How to promote wellbeing in the workplace
With the events of the past 18 months, businesses are beginning to look a little deeper at their culture and the way that their employees feel about working there. There’s no doubt that the pandemic has created never-before-seen challenges, but one positive to come out of it is that it’s truly started the conversation around work-life balance and wellbeing in the workplace. So how can we promote this further?
Paid leave policies
Burnout is a real issue that people of all industries, job roles and sectors face. The first way to try and ensure your employees happiness is to introduce proper paid leave policies that allow employees time off for a variety of reasons.
Some policies that companies are currently trialling and implementing include flexible parental leave, mental health time off and paid time off for victims of domestic abuse or baby loss. Not only can such policies improve overall wellbeing, but they can also help to bridge the pay gap between men and women by offering more support surrounding issues that typically affect women more.
On the other hand though, these policies come with difficulties. For example, you would perhaps need to share sensitive information in order to claim the time off; information you may be uncomfortable sharing.
Another popular policy that doesn’t come with this hurdle is unlimited annual leave. This is a policy that we at Dice offer, and it means that there is no limit to how much annual leave an employee can take, with no change in pay, provided the work still gets done. It’s a policy that’s growing in popularity and has been implemented by companies such as Netflix, LinkedIn and Bumble.
Culture
The culture of a company is a difficult thing to define, but it encompasses everything from working pattern to management style, from the company values to the various personalities on the team.
There’s no one culture that’s a winning formula either; all different styles have their merit and it’s about what works for your company, your clients and your employees.
It’s not so much about the culture as it is about the cultural fit. An extremely flexible working pattern and laid back management style may sound like the dream to employees with a similar approach to work, but to someone who likes guidelines and process and order, it may sound like nothing short of a nightmare.
Ensuring that your company and your employees are on the same page when it comes to culture is key to promoting wellbeing. A large part of Dice’s culture is its core values (customer service, sustainability, technology and wellbeing), its flexible approach to work and its social side of the business. Therefore, making sure we recruit talent who fit this culture well is key to ensuring they become a happy employee moving forwards.
Support and development
Wellbeing is about so much more than added perks and time off though. Truly promoting wellbeing in the workplace means creating a space where employees feel listened to, supported and nurtured.
There are plenty of ways to offer proper support, whether it be through regular catch-ups with line managers, an open door policy or added functions in HR platforms. One of the features on the Askews platform we use at Dice, is an anonymous messaging function, where employees can share any concerns or thoughts they might be having with their manager, without having to worry about being identified.
Making sure your employees are happy at your company is just as much about setting them up to be happy in the future as it is about providing an attractive opportunity in the here and now. Ensuring that development and training is ongoing is the key to promoting employee wellbeing not just now, but way into the future too.