You are here > Home > News
Employee wellbeing: the key to productivity?
HR News |
19/01/2012
Aside from the intellectual property that helps a company drive revenue, employees are very often a company's biggest asset. It is paid workers who are responsible for putting in the hard yards each day, whether in the factory, office or on the front line dealing with customers. If businesses want to operate profitably, they need to have a motivated and dedicated workforce doing their jobs to the best of their ability.
Recognising this fact, it is clearly in employers' interests to support staff members as well as they can. Understandably, business leaders are always looking for ways of coaxing increased productivity out of their workers, as this is how they can increase output without adding to costs. As such, anything a manager or team leader can do to improve day-to-day conditions is likely to be worthwhile. By keeping employees happy, employers and HR staff can contribute to the main organisational goals.
According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), businesses should make employee wellbeing a priority as they bid to grow and increase profits. Despite the benefits of such initiatives being well-documented, the HR body believes many companies and organisations can do more to meet the needs of their paid workers.
"In an increasingly competitive environment, an organisation's ability to adapt and grow is crucial to success," the CIPD stated. "And this brings with it stresses and strains that can harm wellbeing, creating a vicious circle that can be hard to escape." As such, it is crucial for companies not only to establish wellbeing programmes, but ensure they are properly communicated to staff. This encourages employees to buy in to the company's strategy for managing employee morale and increasing productivity, the organisation said.
According to the CIPD, employers need to think about ways of managing and mitigating stress and mental health problems in the workplace. In order to do so, they need to understand the impact of job insecurity, increase awareness of stress factors and reduce the cost of presenteeism, the body stated. Companies also need to embed wellbeing into the organisational culture more effectively, by defining and embedding the wellbeing approach and ensuring long-term sustainability.
Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, said there is an "extremely clear" business case for employers investing in the health and mental fitness of their workers. This can not only lower levels of employee ill health and absence, but also cut the risk of accidents, and increase employee engagement and productivity, he said. With workers more engaged, the likelihood of expensive fewer tribunal claims can also be reduced, allowing employers to focus on growing the organisation, Mr Willmott said.
"The starting point for building employee wellbeing and resilience is how people are led and managed on a day-to-day basis," he claimed." Employers also need to ensure that they have effective systems for identifying and managing absence and provide support such as access to occupational health and flexible working where appropriate."
Taking steps to improve employee welfare and responding to early warning signs offers no guarantees to employers in terms of greater motivation, employee retention and higher productivity. But they should recognise a duty to think about the wellbeing of their staff, and ensure people they are working with on a daily basis are healthy and, where possible, happy. At the very least, this should make for a more pleasant working environment, which can have direct and indirect positive effects on people within the organisation.
Posted by Jon Aspinell
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HR Recruitment Agency - Transparent Recruitment Fees Since 1999 - 12.5% Fee / 3 Month, 100% Rebate.
Sign up to our e-newsletter service to receive our headline news directly to your inbox
