Employers are engaging ever more closely with workplace wellbeing, with mental health negatively affecting one in six UK workers each year as the leading cause of sickness absence. Each year 300,000 people in the UK will lose their jobs due to a long-term mental health problem.
When you begin to put this all together, the cost of poor mental health to the economy is over £74 billion per year. Therefore, improving workplace wellbeing for your employees can show a positive return on investment.
Six core standards for wellbeing
‘Thriving at Work’ sets out six core standards that you can adopt to improve workplace wellbeing, they are:
- Produce, implement and communicate a plan
- Develop awareness
- Encourage open conversations during recruitment, at regular intervals, and when employees are struggling
- Invest in good working conditions and promote a healthy work/life balance
- Educate support line managers
- Make use of available data
How to implement workplace wellbeing
Jump engages staff at the University of Chichester to achieve these standards. Firstly, activities such as mindfulness, a Fitbit integrated step challenge and healthy eating promote wellbeing. Secondly, staff are rewarded for taking on development courses and volunteering opportunities. The positive outcomes of the Jump programme have reduced sick days from an average of 5.2 days per person per year to 3.6 days.
World Mental Health Day kicked off the conversation, but we’re here to make sure that workplace wellbeing is on the agenda all year round. The Mental Health Foundation has put together this useful guide with more information about the benefits of employee wellbeing.
How can I engage my employees?
To find out more about office wellbeing across sectors, request a Jump case study here. Or click here to find out more about our employee engagement programmes and how Jump can engage positive wellbeing in your workplace.
