Are you sabotaging your company's true growth and success by taking shortcuts on corporate health inside your organisation? The answer is most often 'yes' - you just don't realise it.
Just like personal health and wellbeing, corporate health activities are the first things to go when there are cut backs or high stress periods. However, it's actually the element that is needed most; especially when budgets are tight and performance is crucial. Research has shown that workplace stress is costing businesses more and more every year. Ignoring the signs is an expensive lesson.
Cutting back on the wellbeing of your workforce impacts safety, performance and your bottom line:
- It's the cost of the 'show up' employee - the person that comes to work every day but is not motivated, does not perform or keeps turning up 'sick'
- It’s the employee on autopilot - who's not looking when they refuel a vehicle, skims over a budget, sends confidential information out by mistake, forgets to do full safety checks
- Exhausted employees make mistakes - this could be machinery, financial deals, hiring the wrong people, getting into workplace disputes or breaching codes of conduct
- It's sick leave and no clear plan for return
- It's the lack of initiative and drive. When stressed out executives don't think with strategy and initiative but instead operate on a fight or flight mentality
Subtle signals inside an organisation are often the true indicators of bigger issues. High levels of stress, decreased motivation and lack of employee engagement are all signs you need to seriously consider. Without a true culture of transparency, people hide their exhaustion, lack of knowledge or concerns about change and do not step up with initiative; this is referred to as 'the leadership squeeze'.
The good news is corporate health can be improved fast, and with lasting results. It's all about a plan that is effective and flexible.
How to improve corporate health
- Know your business landscape
Every great CEO knows that company performance, no matter what size of business, goes in peaks and troughs. There are years of growth and potential - then market dips that force a restructure, re-focus and consolidation of activities, resources and people. However, time and time again, plans are not in place to create corporate health programs designed to stand the test of time, no matter what the financial climate. An effective corporate health program is built to expand and contract with times of growth or consolidation, even with high regulation industries.
- Keep it simple
A successful corporate health and safety program is seamless, relevant and easy to measure. It works within existing resources, is relevant to the company, your people and the industry. Create policies and activation that will work on the bare minimum. Forget about what everyone else is doing in the industry - think about what you can do to get your teams excited that won't cost the Earth, and will actually be easy to access results.
- Engage and empower
Corporate health is not just about the health care benefits, vision statements and lines of reporting and processes when people become ill or injured. It's not the lunch time yoga sessions, personal trainers or office massage therapist that comes in twice a week. It's creating a culture where people feel accountable, engaged and empowered to look after both the business and their personal wellbeing on a day-to-day basis. It's having a culture where your staff utilise the resources, support, channels and platforms provided. That's the real ROI.
- Be agile and get the right advice
Finally, corporate health is a big subject - that's often why it's so hard to get right. It has so many facets. Get the right advice on how to build a good foundation and elements you can add as you go. Understanding your business culture is just as important as your industry, ideal regulations and value adds. It's about blending your corporate mission and your company culture.
Majority of expensive, well-intended health and wellbeing programs never truly get off the ground in the first place. You may have corporate health programs that look great on paper at a leadership level or for other organisations, but they don't truly align with your corporate goals, team DNA and business landscape. It's not an easy formula to achieve. Nevertheless, when you have the right advice and an agile approach, the results can be magic. It will save you money, empower your teams and shift your organisational performance up a gear.