Well-Being and Health Programs for Business Essay

Introduction

Currently, the well-being and health of employees have a strong indirect influence on any organization’s long-run performance and efficacy. Sound management should devise workplace policies to control staff physical and mental conditions to provide proper assistance and intervention. It is believed that when employees are happy and sound, the performance rate of the company increases (Cooper and Quick, 2017). In general, employee health and wellbeing is a managerial approach that primarily aims at optimizing the physical and mental health of all workers and also strives to make them satisfied with their job (Shaik, Makhecha, and Varkkey, 2019). Employers are currently expected to address their employees’ emotional and physical issues with the help of occupational health, various activities, and interventions, training, and promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Such approaches are not only beneficial for the staff but also for the company because it contributes to lower turnover, increase in employees’ productivity, and bolster the bottom line.

Main text

Well-being and health programs lead to a bundle of positive outcomes both for organizations and employees. In 2019, 37% of UK enterprises spotted an increase in stress-related absence in comparison to the previous year (CIPD, 2020). Among the leading causes, heavy workload and management style are identified by respondents. It means that majority of workers are not satisfied with their job, especially with employee-manager relationships. Moreover, only 30% of respondents stated that line managers were able and confident to have a personal discussion and help them. It is an example of an issue that adversely influences the company’s performance. Such initiatives enable employers to improve health behaviors, which lower health risks and then decrease health care costs.

Wellbeing programs reduce presenteeism related to health behaviors, such as low physical activity, smoking, and chronic illnesses, which increases productivity. According to Ganster and Rosen (2013), work stressors, such as workload, stressful events, and work pressure, have a strong correlation with emotional exhaustion, which is an element of job burnout. Physical complaints are also spotted to have an association with those stressors. Wellbeing programs can mitigate it and lower absenteeism by creating corporate culture aimed to decrease work-related stress.

Nevertheless, health and wellbeing plans bear some disadvantages, especially for business owners. Such strategies usually are expensive to devise and establish within the company. The business also can face an employee’s reluctance to participate, for instance, is a free health appraisal, as he/she is afraid of private information leakage to colleagues (Cooper and Quick, 2017). Furthermore, they usually see it as a separate policy, while it should be embedded in business culture and everyday decision-process. Small firms often do not have enough money to create a managerial team or to train their managers to upkeep the program. It is unfair to offer wellness plans to the individual staffers, so the company may spend extra money to support those who are already behaving healthily. According to Ramkissoon, Smith, and Oudyk (2019), the main dimensions that influence the employee’s perception of safety and health in the workplace are quality of support from supervisors and leadership, predictability, rewards, and commitment. It means that workplace implementation should be comprehensive and sensitive what takes effort and time. Moreover, a decrease in turnover and higher productivity can be achieved only in the long run.

Conclusion

To conclude, wellbeing and health initiatives have some implications such as the absence of positive outcomes in the short run, high cost of implementation, and special management training. Nevertheless, there are more advantages than disadvantages. Occupational health and wellbeing programs are capable of providing businesses with higher productivity, effectiveness, and retention of loyal and skilled employees. Businesses will be better off in the long run, encouraging their staff to follow healthy behaviors.

Reference List

CIPD (2020) Health and wellbeing at work: survey report. Web.

Cooper, C. and Quick, J. C. (eds.) (2017) The handbook of stress and health: a guide to research and practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Ganster, D. C. and Rosen, C. C. (2013) Work stress and employee health: a multidisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 39(5), pp. 1085-1122.

Health and wellbeing strategy 2018-2021 (2018). Web.

Ramkissoon, A., Smith, P. and Oudyk, J. (2019) ‘Dissecting the effect of workplace exposures on workers’ rating of psychological health and safety’. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 62(5), pp. 412-421.

Shaik B, F. F., Makhecha, U. P. and Varkkey, B. (2019) ‘Wellbeing or workaholism-critical perspectives on employee engagement in new work practices’. In Academy of Management Proceedings, vol. 2019, no. 1, p. 11256. Briarcliff Manor, New York: Academy of Management.