How to Foster a Culture of Holistic Wellbeing In Your Organization

When our employees' wellbeing suffers, so does the organization at large. While we can imagine what this looks like in the workplace on a practical level, do we understand the true cost of poor wellbeing? Gallup states when compounded over time, burnout has led to a startling $322 billion of turnover and lost productivity costs globally. In this article, Team Leadology breaks down what a culture of wellbeing looks like in the workplace, and how to approach that in your organization.

With less than 50% of U.S. employees who strongly believe their organization cares about their wellbeing, we have some serious work to do when it comes to cultivating a culture of holistic wellbeing in our organizations. But before we can begin to strategize any kind of approach to employee wellbeing, it’s important that we understand the many facets of it. After all, it constitutes so much more than one’s physical or mental health–– it ultimately boils down to how people's lives are going.

What is wellbeing and how is that defined?

We think Gallup puts it best: “Wellbeing encompasses all the things that are important to each of us and how we experience our lives.” While these things may look different to everyone, a particularly good place to start is with the five following areas of wellbeing: career, social, financial, physical, and community.

With a broader look at all of the contributing factors to employee wellbeing, we can begin to develop a holistic approach to supporting it in the workplace. In this same study, Gallup offers some important areas for consideration that have transformative effects on employees' wellbeing.

5 categories of wellbeing for your organization to consider

Covering all five bases mentioned above, these categories are an excellent starting point for any organization looking to redefine their approach on this topic:

• Personal & professional development
  Enabling your employees to participate in personal and professional development programs is crucial in providing them with avenues for learning and personal growth. This is particularly significant if you offer programs that facilitate the learning skills such as time management, stress management, and resilience, which can all help empower employees and prevent feelings of burnout. 

• Culture of recognition

  If you’ve been subscribed to our newsletter for some time, you already know how important a culture of recognition is for thriving organizations. In case you need a refresher,recognition involves actively sharing the positive contributions your employees are making so they can connect back to their impact and purpose. When individuals are stuck in their daily to-do lists without any feedback on why their work matters, this can easily lead to feelings of depletion. What actions can you take today to recognize and appreciate someone?

• Messaging & communication styles

  Effective communication is single-handedly one of the most important aspects to success in and out of the office. From work matters to workplace relationships, are your messages and styles of communication imbued with empathy, compassion, and a genuine desire to support one another? Creating a culture of psychological safety is crucial for promoting well-being as it assures employees can truly use their voice without fear of judgment or consequence. 

• Events & opportunities that support employee wellbeing

  What steps is your organization taking to promote a shared culture of wellbeing? Do you facilitate opportunities for employees to engage with one another? This could look like access to fitness classes, organizing social events like happy hour, or offering meditation sessions. 

• Company rules and guidelines

  At present, are your organization’s rules and guidelines inhibiting any efforts to craft a culture of holistic wellbeing? Do they currently support “thriving” in each of the five elements of wellbeing? You have to do more than say you believe in well-being, you need to role model it. For instance, actually taking that PTO you requested. 

Creating a culture of wellbeing in the workplace is ongoing

Forging a culture of employee wellbeing isn’t something that happens overnight, nor is it something that is ever truly complete. But by considering the ways in which your current company culture contributes to the key factors of employee wellbeing––and, of course, the ways in which it can improve––you’ll begin to craft a strategic approach to happier employees, high retention rates, and collective growth. 

Countless workplace leaders have already embarked on this journey through our premier leadership program Activate, where they’ve taken an honest look at the ways that they can better support employee wellbeing from all angles. Our ongoing cohorts engage managers in purposeful conversations and prepare them with toolkits for leadership to ultimately support career, social, financial, physical, and community wellbeing across their organizations. Learn more about how Activate can help you here.

-Carrie & Team Leadology