Workplace Wellbeing Policy should be a priority. As a responsible employer, without having a well thought through Wellbeing Policy, means there isn’t clear guidance for management and employees as to what both should expect from the company.
Why implement a workplace wellbeing policy?
You may feel that while it’s nice to have, a wellbeing policy is a luxury only afforded to larger organisations. Smaller companies may be keen, but think they lack the time and resources to set one up. The reality, however, is that organisations that promote workplace wellbeing have happier, more productive staff, lower rates of sickness, and lower staff turnover. This has a positive impact on the company’s reputation and may result in finding it easier to attract and retain talent.
The benefits of workplace wellbeing?
- A better workplace environment
- Happier employees who are more confident and able to express their feelings and ideas
- Increased productivity, efficiency, and motivation
- Lower rates of absence
- Minimise the risk of burnout
- Improved staff retention
What key areas should be covered when looking at workplace wellbeing?
- Physical & Mental Health, and ensuring a safe working environment
- Creating a culture that encourages people to value and maintain a good work/life balance i.e. taking regular screen breaks, taking their holidays, not working excessive hours etc.,
- Communicate positive values & principles that staff can buy into and be proud to be associated with
- Create an open-door environment and facilitate healthy relationships between all employees based on trust and respect
- Help staff to grow within their roles by providing relevant training and career progression, and recognise and appreciate everyone for their contribution
- Encourage good lifestyle choices e.g., lunchtime walking, cycle to work schemes etc.,
- Provide the time and opportunity for staff to recognise and identify levels of stress within their roles, and find solutions to improve work processes and workflow so that they can reduce stress and overwhelm
- Provide incentives, recognition, and rewards to retain staff and make them feel good
How can the implementation of software help?
With the huge changes that have happened recently in the way your employees work, the most obvious being the shift to remote working, it simply isn’t possible to ‘keep an eye out’ for signs your team are struggling under the weight of work. You can’t easily check that they are having a break from the keyboard and screen, minimising the risk of RSI, or giving their eyes a rest.
The key thing to remember is that looking after the wellbeing of your teams is like an investment in them, and your reward for it will be fresher employees who feel looked after and valued, typically resulting in them producing better work. For many of our customers, this is the business case when they purchase Timebox, Alphatec’s award-winning time management software.
Timebox is a fully web-based system that allows users to record their working hours, the activities they’ve undertaken and add comments & narrative to those tasks. All this feeds into an employee’s own dashboard as well as management ones so in-depth reporting can be used to ensure wellbeing policies are effective and make changes before a problem occurs.
As a business, recording this information can also allow you to better analyse the types of work being undertaken. For example, you can build into the system the different areas of your business that serve each other, such as HR assisting sales or insurance working with a fleet manager, or if client facing, then being able to better understand the most profitable clients and services you offer to them as you can also link charging rates to your clients & services. This means you can take the time, analyse deeper, and use it as an additional value added for the business. You can then identify how teams should best be spending their time and areas where more support might be needed.
Ultimately, the benefit of knowing what the team are working on, so you can manage workloads and expectations, is beneficial across the business. Why not get in touch with us to hear about what other benefits Timebox can bring to your teams and business.