Why Employee Wellbeing is Essential to a CFO’s Bottom Line

There is overwhelming evidence that Wellbeing programs done well have the potential to pay a dividend in increased employee productivity, morale and attraction and talent retention.

CFO’s are the leading charge and awareness is growing, with Deloitte finding 70 per cent of CFO’s view workplace wellbeing as a strategic priority, led by the growing evidence suggesting a multi-faceted employee wellbeing program is linked to business growth.

Increasingly employees are viewing wellness programs as an expectation in the workforce. Healthy organisations are viewed as ‘employers of choice’ and are proven to generate three times higher shareholder returns than those of unhealthy ones (Mckinesy), supporting the case for CFO’s to budget for and integrate wellness initiatives permanently into their organisations.

It’s not as simple as just adding in a few flu shots or gym memberships, organisations need to consider the three areas of employee wellness in order to realise the quantifiable benefits; physical, emotional and financial health and wellbeing of their workforce.

Physical Health & Wellbeing

While physical wellbeing may have started out with a focus on reducing workers’ compensation costs, the encouragement and commitment to a physically healthy workforce has bene shown to have flow on effects to their emotional wellbeing as well.

The cost of absenteeism to the Australian economy now exceeds $32.5 billion per annum in payroll and lost productivity costs (Absence Management & Wellbeing Survey). Even low levels physical activity has been linked to a reduction in the risk of some cancers, lower risk of heart attacks, better recovery from sickness and an increased level of energy and sleep.

Strategies to help your organisation boost its physical wellbeing program should focus on the areas of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Workplace Health, seating goals which can demonstrate the personal benefits to the individual and to the organisation.

Emotional Health & Wellbeing

Stressful work environments, long work hours and low morale contribute to absenteeism,
presenteeism and have a negative effect on our emotional wellbeing.

It may surprise you to learn research found 73 per cent of Australians feel anxious at work, with 85 per cent believing their employer is obliged to address it. It is important to note that individual’s carry their collective stressors in and out of the work environment, taking their work concerns home and vice versa.

As such, emotional or mental health strategies need to focus on supporting the person as a whole, not just the employee. Mental health issues don’t clock of at 5pm.

Supporting your existing staff is much more cost-effective than replacing them when they leave and your organisation’s engagement in their health contributes to a healthier person in your workplace to the benefit of both parties. Importantly the increased engagement with staff also has a spin off in demonstrating the value your organisation places on its people, which drive a number of positive outcomes in itself.

While many organisations offer their employees and family members free counselling through Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), many are now going go further with meditation, yoga or mindfulness and workshops on how to manage stress and emotions and build resilience.

Where employers create, promote and support a work environment where flexible work arrangements are possible, it increases the agility of the organisation and supports the workforce to address matter which cause personal stress. Such environments can include policies that accommodate family commitments and appointments, urgent family issues and flexible work schedules.

Financial Health & Wellbeing

Australia's household debt to income ratio has hit nearly 200 per cent, a level UBS analysts have called "extremely elevated" and "one of the highest in the world". With this comes an ever increasing level of stress and anxiety amongst Australian workers.

Research by BT shows that ‘1 in 3 Australians report their quality of life has been affected due to their financial situation. Australians are increasingly concerned about income stagnation, debt repayments and retirement adequacy.’

Everyday a growing number of Australian workers enter their place of work, clouded by financial stresses. Distractions and stress impact on the workplace and when employers seek to support their employees navigate their financial wellbeing, the flow on impacts can be life changing. Allocating funding for visits onsite by financial planners and superannuation advisers are just a few of many ways to support employees.

How to Create a Workplace Wellness Program

Importantly, the successful implementation of a health and wellness program must have the engagement and ownership of the program by the employees as the central premise.

There is no one size fits all approach to creating a workplace wellness program and it is dependent upon your corporate culture, goals and existing relationship and engagement culture with your employees. While that may sound daunting, the appropriate initial research to identify the sentiment of employees and areas for improvement, help lay the structure for an achievable an measurable health and wellness change process.

CFO’s have a critical role to play in creating a healthier workplace by setting the strategic focus and alignment to corporate goals and ensuring funding and recourse availability. Often CFO’s, more than other lines of management, are seeking to identify a clear RoI.

Critically, successful health and wellness program require a multi-disciplinary approach, best serviced by the contribution of all facets of management, much like an organisation would do in a start-up or new product phase, accessing the capability, knowledge and commitment of all management to ensure success.

We call this approach “future proofing” understanding who your workforce is for your business and themselves and what you might collectively strive for it to become. Our Workplace Health Planning Guide which provides an initial guide to exploring workplace wellness programs, or to research what has worked well for other organisations.

Engaging with an external provider such as GB can guide you to an effective cost benefit approach in developing your program, accessing a multitude of service ready subject matter resources.

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