Tag: Mental Health

Only 30% of employees are engaged in their jobs, which means the other 70% of our workforce are getting paid to eat, sleep, work, repeat. Finding a way to address this vast amount of people who are sleep-walking through their jobs is the task of Glen Elliot, in his new book: Build it – the Rebel Playbook for Employee Engagement.

 The book made its debut on the 23^rd February and is already an Amazon bestseller, with endorsements from New York Times bestselling author Daniel H Pink, Netflix former Chief Talent Officer Patty McCord and CEO and bestselling author Margaret Heffernan. So what makes the book so special? 

Build it emphasises the importance of employee wellbeing, and it presents a compelling business case for having a happier workforce. Over 10 years of research by Elliot and co-author Deborah Corey shows how companies with the best cultures generate stock market returns of twice the general market, whilst enjoying half the employee turnover of their peers. 

Through 60 different case studies from organisations across several different industries, Build it shows how staff who are motivated and engaged are more innovative, deliver better customer service and outperform competitors by a long way. 

So how do you actually start trying to engage your employees? For those looking to take action within their organisation, Build it present a clear model and step-by-step process to make impactful, sustainable changes. The book follows Elliot’s Engagement Bridge™model, which highlights 10 key areas companies need to re-examine in order to build a highly engaged company culture. 

At Jump, we are specialists in providing employee engagement programmes to companies, universities and local councils. Like Elliot, we advocate for employee engagement through use of the carrot and not the stick approach. Our innovative online platform and app uses gamification and rewards to motivate employees to make wellbeing and environmentally sustainable behaviour changes.

For more information and to request a case study visit www.teamjump.co.uk or email [email protected].  

The Jump engagement programme was recognised at the University of Chichester’s annual Jump Awards ceremony for reducing the sickness absence rate across employees by almost half.

Chichester has been running the Jump programme for 2 years now, and in that time the average amount of sick days taken by employees has dropped from 5.2, which is in line with the HEFCE average, to just 3.6.

There is a proven correlation between engaging employees in wellbeing behaviours and reducing the amount of days taken off for sickness, and we’re really pleased to see it in action at the University of Chichester. We are working with a number of universities to engage their staff and students not just in sustainable behaviours, but also in wellbeing behaviours such as exercising at lunch time in the campus gym, taking a ten minute break outside and cycling to/from campus.

Engaging employees in wellbeing and sustainability behaviours has a powerful impact. If you would like to find out how Jump can reduce your sick days and achieve your sustainability and wellbeing targets get in touch through [email protected]

Sometimes it can be hard to get the balance right between taking steps to improve your businesses’ sustainability and improving the productivity of your people. Energy use, for example, is a fine balancing act between providing your people with enough heat and light to work effectively and making savings that cut your carbon footprint.

But a greener office can – and often is – a more productive office.

Given that staff costs, including salaries and benefits, typically account for about 90% of a business’ operating costs, improving the productivity of your workforce unquestionably improves the productivity of your business.

So what steps can and should you take to improve productivity and reduce the footprint of your business?

Firstly, you should consider the cost the ill health of your employees has on your business. Whist this varies from country to country and sector to sector, here are a few exemplars:

• The annual absenteeism rate in the US is 3% per employee in the private sector, and 4% in the public sector, costing employers $2,074 and $2,502 per employee per year respectively.
• Poor mental health specifically costs UK employers £30 billion a year through lost production, recruitment and absence.
• The aggregate cost to business of ill-health and absenteeism in Australia is estimated at $7 billion per year, while the cost of ‘presenteeism’ (not fully functioning at work because of medical conditions) is estimated to be A$26 billion.

The health of your employees, evidently, can have a huge impact on the health of your business.

Putting your employees first means you are putting your business first.

There are a number of proven methods to improve employee health which also improve the health of the planet. Jump recognises this link and rewards your people for changing their behaviour – making them more likely to stick with this change.

Cycling, one of Jump’s 8 core behaviour modules, is a great example. By encouraging your employees to cycle rather than drive to work not only will you cut the travel footprint of your business, but your employees will enjoy both the physical and mental benefits that exercise bring. From one small change you can effect both a cut in carbon and an increase in productivity.

By rewarding people for taking these actions, they are more likely to take them again and again, meaning Jump with have a continued effect, rather than being a single impact scheme.

There are seven other modules which form the core of Jump – but we don’t stop there. If there’s a particular behaviour you’d like to encourage, such as increased use of public transport, we can create a module for you.

If you’d like to start a discussion on how Jump could work for your organisation, or to book a demonstration of our platform, then please do get in touch with us at [email protected].

Your employees are your biggest asset, so by looking after their health and wellbeing you look after the future of your business.

According to research by HR magazine, over half of those they surveyed claimed that employee health and wellbeing were ‘important’ to the business. Why is it then that only 17% linked a successful health and wellbeing strategy to the success of their business?

The costs of ignoring well-being.

In 2012, employee absence cost the UK economy £14 billion – that’s the equivalent of £975 per employee. But the poor health of your employees doesn’t just cost you money – it costs time, reduces service quality and harms your output.

But it’s not just absent employees you should be concerned about. ‘Presenteeism’ – attending work whilst unfit or unproductive – is harder to measure but could cost as much as absenteeism. The Centre for Mental Health calculates that ‘presenteeism’ costs the UK economy £15.1 billion a year – based on psychological health issues alone. Caring for your employees’ mental and physical wellbeing is key to a productive, healthy business.

How to address employee wellbeing

Addressing the wellbeing of your employees shouldn’t be as simple as setting up an assistance phone line or providing one-off seminars. To ensure the continued health and productivity of your workforce your wellbeing strategy should be cohesive, comprehensive and inclusive. By providing continued interaction and support to your employees you can drive lasting behaviour change.

Through a customisable series of modules, Jump encourages and rewards your employees for taking positive steps towards not only personal well-being, but also sustainability. It provides an online platform with regular digital communication and feedback as well as real rewards to make your workforce more sustainable.

If you’d like to learn more about our employee engagement programme, please visit https://teamjump.co.uk

To hear more about how Jump Healthy Planet: Healthy Team could work for you or to request a brochure, please contact Robin Farwell at [email protected] or call 0207 326 5055.