Importance of employee wellbeing in the workplace

Work-related ill health and non-fatal injuries cost an estimated 33.7 million working days in a year (2023-2024), and 16.4 million of those were due to stress, depression or anxiety.

These figures highlight the commercial benefits of a strong employee benefits strategy – but even as companies increase their offerings, our Workplace team consider whether they are fit for purpose and provide good value. Wren Sterling’s Director of Corporate Solutions, Paul Mitchell, says “We often come across clients who have a benefits strategy in place – but are still facing retention and sickness issues.”

Why is this the case? Employee wellbeing isn’t just about providing PMI or a cycle to work scheme. It’s about employee’s wellbeing, workplace culture and how employees engage with your company, their work, and the business goals.

What is workplace wellbeing?

Workplace wellbeing refers to the mental, emotional and physical health of employees. A strong workplace wellbeing strategy supports employees with their concerns at work and at home, helping them focus on the task at hand to help them perform at their best for organisational success.

It’s not enough to buy wellbeing services and expect things to improve. How businesses implement and embed workplace wellbeing is crucial.

When employee wellbeing and organisational goals are met, and efforts to support staff are both compassionate and commercially sound, workplace wellbeing will drive business performance and employee loyalty.

Our Workplace team supports employers to find the most appropriate products and services – and most importantly – help communicate them to employees, to embed a strong culture of workplace wellbeing.

Services – a comprehensive rewards and benefits strategy

Easily accessible rewards and resources allow employees to address their concerns early. Helping your employees to tackle the unknown can reduce stress that can encroach on their lives at work and at home. But the rewards need to be relevant to the challenges your people are facing.

“Let’s say you’ve identified a trend of high absence in the organisation. From an employer standpoint you’re facing absences, sick pay, and burnout from teams covering their absent workmates. A Private Medical Insurance scheme could allow employees to get speedy treatment, and often provide extras like an online GP service or mental health counselling – which employees can access these services without stigma, feel more valued by the company, and this will reduce absences. The whole team benefits.”

When a benefits strategy is thoughtfully designed, employees can access benefits relevant to them. A comprehensive rewards and benefits strategy can be tailored to different needs, such as physical health, financial help or mental wellbeing. But it’s not enough to simply have these policies. Employees need to know about and value them – which is why education is so important.

Education – communicate and educate employees on their benefits

Your employees need to understand and value their benefits in order to engage with them. Without this knowledge, employees won’t see the value their benefits can provide, or appreciate the efforts their company has gone to in order to provide them.

Culture – create positive workplace culture where employees can speak up

Paul Mitchell emphasises the importance of promoting health and wellbeing in the workplace, “The organisations where I’ve seen Workplace Wellbeing really make a difference have had the right culture and atmosphere – where staff can say they’re struggling – knowing they can find support.”

Research from Mind shows the link between a supportive culture and employee motivation. 60% of employees said they’d feel more motivated and more likely to recommend the organisation as a good place to work if the employer took action to support mental well-being – which highlights the efficiencies of a strong wellbeing culture.