Health And Safety Compliance? Yes. Comprehensive Wellness? Also, A Yes.

Enabling a healthy and happy hybrid workplace

First, do no harm.  It’s the most famous part of the Hippocratic oath, even if it was probably added much later than the original Greek version. The sentiment is a good one though and applies especially to the relationship between employer and employee.  Employers, after all, have a responsibility to try to ensure the safety of their employees.

With so much changing in the nature of that relationship brought on, or at least accelerated by the pandemic, how employers protect and develop health and wellbeing of their employees has become a focus for businesses of every size and type.

Of course, businesses must follow the appropriate regulations to protect workers, but as expectations in the workforce change, the role of the employer in helping ensure the health and safety of the people, who realize their business is changing too.

At the most basic level, employers must follow government guidelines, and many invest in offering training to develop a culture of safety to keep employees from harm.  That training may vary from basic courses on how to safely operate machinery, to how to reduce accidents in the workplace, or even how to build an ergonomically sound and safe home office environment.

However, for many, simply preventing harm is no longer enough.

As employers compete in the face of the Great Resignation, and the very nature of the relationship between employer and employee is changing, so businesses must now evaluate how they attract, and develop, their workforce in a much more rounded way than before. Rather, employers are now focused on delivering a richer, more engaging work experience, and that experience continues after the end of the workday.

For example, many employers are evaluating how to offer, not just physical safety training, but financial wellness offerings and access to professional advice. A recent survey shows that 65 percent of employees think their employers should offer a comprehensive wellness program because their physical, mental, and, yes, financial well-being impacts their work. 

Businesses are, therefore, offering opportunities to extend the care they offer to include financial and retirement benefits as well, both to attract new team members and retain those already part of the business.

Perhaps most significantly, though, is the recognition by employers that in addition to physical safety, the changing pressures and demands of working during the pandemic has placed a new emphasis on mental wellbeing. Frontline workers, especially those in health services, faced intense pressure and skyrocketing workloads that have led to many in those industries reevaluating their future career plans. 

Beyond the obvious, and painfully stressed care providers, and many other workers found themselves either losing their job entirely or moved abruptly to remote working in which the pressures of home life and workplace crashed suddenly and powerfully at the same time.

Mental wellness focused on enabling a healthy and happy hybrid workplace has become a central part of many HR teams’ purview. Frighteningly many workers still face serious burnout, juggling longer and longer remote days with pressure from home and family.

To counter this, businesses are evaluating more flexible work schedules, offering up counseling, and even reducing the length of the workday or workweek to help accommodate caregivers.

So while there is still, and hopefully always will be, an expectation that employers care for the physical health and safety of their workers, the next two years will continue to see that expand to include financial and retirement “health” and critically as the future of work evolves and changes mental health and wellbeing.

The results of this focus will, inevitably, be a happier, healthier, and more engaged workforce. A happier, healthier, and more engaged workforce is one that is easier to recruit and retain and is extremely healthy for the business too.