Why prioritising employee wellness is more important now than ever

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people’s mental and physical health across the globe. With health and wellness becoming the topmost priorty for people worldwide, employers are buckling up to help and safeguard their employees.

Employee wellbeing is not limited to physical health; various other factors determine an individual’s overall functioning. Employee health and wellbeing have always been a priority for employers as they boost employee productivity, reduce burnout, improve workplace culture, and offer many other benefits.

Technological advancements are now facilitating varied alternatives for workplace wellness, and organisations are planning strategic approaches to drive health and wellness programmes for their employees.

How do employers play an important role?

Employees are the prized asset of an organisation, and it is the duty of employers to take care of them. Introducing an effective wellness programme for employees can engage them better.

Considering the current situation where most organizations have adopted remote working and allowing employees to work from home, employee engagement and wellbeing has become a challenging task.

Employee stress, productivity, presenteeism, burnout, mental health issues, and many more are some of the major challenges of employers to overcome. Short tea breaks, lunch gatherings, communicating to the workplace, casual conversations with teammates, and outdoor team bonding activities are not possible in remote working.

Internal communications among employees are affected, which is main the reason employees feel disconnected from the organisation or their colleagues. Employers also need to prioritize enhancing internal communication to boost engagement and let the team members feel included.

ALSO READ6 reasons why startups need to consider employee health benefits given the current pandemic

Why is it more important now than ever?

Since the outburst of coronavirus, people worldwide have experienced stress, fatigue, and depression due to various reasons. The corporate world is severely affected as well due to certain shifts in the work culture.

Juggling from situations like losing a closed one, maintaining household chores and work, prolonged working hours, and experiencing financial instability, the mental, health, and financial wellbeing of the employees have faced a huge setback.

Taking measures to introduce wellness programmes has become the need of the hour. Before COVID-19, majority of employees were working from office for some fixed hours; with the shift in the workplace, there have been significant changes in the way they work.

Working conditions at home need not be the same for everyone. It is not all a dreamy experience for all employees; work from home has also blurred the lines between professional and personal working hours. It affects the physical health of the employees for lack of proper working space; it has impacted their mental health acutely as well.

HRs and leaders must address this concern and assess their current wellness program,e and, if not, should consider introducing one in their organisation.

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