth, meaning that it is a strategic business asset. A business imperative, if you will, instead of just a sideline perk.
Here is more on wellness at the workplace: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5081153/
This specific realization has led to the executives starting to face mounting pressure to actually improve operational performance, while at the same time navigating those labor shortages, as well as rising healthcare costs and, of course, evolving employee expectations and economic uncertainty. In such circumstances, employers can quite literally no longer afford to treat employee health as a separate HR initiative, and it has to, instead, become a top priority. After all, it is an issue that is affecting pretty much all business metrics.
So, those companies that are actively seeking to reduce workplace stress, as well as burnout and, thus, absenteeism, are both investing in their people and protecting their specific bottom line. Research is continuously linking healthier workforces with stronger engagement, higher productivity, and lower turnover, as well as improved organizational performance overall. Let us, thus, discuss in a bit more details why employee wellbeing has become a strategic business imperative. How it has become a necessity, rather than a luxury.
Organizational Health Equals Business Performance
As you most definitely understand already, every single organization depends on, well, the performance of its people. Sure, technology and strategy definitely play a huge role, but the actual execution depends on the ability of your employees to perform consistently and at a high level. Of course, issues such as fatigue, chronic stress, poor mental health and some illnesses can undeniably undermine their ability to do so, and often even result in the employees leaving the company in the long run.
Absenteeism is, however, only part of the problem. In fact, a lot of organizations face an even bigger challenge. They watch their employees remain at work but operate far, far below their actual full capacity due to those same issues we have mentioned, such as stress and mental exhaustion. Research shows, such as the one done by the McKinsey Health Institute, that improving employee wellbeing and health could actually unlock up to $11.7 trillion in annual global economic value, which is undeniably a huge number. Read some more about that on this page.
All of this means that organizational health should not be measured solely based on sick days or healthcare spending. Executives have to take other stuff into account as well, such as how effectively employees can focus, collaborate, innovate, solve the problems they are presented with, and basically deliver value every single day. And, in the end, you should always keep in mind that organizational health actually equals business performance.
What Happens If You Ignore Workforce Health?
Now, you may be wondering what it is that will actually happen if you ignore workforce health? Well, this can create some hidden costs that you may not have even thought about and that go well beyond medical claims. Basically, organizations that experience high levels of stress and burnout often find themselves having to deal with increased absenteeism, lower productivity, higher turnover, reduced employee engagement, greater recruitment costs, increased workplace errors, lower customer satisfaction, as well as reduced innovation. Thus, low wellbeing can actually cost large organizations millions of dollars even in lost productivity and lost opportunity.
So, the bottom line is that the costs of low wellbeing are definitely enormous for all organizations. They go beyond those sick leaves, as mentioned. This directly affects profitability, as well as operational efficiency and, well, long-term competitiveness. It is, thus, no wonder that workforce health has become the imperative, and that executives are recognizing that, instead of thinking of it as a luxury.
Productivity Starts With Prevention
What high-performing organizations are increasingly recognizing is that, well, productivity is not achieved by simply asking the employees to work harder. Quite on the contrary, you have to offer something in order to get something in return, and motivation is extremely important here. And, well, sustainable performance actually comes from doing your best to reduce those factors that actually interfere with your employees’ ability to perform. This basically means that you want to address some issues before they become expensive business problems.
In short, productivity actually starts with prevention. So, understanding the importance of employee wellbeing and then doing your best to successfully manage workplace stress, support your people’s mental health, encourage rest and recovery, promote healthy work environments, reduce unnecessary workload friction, create psychologically safe teams, support physical wellbeing, and do many more things. To put it simply, instead of reacting to problems after they occur, such as absenteeism or burnout, you should be a bit more proactive about all of this and design systems that will reduce the risks of those issues occurring in the first place.
Healthy Employees Equal Better Business Outcomes
Organizations tend to measure their financial performance through operating margins, customer retention, revenue growth, and shareholder value. And, what you should understand is that workforce health is sure to impact all of those outcomes. After all, healthier employees are much more likely to maintain consistent productivity, collaborate effectively, adapt to change, demonstrate stronger engagement, generate innovative ideas, as well as deliver higher quality customer experiences.
All of this means that investing in employee health is surely an imperative for all organizations. It helps strengthen organizational performance, instead of competing with it. Thus, if you are running an organization of any kind, you should undeniably think of health and wellbeing as top priorities. After all, workforce health has become a strategic business necessity, instead of a luxury, and that is something you have to keep in mind if you really want to drive your company’s growth.
