Building A Wellness-Based Office Of The Future

Health and wellness take center stage in the post-pandemic workplace

After a year of unforeseen shocks and devasting impacts, it’s finally starting to feel like we’re turning a corner, with over one-third of the U.S. population now fully vaccinated. And while the light at the end of the tunnel seems within reach, the new normal will be unchartered territory and companies across the globe are faced with the daunting task of creating a future workplace that will thrive in our post-pandemic world.
 

Many companies are exploring hybrid work as part of their overall workplace solution to satisfy new employee demands for flexibility. However, understanding how hybrid work intersects with other shifting workforce priorities like mental health and wellness will be critical for companies looking to future-fit their workplaces.  

Building a Wellness-Based Office of the Future

During a year that forced employees to work from a distance, the new ways of working imposed by the pandemic have created shifting expectations among workforces – leading the majority of people to fully embrace the flexibility benefits of remote work. According to JLL’s Human Experience survey of 2,000+ global office workers, 66% of employees would like to work in a hybrid model post-pandemic.

Despite this interest in hybrid work, many employees are experiencing the very real dilemma of not feeling their best – physically and mentally – driven by the stressors of remote work. Moments to connect and collaborate with peers and find a consistent work-life balance have become less attainable as the office and home environments have become one. In a growing number of cases, the home has moved from a place of relaxation to one of stress. 

HR has long been focused on wellbeing, but in the past, investments have typically focused on physical wellbeing, such as access to gyms and healthier food options in cafés. While a meditation app subscription is more along the lines of where employers are heading to wholly support workers’ wellbeing, platforms and apps won’t be effective if employees don’t have time to use them. 

Today, workers are looking to their employers to proactively support their physical and mental health by cultivating new environments where wellbeing is at the forefront of workplace priorities. There is greater impetus than ever before on employers to create environments that foster daily micro habits that support physical and mental wellbeing.

Creating new routines can be overwhelming, but through micro habits – smaller-scale, incremental changes – employers can support a model that makes behavioral change more accessible, such as going for daily walks instead of running a marathon. It has been proven that natural movement throughout the day has an overall positive impact on health and wellness. 

One of the most effective ways to do this is to help employees carve out time in their workday and provide them with a platform that enables micro habits to support overall wellness, long-term.

Whether it’s through technology platforms like Experience/Anywhere, wellbeing amenities or employer policies supporting work-life balance, companies that are taking bold, proactive steps toward putting health and wellbeing at the center of the future workplace will be the leaders in the post-pandemic world. 

Navigating Workplace Safety, Health and Wellbeing During Re-Entry

When and how to return-to-office is not a one-size-fits all decision. Recently, however, due to the rise in vaccinations around the world, more companies are putting a return-to-office on the calendar, with JLL forecasting that most offices will reach 75% capacity by the end of the year.

As employers plan their re-entry in greater magnitude, it’s important to keep in mind that the effects of the past year won’t immediately disappear from the workforce’s collective psyche. Nearly half of U.S. workers have suffered from mental health issues since the onset of Covid-19, and experts predict there to be far-reaching impacts as we navigate this next phase of the pandemic. 

The expectations on employers to support employees’ health and wellbeing in the workplace post-pandemic is greater than ever. The research has found that 3 out of 4 employees want health and wellbeing perks at work, and work-life balance (72%) has overtaken securing a comfortable salary (69%) in terms of importance post-pandemic. This means companies must not only prepare for how to bring their workers back to the office safely, but also consider how their workplaces are equipped to support employee health and wellbeing once they return. 

With all the noise and confusion in the marketplace, navigating a path forward is proving to be a challenge for employers – faced with decisions around which health and wellbeing guidelines to follow, which “healthy” solutions to implement, and how to effectively support employees who may feel stressed or anxious about returning to the office.

Looking Ahead 

We’ve seen tremendous progress over the past few months to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. And while the latest vaccination numbers signal better times ahead, there will undoubtedly be longstanding mental health impacts from the past year that can’t be underestimated. 

As companies prepare for large scale re-entry in the coming months, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to use the learnings from the last year to completely reimagine a workplace that is better than the one we left and equipped to support employees to navigate the new normal – physically, mentally and emotionally. Now is the time for employers to seize this opportunity to integrate work-life balance and wellbeing priorities into our future workspaces post-pandemic, and ultimately support them in the long term.

Cynthia Kantor is the Chief Product Officer of Corporate Solutions at JLL Visit https://www.jll.co.in/  Connect Cynthia Kantor Follow @JLLIndia