Dan Potter
Head of Kineo Courses at Kineo AU
Workplace training is advantageous to organisations that realise the importance of investing in employee wellness. Employers of choice value their employees’ sense of wellbeing. Forecasted ROI to the business of 300% has been reported, as it’s been estimated that for every dollar spent on wellness initiatives, up to $3 is saved in health care premiums and $2 in absenteeism.
Juggling workloads and external commitments, along with the management of finances on an ongoing basis is a constant source of stress for everyone. When under heightened pressure it can negatively impact our physical and mental health. In Kineo’s HRM article, read more about identifying stress in the workplace. HRM reports that financially stressed employees lose on average 6.9 hours of productive work each week and are absent four days a year due to stress-related illness.
New ways of working impact wellbeing more than you’d imagine
Add to this, the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in a completely new approach; either hybrid working or full-time at home working. This has been necessary to keep people ‘in work’ and has continued for many businesses as an accepted continuum. It is important to note that although remote working has its benefits, some aspects can negatively impact an individual’s wellbeing, both mentally and physically, mainly due to isolation.
CEO’s recognise that it’s the organisation’s employees that make it successful, and that it is essential to promote a culture of healthy productivity despite where that work is carried out. When working from home, lines are often blurred when denoting the start and end of the workday, when left unchecked it can quickly lead to burnout and malaise. Separating home time and workplace time needs to be consciously organised and adhered to.
Organisations that focus on the wellbeing of their people are stronger
Workplace Wellness programs benefit both the employer and employees, especially when integrated with a work health and safety program. These can be adapted to suit the office based or remote worker.
Key advantages include:
- increased motivation and productivity;
- improved employee relations;
- healthy work environment;
- less work-related poor health and ailments;
- reduced workers compensation costs, and;
- decrease in absenteeism and staff turnover.
Help your workforce stay connected
Simple tools will help workers structure their work hours in order for them to self manage their wellbeing, avoid being disconnected and alleviate feelings of anxiety or depression.
For example, video conferencing tools help keep people connected - colleague 1:1s, team calls, and regular catch ups with direct reports will ensure output is on track.
In their article ‘Why other people are the key to our happiness’, Psychology Today states:
“The interactions we have with other people affect the way we feel about life. Our close relationships keep us grounded and influence both happiness and the sense that we are part of a larger community. Interestingly, even our interactions with people we do not know that well give us a sense that we are part of that larger community. When we are first introduced to that community, those interactions and that feeling of belonging also increase our happiness”.
Encourage workers to build a daily routine and adhere to it
Finding a healthy daily routine is central to maintaining a work-life balance. This includes where individuals work and how they work. When working from home, support workers to carve out a suitable space and keep it for work only. Breaks and cut off times should be held sacred. A walk at lunch-time or at the end of the day can help workers to define their healthy work boundaries.
Digital workplace learning also reinforces best practice habits for individuals for positive wellbeing. Relevant off the shelf learning library titles include: Stress Less at Work designed to provide training for all employees in an organisation and provides an understanding of:
- what stress is;
- stress in the workplace, and;
- building resilience to stress.
Positive Workplace Culture promotes an awareness of what a positive workplace culture is, as well as how to proactively identify and reduce risks that negatively impact workplace culture. If you are curious and would like to browse through our wider workplace course library, there are hundreds of titles to choose from at your fingertips. You may also try them out by taking a free course trial with categorised titles that relate to your organisational needs the most.
Dan Potter
Head of Kineo Courses at Kineo AU
Dan heads up Kineo Courses globally and has been involved with elearning and platform development since early 2000s. He is passionate to demonstrate real and measurable impact through learning and technology and inspired to deliver elegant solutions that need minimal explanation.