HR REWARD AND BENEFITS Team of champions Have a heart
More than a third of employees believe their bosses don’t care about their happiness and wellbeing in the workplace, according to the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The survey from the BHF, published in February, also found two-thirds (67%) do not think their organisation offers any opportunities to get fi t and healthy. Almost a fi fth (18%) of employees rate their daily stress levels as seven out of 10 or above. Respondents reported that stress from work spilled over into their home life and free time. Over a third (39%) claimed stress from work made them feel more tired than usual, and more than a quarter (29%) said they fi nd it diffi cult to sleep. The survey also revealed that more than one in 10 (11%)
workers fail to do any exercise on an average working day and over a third of workers (34%) also admit to taking one or more sick days during an average month. The BHF is urging employers to think more about workplace health and join its Health at Work programme. More than 2,000 workers, from bankers to healthcare
professionals, were surveyed for Health at Work, which is sponsored by Legal & General.
Creating a buzz
Media agency MEC Global has set itself a strategic business objective to be the best agency in its sector to work for and, from 2008, already had a fl exible benefi ts scheme in place. Last year, it made the decision to place wellbeing on top of this. Clare Alger, HR director at MEC Global, explains: “Wellbeing was part of our strategic mission, but we really wanted to listen to staff feedback. This workplace can be a pressurised environment and we wanted to help the physical, mental and fi nancial wellbeing of employees. In order to do this, we needed to seek their input, so our wellbeing provision could be creative and leading edge.” The organisation, having a young workforce with an average age of 28, chose to use social media channels Facebook and Twitter to
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communicate its wellbeing offerings. These included energy workshops (provided by EnergiseYou), massages, an onsite GP for employees who visits monthly, fi nancial advice, 50% discount on gym classes, sleep clinics and smoking cessation. It also provided desk-drop postcards for all 470 London and Manchester-based staff and new recruits are advised on wellbeing through onboarding. Through this method of “creating a buzz”, as Alger puts it, absence
has reduced, staff do not take hours off work to visit doctors and Alger says MEC has one of the lowest staff turnover rates in its sector, saving on recruitment spend. But 99% of staff think the organisation is a great place to work and 92% believe think the employer cares about their wellbeing, pushing engagement scores up, to boot.
HR Supplement September 2012 27
Barbara Gallani, director of food safety and science at the Food and Drink Federation says: “Health and wellbeing in the workplace has moved up the boardroom agenda in the past few years. “As part of the Government’s Public Health Responsibility Deal, launched in 2011, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and many of its members pledged to take action to improve public health; this included employee health. Members are committed to creating and sharing resources. FDF has launched a free toolkit for employers, and all those involved in workplace wellbeing, which provides guidance on how to enhance staff wellness programmes. “We have created an eight-step guide for employers, which we believe will help develop effective programmes for staff: Decide what you want to achieve; determine what your team needs; fi nd out what resources you have access to; create a project team; develop a programme; communicate; launch the programme; evaluate. “The development of any workplace wellbeing scheme must stem
from the business objectives, be it to support staff recruitment and retention, drive integration in the team, or reduce staff absence. Start by asking colleagues what potential health issues they perceive and how a workplace wellbeing programme could help them personally. “Workplace wellbeing schemes don’t need to be expensive, but they do need to be cost-effective. Find out what resources you can make use of, be it a meeting room-cum-Pilates ‘studio’, or local sports facilities available for free. People will be your best resource; collectively they will know the local area and have the creativity needed to develop and roll out an engaging programme. “To launch and maintain a successful campaign, you will need a committed team of ‘champions’ to do the programme development, activity planning and communication. A mix of departmental representation, seniority and personalities will encourage diversity and spread the word. Plot out what achievable activity can take place, while bearing in mind that ad hoc staff activities boost staff morale. “Make the most of every communication method: staff meetings,
intranet, bulletin boards or email. If employees don’t know about initiatives, they won’t make use of them. Constant dialogue is essential. “And lastly, it is essential to evaluate the success of your workplace wellbeing regularly – what worked or didn’t and why? Establishing what the ROI has been, and where the real benefi ts were delivered, are key to continually improving your staff offering.”
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