The importance of staff wellbeing continues to grow with significant speed. Although it’s been around for a while, it’s only really the last 2 or 3 years where it has reached a significant number of SME owners, with many more having ‘heard of it and doing a bit’!
As a business owner, it’s likely your primary focus is ‘how am I going to generate revenue, make money, increase profit’ perhaps forgetting to look after and support the staff that are making the money for you.
Thankfully, we’ve all (I hope) moved away from the days of ‘you should be happy you’ve got a job’ approach to managing someone’s wellbeing however the key is understanding the difference between a wellbeing perk and a true wellbeing provision.
I’ve worked in at least one business where free gym membership has been an employee wellbeing benefit. That’s great if that’s what you’re into. Having reviewed the usage stats, less than 15% of staff actually used their membership. Is this a business embracing the wellbeing of their workers or simply ticking the wellbeing box? I’ve also spoken to business owners who tell me they have a wellbeing strategy already. It’s available for all of the staff to read. If it was as simple as that, with the amount of ‘reading’ I do about exercising, I’d be making my money as the female Joe Wicks (no offence Joe !) unfortunately it’s the ‘doing’ that makes the difference and that’s the hard bit.
Our strategies look into 4 key areas of wellbeing. We look at what the business needs in each area, what the priorities are, the work required with the management team to ensure the right support is in place and what initiatives will work best. Then, we work on driving the implementation so that wellbeing doesn’t feel forced, it’s just the way your business operates. The right way. The successful way.