We’ve all heard something like this over the years: Your environment has a major impact on your health and well-being…
Well, it does. But we often think about “environment” as things like: the food we keep in our pantry, how often we cook at home, if our friends or family smoke cigarettes, and how we spend our time in social settings – are we going on long hikes or going to the movies after a few glasses of wine? Well, all of that is important to our health and well-being, but remember, most of your employees spend one third of their lives at the worksite! So as much as home life and social factors do play a role in our health and well-being, what happens in the workplace is still very important!
What do we actually mean by workplace well-being? To simplify and categorize what a healthy worksite can mean to you, it’s helpful to think about environmental well-being in six buckets:
Each of these buckets is unique and contains a variety of programs and initiatives that together can start to move the needle on your worksite health. Some of the things to consider may be simple and tactical. Other things may not only improve workplace well-being, but also improve your attraction and retention because employees value them so much.
If you are wondering, “Hmmm…how healthy is my workplace? And how does worksite health differ from job site to job site?” you are not alone. A recent survey of employers showed one in three employers are auditing their work environment to ensure it aligns with their company culture. And 53% of employers are encouraging employees to offer suggestions to change the work environment to improve their well-being. If this sounds like a thing, it totally is…
Percent of Organizations Focusing Their Health and Well-being Programs on These Key Areas
So what’s trending? Here are 6 ways employers are improving workplace well-being:
To find out even more ways and to discover where your work sites may have health and well-being gaps, check out the Willis Towers Watson Workplace Well-being Assessment tool. Our health management and well-being experts have collected insights from their many onsite audits and curated a list of all the various tactics and strategies to improve workplace well-being.
So, let’s get started! The first step is knowing where you stand today. Next, you can start taking small steps toward building a culture of well-being that will pay off. Check out the free resources available from the Centers for Disease Control.
Blog Contributor
Eddie Gammill, Ph.D, RN
Eddie is a Senior Health Management Consultant in the Health and Group Benefits practice of Willis Towers Watson in Atlanta, Georgia. He has over 17 years of healthcare experience with a background in Emergency Medicine, Preventative Cardiology, and Trauma. Eddie enjoys cycling and is currently training for a 100 mile bike ride.