Regardless of age, gender or ethnicity, the last 18 months have presented significant challenges for everyone. Navigating a continually uncertain personal, and professional, landscape has increased stress & anxiety and taken its toll on our wellbeing.
About 30% of our lives is spent at work so it’s no surprise that the workplace has significant influence on our overall wellbeing which in turn impacts customers expereinces, loyalty and referrals.
According to research conducted by Workplace Intelligence in partnership with Oracle*, 70% of the workforce said last year was the most stressful year of their working lives. The learnings, from surveying more than 12,000 people in the workforce across 11 countries, reveal that mental health needs to be a top priority for employers. In fact, 76% of respondents believe their company should do more to help.
The breadth of factors influencing wellbeing demand that employers take a differentiated approach to supporting their workforce. The impact of and issues caused by poor wellbeing do not discriminate and nobody (or business) is exempt.
Research by Champion Health* from 2,099 employees found that 90% said that the corona virus has had at least some impact on their mental health.
The company reported that 69% experienced moderate to high levels of stress between January and December last year.
Worryingly, data from the Office National Statistics suggests that these figures are likely to increase this year, with the survey revealing that 42% of adults reported high levels of anxiety in January alone.
It’s encouraging to see that employee wellbeing continues to appear on the corporate agenda. According to the CIPD Health & Wellbeing at Work Report*, the percentage of organisations that have a formal wellbeing strategy has risen from 44% to 50% this year.
Whilst it’s great to see an improvement there is clearly still some way to go.
Something else to consider…
Making an organisational commitment to address employee wellbeing is not just ‘the right’ thing to do.
For every £1 spent by employers on mental health interventions alone they get £5 back in reduced absence, presenteeism and staff turnover*.
Taking a comprehensive approach to each of the 4 key areas of wellbeing will benefit your bottom line.
References:
1 https://www.oracle.com/human-capital-management/ai-at-work/
2 http://hrnews.co.uk/january-2021-revealed-as-saddest-on-record/
3 https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/health-wellbeing-work-report-2021_tcm18-93541.pdf
4 https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/press-releases/articles/poor-mental-health-costs-uk-employers-up-to-pound-45-billion-a-year.html