STRATEGIC PARTNERS AND PATRONS
What is employee engagement?
Westfield Health Human Resources and Wellbeing Manager Vicky Walker offers five top actionable tips to engage employees.
Employee engagement is about creating a high performing workforce where your employees care about your organisation and believe in your mission, purpose and values. Engagement isn’t just about how
happy or satisfied your employees are - being happy doesn’t always mean they are working productively. Engaged employees have an emotional commitment to working towards your goals – they aren’t just working for a pay check or promotion. It’s clear that employee engagement goes beyond simple job satisfaction and motivation.
1. IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT MONEY Employee engagement activities don’t always require a significant financial investment. It’s more about taking time to listen to staff so they feel seen, heard and recognised. By doing so, you can gain valuable insight into how simple changes in the office environment can increase engagement and boost morale, and a lot of these ideas require little to no financial investment.
2. GIVE STAFF FLEXIBILITY Allowing staff to be flexible about their working hours can mean they are less stressed at work because they have a more positive work-life balance. If family life is impacting on
employee productivity and performance it’s important you listen to your staff, taking into account the changing demands of modern working life, and develop your policy on flexible working accordingly. Not offering suitable ways of flexible working can lead
to leaveism, where employees work outside of hours and during annual leave, and often become burnt out as a result.
3. LOOK AFTER YOUR EMPLOYEES’ PHYSICAL HEALTH The mental and physical health of your staff are equally important and you need to actively support the overall health and wellbeing of your people. The obvious benefit is healthier employees are absent less often, so by encouraging and promoting a healthy workforce you are reducing sickness absence and making substantial cost savings. Healthy employees are also more
motivated at work, at less risk of long term illness and recover more quickly if they become sick. Promote healthy living by providing resources and encouraging healthy eating habits. In winter months, consider providing staff with a flu jab to help prevent winter illness. You can also provide staff with a
health cash plan to help cover medical costs, and gain access to treatment and screenings faster should they need it.
4. SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH With mental health issues affecting one-in-four in the UK each year, it’s important that workplaces are offering the right support and taking a positive approach to mental health awareness. When your employees know they can comfortably discuss issues relating to their mental health, they are more likely to be engaged. Line managers are best placed to
spot potential signs of employees who are struggling. Offering mental health training, such as Mental Health First Aid, enables them to spot early
signs and take action. Providing early intervention means you are able to offer the right support to staff before things escalate. It’s also important that HR staff
are familiar with best practice when carrying out a mental health- related return to work plan.
5. MINDFULNESS AND EXERCISE CLASSES Stress can affect us all and it’s important employees know how to deal with stress, and that they can reach out for support. Being stressed at work can have an extremely negative effect on engagement, so offering stress- busting resources and workshops is a great way to help staff deal with and prevent stress. At Westfield Health, employees
can take part in yoga sessions twice a week, plus a weekly exercise class with a personal trainer. We offer onsite massages and expert-led workshops with topics including managing stress to developing motivation and confidence. Among other benefits, these
sessions help staff relax and overcome stress which can be
detrimental to engagement, productivity, performance and most importantly their health. It’s also important to stay active
at work to combat the sedentary office lifestyle, which has been proven to have detrimental effects on health regardless of how much we exercise outside of work. Creating a culture of employee engagement inevitably means happy customers. By listening to your staff and investing time and effort into employee engagement, you are creating a higher level of service and higher customer satisfaction. However, more importantly, this leads to a happy and loyal workforce of employees who share the organisation’s mission, purpose and goals. Your organisation's success
depends on your people. It’s about taking your people with you on your journey and in return they will be more productive, loyal and engaged.
To learn more about the exclusive Westfield Health offers available as a Chamber member, please call 0771 2184575 or email
sharon.garratt@
westfieldhealth.com
THE CHAMBER IS HONOURED BY THE SUPPORT OF ITS STRATEGIC PARTNERS AND PATRONS
business network June 2019
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