Wellbeing at Work: the most impactful ways to support employees in 2024
We’ve been looking forward to the release of the Wellbeing at Work 2023 report, published by Great Place to Work. It highlights wellbeing best-practice, based on data gathered from over 140,000 UK respondents.
We live and breathe employee wellbeing, so we were keen to find out what differentiates the top-ranked companies from their peers, according to this survey. We were even more excited to find out that this report mirrors the advice we’ve been giving our clients throughout 2023 and into 2024!
Concentrate on:
- Supporting and valuing your people, especially by investing in the people-skills of your managers
- Helping employees cope with the financial strain of the cost of living crisis
- Creating a hybrid working environment that prioritises work-life balance and your team’s needs
Why should you care about employee wellbeing?
Maybe you’re asking: “we’ve already got a wellbeing programme. Why should we be interested in what the top-ranking organisations are doing?”
Well, research shows that those top-ranking organisations experience:
- better staff retention
- higher productivity
- more positive, inclusive working environments
- better mental health among their people
- more open and resilient teams who are adaptable to change
So, if you want to create a high-wellbeing work environment, what are the most impactful wellbeing decisions you can take?
Invest in People Management
“Above any perk, programme or policy, employees across industries, organisational structures, and cultures just want their managers to reach out and ask how they are.”
Wellbeing at Work report 2023
The report finds that empathy and support when employees need it is what separates the top 5% of companies from their peers. This involves having regular and consistent touch-points with managers. And including both work and personal life in catch-ups. “As long as people managers have the necessary people skills and a genuine interest in their people, employees will feel supported and cared for.”
But the question that comes from this is: who is supporting managers?
If managers are expected to provide compassionate support to their direct reports, without training and support themselves, they will soon start to experience their own wellbeing struggles. Training in interpersonal skills and mental health support is essential. As is mentoring or networking to bring managers together with others who can coach and support them.
Work-life balance and hybrid working
“Flexibility, autonomy and work-life balance continue to sit high up on the list of wellbeing requests among UK employees.”
Wellbeing at Work report 2023
As hybrid working becomes more and more embedded in our working culture, it’s even more important to get your working environment right. It’s a balancing act, weighing the needs of employees who value the social side of face-to-face time in the office, with those who are concerned about losing the flexibility and autonomy of hybrid working.
It’s essential you understand your people and their needs, as well as the needs of your business. At Elevate, we do this by conducting an audit of what’s already happening, ensuring that any solutions are driven by the needs of your people. By creating a people-centric approach that balances everyone’s needs, you can help your people and business thrive.
Financial support and security
“Now more than ever, employers have a duty of care and mandate to provide tailored financial support for their people. Without it, workplaces risk significant productivity losses and increased employee turnover as people seek higher reward packages elsewhere.”
Wellbeing at Work report 2023
The report finds that many employees have “all-consuming” money worries and are looking to their employers for support in the short term. The cost of living crisis has made concerns about financial wellbeing urgent for more UK employees than ever before.
Best-practice organisations were:
- Offering single-payment bonuses or supports, such as with commuting costs
- Creating a culture of financial wellbeing, by committing to job security
- Providing food at work, whether on-site or to take home
- Creating a culture of paying people fairly for the work they do
- Supporting employees to plan and manage their personal financial situation
Again, the report makes it clear that the response and compassion of managers is what distinguishes the best-practice organisations from their peers. But many of your managers may be unfamiliar with how to support teams through such acute financial distress. So training and support is vital.
Key take-away
“If we’ve learned anything from the more than 140,000 anonymous voices raised in our survey, it’s that – besides empowering employees with flexibility and financial support where possible – people just want the opportunity to be listened to and supported, genuinely and regularly, by their manager.”
Wellbeing at Work report 2023
Based on this report, the data shows that the single most important action you can take as a business is to support your managers in supporting your people. It’s true across the board, as well as in specific issues such as financial wellbeing and work-life balance: in all areas, the response of your manager is key to how supported employees feel.
Train your managers to respond confidently, compassionately and knowledgeably as they support your employees. Provide managers with a peer-group network where they can ask for coaching and advice. Create open and collaborative mentorship for managers, so they can get the support they need to help their direct reports appropriately.
Not sure where to start?
At Elevate, we offer our The Whole Leader programme, which supports managers in:
- Learning how to support a diverse team of line reports.
- Managing with empathy.
- Mental health support and training for managers.
- How managers can keep themselves healthy.
- Boundaries and how managers can support others while keeping their own health in mind.
We’ve built this programme in response to demand from our clients. Time and again we were seeing requests for holistic, all-round support for managerial-level staff – now there’s a programme which brings all that knowledge and best-practice together!
We can also offer training and support to help with the financial pressures many employees face as well as supporting you to set up your hybrid working environment to help all your employees thrive.
As always, get in touch to discuss how we can help you.
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
