Do you ever wonder how your team is really doing? You may have a gut feeling about your employees, or you’ve seen a dip in performance. It can be hard to identify its root cause, but you can understand your workforce better with a closer look at employee wellness.
Employee wellness doesn’t just mean how happy people are at work – it’s much bigger than that. Employee wellness can include their career, social, financial, physical, and mental well-being, to name a few. Understanding the needs associated with these pillars of health can help you craft a more effective corporate employee wellness program.
With a well-structured corporate employee wellness program, your organization can positively impact many areas of your employees’ lives. The ripple effects of these efforts travel far and will positively impact your organization.
This article will cover how organizations can track and measure employee wellness – read on!
Employee Feedback
If you want to know what employee wellness looks like across your organization, take it straight to the source. Ask your employees for a pulse check via surveys or an employee group advisory board.
Ask your employees questions like:
- How are you feeling at this moment?
- Does your organization support your overall well-being?
- Are you able to eat a nutritionally balanced lunch during your office hours?
- Do you have access to nutritious snacks at work?
- Can you step away from your desk for breaks during work hours?
- Is your workload reasonable?
- What program or initiative might help reduce your work-related stress level?
These questions can help you identify areas for improvement in your business and corporate wellness program that can directly impact your employees’ overall health and wellness.
Productivity Levels
Diminished employee well-being can significantly impact your organization’s productivity. In the same breath, measuring their productivity can give you visibility into employee wellness.
There are several effective ways to measure productivity levels – here are a few that you can leverage for insight:
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This can include revenue generated, customer satisfaction ratings, or project completion time.
- Quality of work. This may be subjective but can give you insight into your employees’ productivity. This can involve peer reviews, customer feedback, or manager evaluations.
- Time tracking: Time tracking tools can give insight into how employees are spending their time on different tasks and projects.
- Quantitative output. It’s the most straightforward measurement tool – measure the tangible output of your workforce.
Measuring productivity is an important piece of the puzzle, but how can you positively impact it?
A recent study from the University of Warwick found that happiness made people around 12% more productive. Google, for example, understands this and has invested heavily in its employee wellness programs, which has led to remarkable results.
Helping employees find happiness throughout their day pays off in a big way. Here are a few ways that you can help employees find happiness throughout the day:
- Recognize and appreciate efforts. Recognition comes in all forms, and your employees will appreciate it. A note of thanks, verbal praise, or a token of appreciation can boost employee morale and overall happiness.
- Encourage work-life balance. Flexible work arrangements are increasing in popularity and were spurred on by the pandemic. Employees are finding that they are happier and better able to balance work and life by having this option.
- Organize social activities. Plan regular social activities like a team lunch or a more elaborate experience to boost morale and job satisfaction.
Sick Days
When it comes to measuring employee wellness, tracking sick days may quickly come to mind. It can be a valuable insight into the overall well-being of your workforce. A lower number of sick days used may translate to a healthier organization in theory, but it doesn’t always paint a complete picture.
It’s important to note that there is still an incredible amount of stigma when it comes to mental health. Employees may fear negative repercussions for taking time off to address their mental health needs, which can negatively impact their well-being.
Holistic corporate wellness programs have the opportunity to bridge the gap in mental health support, where taking sick days may not be the right answer for an employee.
While fewer sick days could suggest that employees are physically healthy, their satisfaction or dissatisfaction at work may not be fully understood. Pairing this metric with the others we’ve discussed here is essential to get a holistic view of your employees’ wellness.
Employee Engagement
Your corporate wellness program should be as diverse as your workforce, and meeting their varied needs is crucial to the success of your program.
For example, your workforce is made up of people who are introverted and extroverted. Some people may engage with your corporate wellness program at a low level – this doesn’t always mean they are unhappy.
Similarly, a high level of engagement does not signify that the workforce is exceedingly well. Keep this in mind when using engagement as a measurement tool to determine employee wellness.
Employee engagement may be difficult to quantify with solid data. When measuring employee engagement, regular feedback and check-ins are essential. By conducting one-on-one meetings with your employees, you can get a good feel for how employees meet their individual goals, address challenges, and where there are growth opportunities.
Similar to the other suggestions in this article, this is a piece of the puzzle rather than the most critical metric.
Employee Retention
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 4 million people quit their jobs in May 2023. Interestingly enough, the previous five months also saw similar numbers. With the last several years of unpredictability behind us, why are people leaving their jobs now?
Measuring retention and turnover rates can give you insight into the well-being of your employees. There are many reasons that an employee may leave a company. A small study from HubSpot indicated that the most common reasons for high turnover rates are:
- Burnout
- Lack of work-life balance
- Lack of a flexible work schedule
- Lack of remote work options
- Lack of career growth opportunities
- Switching career paths/pursuing passion projects
Many of these things can be addressed by wellness initiatives in the workplace. Understanding the needs and desires of your workforce can reveal these considerations, allowing you to make data-driven decisions in your business.
Track Overtime
Are your employees constantly pulling overtime hours? Monitoring overtime hours is another crucial aspect of measuring employee wellness. Excessive overtime can lead to burnout, stress, and reduced job satisfaction.
By monitoring overtime hours, you’ll be able to identify workload issues and take proactive steps to craft a better cadence for your employees.
Enhance Employee Wellness With Fresh Tri
Employee wellness directly relates to the health of your organization. Your employees are the drumbeat of your music – if the drumbeat is off, your music won’t sound as good. Ensuring your employees maximize their health and wellness efforts through a robust corporate wellness program can significantly benefit your business.
Fresh Tri is a flexible corporate wellness solution unlike any other. It’s research-backed by neuroscience, using a unique “practice-and-tweak” approach to habit-building that will help your employees iterate toward lasting health and wellness. Learn more about the Iterative Mindset MethodTM here.
Are you ready to give it a Tri?
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