Health and wellbeing in the workplace

THE DESIGN EXPERT’S VIEW
LEENA JAIN, 
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, HUMANSCALE

Wellness is a term that has entered our everyday lexicon, transcending both the consumer and business worlds, so much so that wellbeing has in many ways replaced ‘productivity’ as the way to measure the success of an organisation.

The choices we make at work can involve high levels of emotion; our career, the company that we invest our time with, and the style of our workspace. Now more than ever, we know that our physical workspace impacts our wellbeing, and the type of work tools we surround ourselves with — chairs, sit-stand desks, monitor arms and task lighting — all play a role.

There are a number of factors that have pushed wellbeing up the corporate agenda. In part it’s a reaction to the 24/7 always ‘connected’ lifestyle that have seen our consumer and work lives converge to a high degree. However, I believe there is another key reason. It is the realisation that what an employee wants and values in their personal life — wellness, health, sustainability — is the same experience they value at work. As a result, people are aligning themselves with brands and experiences that connect to their personal value systems and beliefs.

This is particularly prevalent amongst Millennials who will often want to understand what an employer stands for before they even get to talking about salaries. Seventy-five per cent of Millennials believe that businesses are focused on their own agendas and not on helping to improve society, according to a study by Deloitte.

Deloitte’s researchers refer to this as an “impact gap” — when businesses are not doing enough to improve the world and make a positive impact. According to Forbes, 64 per cent of Millennials say it’s a priority for them to make the world a better place.

However, it would be incorrect to think that only the voice of the younger generation is being heard. Whatever our age, we all still need to think about health — arguably more so as we get older. There is broad generational diversity and being aware of the different needs at each stage is vital in order to offer appropriate solutions.

The U.S. Census Bureau shows that as we get closer to 2020, the number of people aged 65 and older will surpass those under five years for the first time. We are living longer, therefore we will be working for longer.

Employers know and realise that taking care of their employees is not just about workspace and salary; it’s about the full holistic experience. And the best CEOs are the ones that take pride in their employees’ wellbeing and the world in which they exist. There is no doubt that this investment pays off tremendously — but adopting a completely holistic approach isn’t always straightforward.

More and more companies are scheduling optional wellness programmes like yoga and meditation, and providing healthier food options, but consideration should also be paid to the spaces and products that surround people.

In addition to promoting wellness through healthy movement as part of our commitment to sustainable manufacturing, we’ve removed harmful chemicals like formaldehyde and Chrome 6 from our products, as they can pose health risks during and after the manufacturing process.

If you are just making surface-level changes that are convenient and easy-to-implement, you may not see a return. If you commit to lasting, impactful change, and a fully holistic approach that considers procedures, processes, and spaces from different perspectives, it will inspire and engage your workforce exponentially. 

THE WORKPLACE HEALTH EXPERT’S VIEW
CHARLES ALBERTS, 
HEAD OF HEALTH MANAGEMENT, AON

Workplace wellbeing has come a long way in a relatively short space of time. Research from Aon’s UK Health Survey indicates that more than half of employers now have a wellbeing strategy in place and of those who don’t, the majority are planning to implement one in the near future.

The increasing popularity of wellbeing strategies isn’t surprising – an overwhelming majority of respondents to the same survey believe that there is a correlation between the health of employees and their performance at work, and also that the employer has a responsibility to positively influence the wellbeing of their people.

There are also legal responsibilities for employers to prevent illness from work, and it makes absolute business sense to do so. Yet many wellbeing strategies solely focus on what the individual can do to prevent illness. This is missing an opportunity for employers to better understand how the workplace is making people ill, and proactively tackle resulting issues.

Workplace wellbeing programmes should aim to help employees to thrive rather than just survive, empowering them to be their best selves in and out of work. Using the workplace as a force for good, wellbeing programmes can result in happy, healthy and productive employees – which is good for them, and good for business.

Facilities managers are experts in the built work environment, and appreciate a well designed workspaces can improve productivity, prevent injury and reduce absence. Equipped with this knowledge that other areas of the business may lack FMs are in a good position to engage with colleagues who are stakeholders in wellbeing (including Human Resources and Health & Safety teams) and obtain input from employees, to give them a say in designing the environment they would like to work in and issues they see as the most important.

Other areas to explore include:

• Look at case studies of what other employers have done, the science behind what may appear as unusual approaches, and what impact it has had.
• Work-related illness is an area where employers have a greater degree of control (as opposed to changing individual lifestyle behaviours), so it’s a good starting point for a workplace wellbeing strategy.
• Don’t make the mistake of pigeon-holing work-related illness with blue-collar work environments. How work is organised and the workplace itself has an impact of employee health in all sectors.
• Obtain expert, professional advice at critical stages of your project, not least using data to understand the current issues the workplace and employees are experiencing.
• Consider how the work environment may impact employee stress/mental wellbeing and physical wellbeing.

It’s not difficult, from our view, to see a disparity in who takes the lead with employee wellbeing. Facilities and environment managers are involved in the agenda at times – often if it’s a new office building – but more often they’re not in the picture at all. Now is the time for facilities managers to take a prominent role, working with relevant business stakeholders to create an employee wellbeing change that makes a difference to individuals and the business as a whole.