Why A Healthy Workforce Is Important
According to this Thrive Global article, investing in organizational health and well-being is not only beneficial for employees, but it can also significantly impact your organization’s bottom line. Healthy employees are productive, engaged, and take less sick days. Not only that, but a healthy workforce is all together more creative and they become the driving force behind innovation. By focusing on creating healthy workforce, organizations begin to go from just surviving to thriving.
Creating A Healthy Workforce
Incorporating a wellness program alone will not achieve the results listed above. According to the Gallagher 2018 Human Capital Insights Report, it’s a core responsibility of both HR and leaders to make sure the overall culture of the workplace supports the goals and initiatives of the wellness program. This ensures you are not setting any of your wellness efforts back. From there, this report suggests focusing on two things: creating inner strength and guiding employees.
- Inner Strength: This is a key component to healthy workforce. One way to create inner strength is to offer stress management opportunities within your wellness program. Obviously, stress can not be eliminated entirely, but employees that cope with stress and better mange the effects of stress, are much healthier and resilient. The American Heart Association states that resilience leads to greater job satisfaction, increased engagement, and overall increased happiness in the workplace.
- Guiding Employees: Many organizations don’t realize that their managers can make or break the overall culture of the workplace. The way managers interact with employees impacts the way they perceive their work environment, which can affect their physical and mental health. That is why it is so important that anyone in a leadership role is trained in the technique of guiding and supporting the performance of others.
When your organization’s culture and wellness program align and focus on helping all employees thrive, then the business side will begin to thrive too. Click here to download Gallagher’s 2018 Human Capital Insights Report and learn more about creating a healthy workforce!
