Employee wellbeing has grown in popularity over time, but is it a new concept or simply a rebranding of old occupational health, absence management, and good management practice?

The majority of firms strive to be in good shape. It stands to reason that if their staff are in employee health and wellbeing, this will undoubtedly contribute to the company's success, as healthy and fit personnel are critical to a company's efficiency and profitability. As more organizations see the economic benefits and contributions that can be made by introducing employee wellbeing initiatives, it is progressively advancing up the business agenda.

Many businesses are attempting to strike a compromise between increasing productivity and reducing the danger of their staff becoming burnt out, making costly mistakes, or departing. Understanding the comprehensive approach to well-being that underpins it, as well as the development of programmes that are coordinated with other HR policies, can help achieve that balance.

The relationships that employees have with their immediate managers are maybe the most important element in employee happiness. Employee health and wellbeing are improved when there are good ties between managers and employees. A skilled manager will be able to recognise their team members' skills, likes, and dislikes, as well as when they are in need of assistance.

A skilled manager will be able to recognise their team members' skills, likes, and dislikes, as well as recognise when the volume or intricacy of the task is too much for them. The better line managers are at detecting an individual's particular interests and concerns, the more likely they are to be able to build a team in which employee well-being is an intrinsic component of getting the job done.

Occupational health is emerging as a discipline to assist businesses in providing care to their employees. Occupational health services have generally been more readily available at larger organizations, where services have traditionally centred on seeing people after they have been ill. This focus on prevention rather than cure is gradually moving, with the result that employee well-being is improving across the board, not only among those who are already sick.

Generally, there are three types of wellness programmes:

• Training, development, and leadership programmes that include well-being modules. Personal performance, nutrition, energy levels, stress management, relaxation, work-life balance, sleep, and fitness are all covered in this course. Modules can be included in existing training programmes or built as a stand-alone wellness training programme that can be offered in a single half-day session or every week.

• Employee benefits packages that include group or individual projects that are run on-site. Group workout sessions, yoga courses, Pilate’s sessions, a jogging club, fresh fruit deliveries, healthy cooking, and individual lifestyle or nutrition counselling programmes are all examples of these projects.

• Health Fairs at your location. Health screenings, fitness assessments, competitions, cuisine challenges, and tasting sessions for a range of group or individual efforts are all part of these events, which raise awareness of healthy living activities.

Your effective health and wellbeing programs are likely to be made up of a combination of the above elements, with a flexible approach to implementing employee wellbeing initiatives where each element focus your time, effort, and budget where it will have the greatest impact, and organically grow into the most effective wellbeing programme for your company over time.

Read More: What Are Employee Wellness Programs, And How Is Benefited?