Companies must prioritise employee’s wellness for 2023
Companies must prioritise their workforce’s wellness – or face being left behind. Research shows that employee wellbeing has slipped down the HR agenda.
The vast majority (90 per cent) of UK employers believe their wellbeing culture could be improved, and almost 85 per cent say wellbeing in their workplace is average or below average. And according to the WTW’s 2022 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey, employers with low wellbeing are three times more likely to be disengaged than those with high wellbeing.
Employers need to look after their employee’s wellness.
As director of Moddershall Oaks Country Spa Retreat and founder of MADE, I truly believe that in 2023, businesses can no longer ignore mental health. Too many companies are in reactive mode – they only do something to address wellbeing when stress and ill health threaten productivity. That’s not a successful way to run a business in 2023 and companies need to be looking after their employees’ wellness needs – not just physical – but their mental wellbeing and looking at their health span- so improving the portion of your life that you spend healthy.
Companies who offer real wellbeing support for employees are already a step ahead of other businesses – who will need to spend time catching up. It’s so important to be forward thinking about wellness and to be authentic in offering wellness support. Companies must do this before they are forced and wellness support becomes an expectation – which it will soon. Wellbeing needs to run through the whole company. While every company is unique, you need to work out what is best for your business. Understand what the triggers are for mental health issues in your company. You need to listen to employees, which sounds basic, but so many managers don’t. For example, people with children might not get much use out of an onsite gym due to time constraints, but they will likely appreciate access to fitness or wellness apps that they can use more flexibly at home.
Companies need to focus on all aspects of health
After failing to find an appropriate wellness tool to help lead Moddershall Oaks’ wellness initiative, I developed an online wellness platform capturing all that Welcome to MADE had to offer but in digital form. MADE on demand was born and is available for individual users and for businesses, with a video library including fitness, yoga, meditation, nutrition, recipe and selfcare videos. I wanted to help support businesses through one of the toughest years ever for employees, from the COVID burnout to the cost of living crisis.
The MADE On Demand is a brand new platform which provides a wellness solution for corporate companies and offers a holistic solution to wellbeing – so crucial during this recent tumultuous period. Wellness encompasses looking after your mental health as well as your physical health. It’s a feeling of wellbeing within your life – a feeling of calm and doesn’t just mean you are without health problems.
Wellness trends will continue to grow
I see the wellness trend continuing to grow,” says Penny. “A study during the pandemic showed that the pandemic has enticed more Europeans to adopt new everyday healthy habits, with 65 per cent of people more likely to consider their health in day-to-day decision making. The nonprofit Global Wellness Institute (GWI) unveiled its research report, “The Global Wellness Economy: Looking Beyond Covid” and it predicted that the wellness economy will grow 60% from 2020-2025. Personally I see the mental wellness side of wellness evolving a lot more as we realise more and more how important our mental health is and looking at how sleep impacts our lives.
With the rising cost of living, insomnia seems to be on the rise and there is a lot of anxiety connected with it and I think this is something the wellness community will evolve to tackle – but it’s something that employers need to tackle too. It’s time companies took a step forward to look after wellness in 2023- otherwise I can guarantee, you will be left behind.
If you’d like to find out more about MADE on demand’s corporate wellness subscription, click HERE or email ondemand@welcometomade.com if you’d like to discuss.
Penny x