Elevating the agenda for employee wellness and engagement

Citation

Aston, L. (2011), "Elevating the agenda for employee wellness and engagement", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 10 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2011.37210daa.008

Elevating the agenda for employee wellness and engagement

Article Type: Rewards From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 10, Issue 4

Short case studies and research papers that demonstrate best practice in rewards

Business in the Community (BITC) stands for responsible business. We advise, support and challenge our members to create a sustainable future for people and the planet and to improve business performance – and we believe that means helping them put employee wellness and engagement at the heart of what they do.

We have been able to demonstrate that better employee wellness and engagement go hand in hand with business performance. Research by Ipsos MORI, commissioned by BITC, shows that FTSE 100 companies reporting quantitatively on employee wellness and engagement against our Workwell Model outperformed their peers on average Total Shareholder Return (TSR) by 10 percentage points in 2009 – see Figure 1. Employers that create the context that supports the “whole” individual to flourish will maximize productivity, growth and sustainable performance.

Figure 1 Linking employee wellness and engagement with business performance

The Workwell Model

Working closely with our Workwell leadership team and expert steering groups, BITC has developed the Workwell Model – see Figure 2. Developed by business for business, it provides a framework for articulating the benefits of taking a strategic, integrated and holistic approach to positioning employee wellness and engagement as a boardroom issue. The overarching aim is help organizations realize the advantages of investing in a healthy workplace and encourage businesses to make wellness and engagement part of their public reporting cycle.

Together, the four segments of the Workwell Model cover the actions BITC recommends employers should take to create an environment where employees can flourish. They include the following:

1. 1.

   Better physical and psychological health calls on employers to create an environment where employees are encouraged to take responsibility for healthy lifestyle choices.

2. 2.

   Better work reflects the importance of a happy, engaging work environment that promotes “good work” – defined by Coats and Lekhi (2008) as work that supports skills and talent development, promotes flexible working and autonomy and control.

3. 3.

   Better specialist support promotes the role of early intervention and proactive management in supporting wellness and rehabilitation.

4. 4.

   Better relationships are about good communication, and developing social capital both at work, at home and in local communities.

The Workwell Model in practice

Figure 2 BTIC’s Workwell Model

This article discusses how two of our members, ARAMARK and Places for People, are successfully using BITC’s Workwell Model to deliver better employee wellness and engagement within their organizations.

ARAMARK uses model as a framework

Since the model was launched last year, many companies have used it as a framework to design their own bespoke programs. One of the first to do so was ARAMARK Ltd (Box 1), a business with more than 12,000 employees that delivers food service solutions to the private and public sectors. Commenting on its implementation, Val Carter, ARAMARK’s corporate responsibility and training director, said: “Community engagement through volunteering schemes was the first part of the model we decided to pick up and drive through at a global level through a scheme called Building Communities. It has been hugely successful, with a lot of positive feedback from employees. It has also provided a solid base from which we can move to the next level of the program, which will focus on emotional resilience – taking responsibility for the overall health of our employees.”

The biggest challenge many HR professionals face when introducing a wellness and engagement program is buy-in from senior management. Val Carter comments: “Helping line managers to understand the importance of these issues is critical to success. If I had to give one piece of advice it would be to engage from the top. If the board and senior management back the model and lead by example, they can help you to remove any likely barriers further down. I’m lucky because our management committee is totally committed to this agenda. If you have a diverse workforce, a range of engagement tools can also be really important, as different things will hook different people. While we typically roll out our programs across the company, we will tap in to this diversity by turning the volume up in some areas and down in others.”

Measuring success is an objective for Carter, although without sophisticated data capture systems she says it can be difficult: “While we have not been able to tie a number to the return on investment of our employee wellness and engagement program, by integrating our program with those of our clients, there is no doubt that it has helped us to retain, develop and grow these relationships.”

Places for People uses model for proactivity

Providing focus for company-wide programs is one of the main advantages of using the Workwell Model. Liz Sharrocks, employee engagement advisor at Places for People, one of the largest property management, development and regeneration companies in the UK, comments: “The model ensures that we have a proactive approach to wellbeing which enables us to strengthen resilience in our people instead of being reactive and tackling stress.”

Places for People (Box 2) has set a number of wellbeing targets to help measure the benefits of its wellbeing program. These include general absenteeism, mental health absence, employee turnover and retention, accident reporting, use of employee assistance programs and a wellbeing score in its people survey. Sharrocks says that the biggest challenge will be ensuring all managers understand the benefits of using the model and engage with the supporting activities. She comments: “At the moment, these activities are being incorporated into Places for People through our leadership and management programs, managers’ inductions, people management training and regular communications with staff.”

Sharrocks continues: “Our vision is that the Workwell Model will be embedded throughout Places for People to ensure that the wellbeing of our employees is an everyday priority for managers and their teams.”

Building a sustainable future

While most business leaders know instinctively that a happy, healthy and engaged workforce is a productive workforce, many still treat employee wellness and engagement as an optional extra rather than mission critical to the way they do business.

BITC has produced a suite of freely available practical tools as well as guidelines for employee wellness and engagement reporting. More information is available at: www.bitc.org.uk/workplace/health_and_wellbeing

Louise AstonBusiness in the Community.

About the author

Louise Aston is Workwell campaign director, Business in the Community (BITC). She began her career in textile design, working as a fashion buyer for Marks & Spencer. She transitioned into health campaigning by designing a collection of children’s sun protective swimwear for an award-winning Department of Health skin cancer prevention campaign. Aston then moved on to become creative director at COI, where she led high-profile public sector campaigns. Since joining BITC in 2007, she has campaigned to establish employee wellness and engagement as a core CSR component and a strategic boardroom issue. Louise Aston can be contacted at: louise.aston@bitc.org.uk

About ARAMARK

ARAMARK Limited delivers tailor-made food service and refreshment solutions to customers throughout the UK. Including business dining, employee restaurants, retail facilities and coffee outlets, ARAMARK’s catering solutions are enjoyed by customers in a wide range of sectors, from business and industry, to education, healthcare, offshore and defense. The UK business has over 12,500 employees and forms part of the ARAMARK Corporation – ranked top in its industry in FORTUNE magazine’s 2010 “World’s most admired companies.”

About Places for People

Places for People is one of the largest property management, development and regeneration companies in the UK. With assets in excess of £2.9 billion, it manages more than 60,000 homes, stretching from Edinburgh to the Isle of Wight. The company has a long track record of successful development, from large-scale regeneration projects to the creation of whole new communities.