HR professionals need to think about themselves…

A recent research report, published by vocational training organisation, City and Guilds, has found HR professionals are some of the unhappiest across the UK workforce.

We know that employee wellbeing often falls to the HR team to manage. The challenge for some HR professionals is that they are so busy looking after the needs of their people that they can forget about themselves.

I often talk about the benefits associated with a healthy, happy and motivated workforce. But this really is essential for our personal wellbeing and if we are to improve the performance of our businesses.

Now is the time for HR professionals to factor their needs into the wellbeing equation. Here are some tips to help you get started…

Replace the word stress with resilience

Stress is a word that is so overused, both inside and outside the workplace. This is not to say it is not a serious issue – in fact new research from the Group Risk Development (GRiD) shows employee stress has been voted the number one risk to employee wellbeing.

But if you are to limit the negative impact associated with, and caused, by stress in the workplace you need to move away from focusing on it so much and think about how you can deal with pressure and become more resilient.

Invest in yourself

Invest in your physical and emotional energy wisely. Develop ways to ensure you are more resilient and make sure you build in recovery time so their energy isn't drained – for expert advice click here to secure your place on our live webinar, on the 12 December.

Try and give yourself 20 minutes of ‘stop time’ per day. Try sitting in a relaxing place in silence and focus on your breathing or listen to some relaxing music.

To check your health and energy click here and take our free online, 10 minute, questionnaire.

Believe

Believe good things can happen. This will give you the motivation to want to make them happen and to be persistent.

Be positive

It may sound very simple but very few people get this right – consistently do more of the things that positively affect you and do less of the things that affect you negatively.

Stay focused

Stay focused on what's important rather than allowing problems or concerns about what might happen to take you off course. 

You can improve your focus and energy by trying to do one task at a time.

                                                        
Make wellbeing part of your culture
Work with your leaders, managers and HR team to make wellbeing part of your organisational culture. Ensure they understand that people need space to perform, relax and take time out to re-energise if they are to give the most at work and your managers need to recognise and support this.

Remember to thank staff this Christmas

Remember to say ‘thank you’ this Christmas. These two words can make all the difference in terms of retaining, engaging and motivating employees.
  

Whilst giving recognition needs to be part of a wider reward strategy and should definitely not be limited to the end of the year, Christmas is a perfect time to give staff an end of year reward and it is an ideal time to formerly thank staff for their hard work.

Do this successfully and you will not only make staff feel great before they take time off over the festive season but you will also set the tone for 2013. So instead of January being the month many employees hand their notice in, you have an opportunity to make staff feel excited about returning to work.

Get the end of year thank you right and employees will be more motivated, to hit the ground running in 2013.

Face-to-face communication is the ideal way to say thank you, as this really allows messages to be delivered in the way you want them to be, but thought also needs to go into the reward if you are giving one.

The research shows money isn’t the number one motivating factor. Whilst it’s important to give employees something that they will appreciate and value it is also worth thinking about what will help support your objectives – what will motivate them to come back to work feeling refreshed and ready to hit the ground running?   

There are lots of options in terms of low cost presents that employers can give their staff, from financial rewards to an activity based gift or something they can take home. Try to think about what you want to achieve and what fits into your culture. 

As Edenred highlight in their recent report, Christmas Rewards Unwrapped, who delivers the thank you is also important. The year end marks a more formal occasion and therefore it makes good business sense for the thanks to come from someone in the senior leadership team.

Doing this will enable you to not only make sure that employees feel valued and that they have made a difference to the success of the business but it will also enable you to set the tone for 2013.

A little thank you goes a long way so let’s get it right…

P.S. Click here to join our live webinar, on the 12 December, to find out how you can improve energy levels and performance this Christmas.
 

Health screening - should you or shouldn’t you?

At energiseYou we recently completed a thorough research project into whether we should provide health screening services, for our clients, as part of our service offering. Following this research we decided not to launch health screening services as part of the energiseYou corporate employee wellbeing offering.

It’s true that health screening can add value to individuals in terms of detecting heath related issues, such as diabetes and high cholesterol. But let’s come back to the real question, should employers proving and paying for health screening?

In my opinion, the simple answer is no…

I’m not saying health screening doesn’t add value or that it’s not right for every organisation. But for the vast majority of organisations their health and wellbeing budget is better spent on other activities – such as coaching, mentoring and inspiring employees to make simple changes to improve their lifestyle.

Any budget given to employee wellbeing needs to be put to the best use, and as you will see below, health screening is not necessarily the best use of budget:

- It’s not always accurate

Some health screening tests are inaccurate and add little value e.g. BMI, body fat percentage, bio dot test, grip test and peak flow test.

- It’s free at your doctors

Most health related tests you can request at your doctors so there is no real need for employers to provide them.

