20 Sep 2023
How to do more with less for your employee’s wellbeing: HR perspective
There are many key ways to improve employee wellbeing and most of them are based around creating a positive work environment and prioritising employee wellbeing. However, a tight budget can often pose challenges for HR professionals and can cause problems when wanting to provide for their employees. In this article, we will discuss the seven different ways in which an employee’s wellbeing can be prioritised without breaking the bank.
1. Conduct wellbeing assessments 📝
Wellbeing assessments can be a key tool in gathering insights into the wellbeing of employees and can provide an overview of the landscape of your organisation. Conducting surveys or focus groups to gather feedback on any challenges or concerns is a useful way of doing this. This can help highlight any key overarching issues and give a focus for an HR team on what needs to be prioritised for their employees and where the budget would be best spent.
2. Employee recognition and reward programmes 🌟
Regularly recognising and rewarding employees for their work will boost employee satisfaction and morale, helping to increase employee wellbeing. This does not have to involve a massive budget, as simply acknowledging an employee for an achievement can be an effective way of doing this.
Other impactful ways of recognising employees can be having peer-to-peer recognition and shout-outs in company meetings or newsletters.
The importance of employee recognition is clearly highlighted in an article titled “What Are the Benefits of Employee Recognition”, which reports that employees who only receive recognition from their manager a few times a year are 74% more likely to say they do not plan to be at their organisations in one year.
3. Promote work-life balance ⚖️
Encouraging a healthy work-life balance can help boost employee wellbeing by allowing employees to disconnect after work to prioritise personal time and decompress after each day. Providing guidance and setting clear expectations for employees on working hours and after-hours communication is important and leading by example is a crucial way of fostering a balanced work environment.
This can also involve embracing flexible working arrangements, such as flexible working hours and remote working options, which can help alleviate stress and increase employee wellbeing.
It is important with remote working to make sure that employees set boundaries to ensure that work and home are balanced correctly, as the lines between switching off and staying connected are extremely blurred.
4. Signposting to internal and external support 🚏
Signposting is another low-cost strategy to help employees. Directing employees to access help is crucial for their welfare and will promote a safe and productive workplace. This signposting could be to internal resources, such as help from within the HR department, or external resources, like telemedicine or digital health services.
It can also be part of a larger workplace wellbeing programme that employees can be a part of to have access to the support that they need.
5. Utilise technology 🖥️
There are many digital health options available from apps for guided meditation to fitness promotion and organisational planning. These can all help employees boost their wellbeing and promote prioritising mental health awareness. Digital health platforms, such as Syndi Health, are amazing for this and they provide access to mental health services that have been validated and can help employees find what will suit them the most.
This can also be done with a relatively low budget, as many digital health services are free and so are accessible to all employees.
6. Social activities and team building 👫
These types of activities are an excellent tool for increasing employee wellbeing, as they can build trust between co-workers and make the office a more comfortable environment for everyone. This is vital as it will reduce stress in the workplace and encourage collaboration.
It can also be a relatively low budget as these activities can be anything from a team lunch to a group walk.
7. Personal development opportunities 👏🏼
Webinars, lunch-and-learn sessions and online courses are all examples of personal development opportunities that can empower employees to develop and improve their overall wellbeing. Personal development can also be done effectively on a tight budget by providing options like in-house training or online learning platforms.
Conclusion 🔚
A limited budget can pose difficulties from an HR perspective to provide employees with what they need. However, as shown with these seven different strategies, there are still many things that can be done to improve employee wellbeing, without having a massive budget. By utilising these methods and providing resources to employees, a positive work environment can be created, enhancing employee productivity and engagement and leading to overall success.