Whilst many employers are aware of the benefits of promoting health and wellbeing, it’s often carried out on an ad-hoc basis. The difficulty with this approach is that it makes efficacy evaluation difficult, creating challenges when it comes to getting buy-in from those in control of the budget, and it can also lead to spiralling costs.
Health and wellbeing strategies are also often underpinned by a specific focus, for example reducing absenteeism. However, one of the key challenges is to go beyond this core objective and take a more holistic approach to employee health and wellbeing.
Below we outline some of the topics that a strategic approach to employee health and wellbeing can start to address:
Mental Health
Why do workplaces need mental health first aiders? Our research shows that 86% of UK employees believe their organisations are not doing enough to help them deal with work-related mental health issues. Mental ill health is the single largest cause of disability in the UK and 12.5 million working days are lost each year due to mental health issues. Read more.
Stress
Building resilience is one way to successfully manage stress. It gives us the ability to persevere and continue to function at a high level in times of adversity, despite failures, setbacks and loss. Here we take a look at 10 steps towards building resilience to cope with stress in the workplace and avoid burnout. Read more.
Sedentary Behaviour
British people sit for an average of 8.9 hours a day. Office workers are spending the majority of these hours sat at their desks, and research indicates that this poses a real health risk, irrespective of how active people are outside of work. This is why it’s vital to reduce sedentary behaviour and be more active in the workplace. Read more.
If you need any further information about our health and wellbeing offer for Chamber members please get in touch or visit our website.
Best wishes
WESTFIELD HEALTH
