The latest top five employee wellbeing trends - what you need to know to keep your organisation up to speed
At WorkLifeWell, we believe there is incredible value in knowledge sharing and learning from others, so we’ve rounded up some of the most prominent trends of the year so far from our clients across a breadth of industries.
Whether you have a full-blown wellbeing strategy but aren’t resting on your laurels, or you’re still in the developing stages, we hope these ideas will help you on your journey to happier, healthier workplaces for all.
The five employee wellbeing trends of the moment
1. Help with Hybrid. While it’s no longer a new working practice, bad habits are easy to fall into, and for some, it can amplify feelings of isolation and belonging - especially new starters. To address this, increased help with hybrid working is being offered on topics such as ‘Managing in Hybrid World’ and ‘Managing Energy for Productivity’ - covering tools and techniques for structuring days at home, managing flow, and workstation set-up, so employees can recognise how and where they work at their very best. In addition, inducting new starters remotely and considering hybrid from the outset has also been a key part of fostering a sense of belonging - from ensuring their first day in the office is when it’s most well attended, to welcome gifts delivered to home, and a structured schedule that ensures they meet the wider team in their first weeks.
2. DE&I Collectives are bringing together and representing different employee groups. With direct lines to senior leadership and an ally network of employees, they bridge the gap, lead workshops and take a collaborative effort to different strands of DE&I; from anti-racism, to disability, gender & LGBTQ+, parents & carers, neurodiversity and more. Where organisations are international, collectives and panels have global representation. They discuss emerging trends within their teams or people who have approached them giving the team insight to plan any further learning interventions. In short, these collectives have much more influence and are driving very real change.
3. Increased authenticity. Senior Leaders are becoming more active in sharing their personal experiences though initiatives such as ‘Lunchtime Life Stories’. By giving an insight to them as a whole person as opposed to just a business leader, and revealing how they have overcome their own times of challenge or difficult life circumstances, they role model openness and set the tone for the rest of the organisation - breaking down mental health taboos.
4. Mental Health Allies in addition to Mental Health First Aiders. Organisations are bolstering their internal mental health provision with trained allies who normalise the conversation around mental health, signpost, and provide more ongoing presence - above and beyond MHFA-ers for times of crisis.
5. Wellbeing has become integrated as a key component of People strategy and process. Great examples of this are organisations who mandate a wellbeing check-in as part onboarding, appraisals and off-boarding processes, and where ‘Managing the wellbeing of your team’ is a required model of Leadership and Line Management training - part of eligibility for promotion. No longer an added extra, but a core element of the People offering, the mantra of “Health teams are resilient teams” rings strongly.
In summary, more and more organisations are emphasising ‘nurturing the whole self’ - and are seeing a direct impact on attracting and retaining talent, and driving productivity, innovation and business wins as a result.
If you’d like some further guidance with your employee wellbeing strategy, we’d be delighted to hear from you! Get in touch to book a free 15 minute consultation with one of our wellbeing specialists. Drop us an email at [email protected]
Author: Jayne Burton | Wellness Specialist | WorkLifeWell
