Shannon Rivers
Head of Inclusion & Wellbeing Advisory, Business in the Community
To truly see the business benefits of prioritising their people, employers need to look beyond the traditional ways of understanding wellbeing and take a new approach.
Employers understand that it’s vital to prioritise the wellbeing of their people, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it could have significant financial returns.
Holistic benefits of employee wellbeing initiatives
If employers invest in the right initiatives, this could boost productivity, talent attraction and employee retention while reducing the rate of employee turnover and absenteeism — currently at around 1.2 days of absence per UK employee per year. Combining all these factors, research by Business in the Community, alongside McKinsey Health Insititute found that employers could see financial returns of £4,000–£12,000 per UK employee annually, equating to a cumulative financial return of £130–370 billion across the UK — about 6–17% of GDP.1
Reaping these financial rewards
Prioritising employee health and wellbeing is crucial to an organisation’s success. For employers to fully reap the financial return for their organisations and the wider UK, they must make employee wellbeing a non-negotiable way of doing business.
Many businesses don’t know where to start when considering how to address employee wellbeing, but it’s no longer about free pizza or fruit on a Friday. It no longer sits within an HR team; it’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure that employee wellbeing is a priority.
It’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure
that employee wellbeing is a priority.
Embedding an inclusive workplace culture
Employers can put their people first by collaborating with both internal and external stakeholders to create an inclusive workplace culture, with clear executive responsibility to ensure that senior leaders are held accountable. To get this right, employers need to be proactive, embedding employee wellbeing into the heart of their organisational culture and focusing on building a culture that creates positive wellbeing, rather than responding to the impact of poor wellbeing.
Line managers play a vital role
All line managers should be knowledgeable and confident about how to effectively prioritise the wellbeing needs of their direct reports.2 Once employers are fully committed to putting employees at the heart of their operations and strategy, they could see significant financial gain.
By prioritising their people, employers will reap the benefits of a happy and productive workforce, helping them achieve their goals while leading the way as responsible employers.
[1] Prioritise People: unlock the value of a thriving workforce – Business in the Community (bitc.org.uk)
[2] The Business in the Community Workwell Model – Business in the Community (bitc.org.uk)