- It can drain your budget

Health screening can be expensive. This money could be better spent on coaching employees to make changes to their lifestyle.

-  Safety and accuracy means it’s better carried out by your Doctor

For safety and accuracy, some health screening is better carried out with your doctor e.g. cholesterol testing and blood pressure.

-  Encourage employees to see their Doctor

Both cholesterol and blood pressure are beneficial health tests. Therefore as part of our wellbeing activities and health education we encourage employees to have it checked with their Doctor, every five years.

Whilst the screening may detect the odd health problem, we know from our work with some of the best companies that by taking a proactive approach and coaching staff to make a positive changes they can have a bigger impact. By doing this, organisations have been able to improve the health of their staff, reduce absence, reduce the cost of reactive health interventions and increase positivity throughout the organisation.

Therefore any budget dedicated to wellbeing is far better spent on promoting healthy ways of living than health screening, and it is this that will have a positive impact on the financial health of the organisation.

Employee wellbeing – make sure it’s more than a tick box exercise...

Our research, Health and wellbeing at work – where we are at and where we need to be, shows the large majority of employers have wellbeing on their agenda. However, many organisations don’t know where to start or what to do to really improve employee wellbeing and deliver return on investment for their business.

In addition to this, many professionals who are responsible for wellbeing are time poor and have budget restraints. This means welbeing often moves down their list of priorities.

I attended a recent conference focusing on employee wellbeing and two things stood out to me:

1. There are still some organisations that treat wellbeing as a tick box exercise

2. More can be done to deliver return on investment

Let me give you an example...

A senior HR Director talked about his approach to employee wellbeing. He was asked how he got buy-in from those at the top to provide employees with private medical insurance.

He said: “I’m lucky, I don’t have to get buy-in. The directors just get the need for it. They understand the importance of having people in work and therefore understand the need to help those who are off sick get back to work quickly, so I have never needed to make a business case.”

But he then went on to say private medical insurance is very rarely used and claims are very low because of the profile of their workforce.

There we have it. Private medical insurance is not adding real value to this organisation or its employees. In fact, the organisation is wasting thousands of pounds on a service that very few employees will ever need and very few will ever get to benefit from.

Challenge what has been done before
In order to deliver real change we need to move away from treating wellbeing as tickbox exercise or a standalone activity, it is something that needs to be threaded through all talent management activities and that really becomes part of the culture.

It is not enough to simply offer private medical insurance or hold one event or workshop. Only by understanding the challenges your people are facing, such as poor engagement and low energy, can you set your objectives. And these challenges change over time which is why what you offer needs to be reviewed regularly.

In order to influence those at the top and really improve employee wellbeing, HR need to focus on what’s best for employees and what will improve business health.  It is time to challenge what has always been done, review what people related initiatives are in place, start being innovative in our approach to employee wellbeing and not be afraid of change.

To listen to our October 2012 webinar, focusing on practical ways to tackle wellbein, please click here.
 
Please email emma.price@energiseyou.com for a copy of Health and wellbeing at work – where we are at and where we need to be.

Where is health & wellbeing on your agenda?

Health and wellbeing at work has gained a much higher place on the agenda for employers and individuals over the last few years. 

Government attention on the issue through its welfare reform agenda has helped put it firmly on the radar for organisations and barely a day goes by without mention of the issue in the media.

While the Government seems to have grasped the importance of health and wellbeing as a workplace issue – it has invested in employee happiness research and the significant Black and Frost Review into absence and health at work – not all employers feel the same.

There are some forward-thinking companies who are grasping the issue, taking a proactive approach to the health of their staff and reaping the associated benefits. But research suggests that some employers are only just starting to confront the issue and grasp the opportunity to improve the performance of their businesses.

The cost of poor employee wellbeing should alarm any leader: translating the impact of the sickness absence, reactive health costs and staff turnover gives the average organisation with 750 staff a bill of around £3,264,000 according to the energiseYou Employee wellbeing guide.

Employees know there is a problem. Research of over 2,000 UK employees, from energiseYou, shows 80% of people score just 40% with regards to their health and energy.

With sickness absence and stress levels rising across the UK, poor employee wellbeing represents an iceberg which looks set to hit UK business unless action is taken quickly.

So the opportunity is clear: employers need to turn their attention to helping their staff improve their health to support better business performance.

To better understand issues facing organisations around health and wellbeing at work we partnered with Edenred and asked almost 200 senior HR professionals what their organisations are thinking and doing in four key areas:

• Getting wellbeing on the agenda
• Making the link between wellbeing and performance
• Practical actions to improve health and wellbeing
• measuring the impact

The purpose of this report is to share this insight and draw on best practice to establish a framework so that organisations can improve the performance of their business.

