On National Stress Awareness Day, Rob Woollen asks if UK businesses are taking employee wellbeing seriously and considers the body of evidence suggesting that wellbeing directly affects the bottom line.

Financial concerns top the list of barriers experienced by HR professionals keen to implement employee wellbeing schemes, according to a survey released this week by Rightway Complete Wellness Solutions. Even though most of those questioned stated that their organisation considered the importance of employee wellbeing to rank at 8/10 or more, two thirds do not have a specific budget set aside for wellness. Despite the prevalence of studies showing that investing in employee wellbeing offers significant returns on investment, almost half of those asked reported that proving the ROI was an obstacle to gaining senior management buy-in. At the Employee Wellbeing Forum in Canary Wharf last week, success stories from industry leaders such as Astra Zeneca and Sky, and forward thinking public sector bodies such as Powys NHS teaching board and East Sussex council added weight to the growing understanding among senior management that wellbeing is good for business.
 
In response to the Boorman review of employee health in the NHS, a study released last month examined the scale of health and wellbeing issues in British workplaces and the extent to which corporate wellness schemes might reduce the associated costs. The study, led by The Work Foundation and carried out with Aston Business School confirmed what we already know – that low levels of physical and mental wellbeing amongst employees are directly responsible for massive costs to industry. It cites evidence that wellbeing initiatives in the workplace can result in very real work benefits, but cautions that effectiveness varies. This is hardly surprising when only 15% of those asked told us that their organisation ‘Follows a targeted wellness strategy and measures the results.’ The report goes on to reaffirm the fact that ‘presenteeism’ (being present at work but performing below par) is responsible for costs at least 1.5 times as high as absenteeism. This mirrors the findings of the often-quoted study by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental health which estimates not only that mental health issues are costing UK employers over £26bn a year, but also that up to 30% of these costs could be saved by taking simple steps to improve employee wellbeing.
 
This week’s survey results also highlighted the importance of designing and delivering a wellness strategy in consultation with all the stakeholders. Both senior managers and front-line staff have important insight into what key issues they face and how best to address them. More than one in three of the respondents had found their efforts to implement wellness schemes hampered by staff apathy. It is important to remember that those we seek to help are internal customers and health improvement measures are doomed to failure if they are not ‘sold’ the right way. It is for this reason that external consultants often have more success in driving internal change as they are not held back by some of the work-associations that the management team can be.
 
What stands out most clearly from the survey is that the majority of HR professionals truly care about the wellbeing of their employees, and organisations are beginning to catch on. Employee wellbeing has come a long way since the days of gym memberships and free fruit. The body of evidence with regards to the business case is becoming hard to ignore. The evidence base however comes from well-defined, targeted wellness strategies, the danger now is that those without direction are in fact harming the image of the wellness scheme by spending money unwisely. An appreciation is needed that to get results needs either a clear and strategic plan, or a generous helping of good luck.

With stress high on the agenda this week, is it time to consider what you are doing about employees’ mental wellbeing, and how to assess, design and deliver a targeted strategy to improve it?

Rob Woollen is corporate wellness manager at Rightway Complete Wellness Solutions (www.FitForWork.co.uk). In the summer of 2009 they interviewed 106 HR professionals across the country from HR Directors (29%) to HR officers (21%) for their views on employee wellbeing. Interviews were carried out by telephone (8%) and online survey (92%). Company size ranged from 25 employees to 5000+, with 55% of respondent organisations having over 500 employees.