For a copy of the survey please email contactus@energiseyou.com

The rules of engagement

High levels of employee engagement is what every business wants.

According to research, from the Best Companies, high levels of employee engagement help to create a more profitable business. This is because it drives performance by:
- Improving motivation so that staff go that extra mile for the business
- Inspiring employees to be the best they can be at work
- Giving clarity so staff understand the organisations objectives & priorities
- Achieving great staff retention and the ability to attract top talent

If we were able to wave a magic wand to create a highly engaged workforce I’m sure most business leaders and HR professionals would take it. But sadly there’s not. As leaders we need to work hard to create a positive work environment where employees feel valued, where they are driven by what they do and able to perform at their best.

There is lots of employee focused research that has been carried out to investigate what creates an engaged workforce and what helps attract, retain and motivate workers. This all shows we are not simply driven by large salaries and job security. Our needs go much further, beyond just our material needs, and they become quite physical and emotional.

Wayne Clarke, International Partner, Best Companies Partnership says, “One of the most important things in achieving strong levels of employee engagement is the relationship between employees and their line manager – people join organisations, but they leave managers. Managers need to focus on providing direction and this means good communication.”

Think about a time when you have produced your best work or performed at your best. How did you feel? What type of environment were you working in? How did you feel about your employer and manager? Did you feel healthy, happy and energised? When we are able to meet our employees material needs and also make sure they feel valued then they are far more likely to put in extra work.

Employees want to know that their employers care about them. They want to be recognised for their work and feel valued, which is why the role of managers is so important – click here to read my earlier blog, which focuses on the role of line managers.

Wellbeing is very important. Wayne says, “Effective managers not only offer clarity for what is expected from their employees but they treat them as individuals, with fairness and respect and with a concern for their wellbeing.

"We know that when employees feel that they are fairly treated and looked after, in terms of their health and wellbeing, that they are much more engaged and far more likely to put in the extra effort when needed.”

As a business leader myself, I want my employees to be committed, feel motivated by their work, be passionate about what they do and able to perform at their best. This means listening to employees so that I can:
1. Understand what is most important to them
2. Identify any potential problems so that interventions can be put in place
3. Create a culture where employees are able to perform at their best

We know from our work with some of the best companies that they remain successful because they stay close to their people and have open communication. They listen to employees so that get a good understanding of their needs and by doing so they are able to create a culture where their staff are happy, energised and able to perform at their best.

Employee wellbeing – where do line managers fit in?

More and more organisations are taking action when it comes to improving employee health and wellbeing but in order to achieve real return on investment it is critical for line managers to play their part. In this blog I discuss the role of line managers in improving the health and wellbeing of employees - this first appeared on Edenred.com.

We know from our experience of working with some of the UK’s top brands that by taking a proactive approach to the health and energy of employees, organisations can really improve wellbeing which in turn helps increase the company’s profits.

But to succeed, and achieve real return on investment, the culture of the organisation needs to be one that embraces wellbeing - this is where line managers come in. Managers can really help create the positive organisational culture that is required to really achieve a healthy, energised, high performing workforce.

Here are five things areas to consider when thinking about the role of line managers in employee wellbeing:

1) Direction, motivation and challenge
It is important for line managers to give clarity about the vision of the business and business objectives, and make sure employees understand how their individual objectives fit in. A little pressure can be a good thing. It is up to line managers to get the balance right, making sure staff feel stretched and are motivated by their objectives but not feeling overwhelmed and unable to handle the pressure.

2) Good communication
Research from Best Companies highlights the importance of good communication in achieving high levels of employee wellbeing and engagement. The most effective way to improve communication is through conversation and this is where line managers come in. It is important for team members to feel that they trust their line manager and can have an open and honest relationship. Managers who listen to and are open to receiving feedback and maintain an open channel of communication will naturally become aware of problems more quickly and this will enable them to fix them much sooner.

3) Spot the warning signs
Managers need to work closely with their team to ensure they are working to realistic deadlines and have a manageable workload. There will be times when individuals themselves are unable to spot early warning signs and this is where line managers come in. Are employees unable to cope with the pressure? Do they appear to lack energy? Is morale low? Are engagement levels changing? Is someone working too many hours? Managers need to be close enough to their team to spot potential problems. Only then will they be able to intervene and provide the support required.

4) Address the warning signs
Fail to address these warning signs and the business will suffer. Sometimes it will be as simple as a manager taking their team member to one side and discussing the issue and other times it maybe more complex. It is important to ensure line managers understand how to deal with problems when they spot them and what processes are in place to support their employees.

5) Employee recognition
It is important to give recognition to employees when they do a good job. By treating employees well and giving them recognition they are far more likely to be happy, motivated and engaged in their job and as a result pass on the positivity to customer, clients and colleagues thereby maintaining a positive corporate culture.