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Employee Wellbeing
Article I
This is the first in a series of articles by Bridget Juniper, an employee wellbeing specialist, offering practical advice on how to develop and deliver effective wellness initiatives.
Organisations are waking up to the potential benefits of employee wellbeing (EW) programmes. The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) has reported that nearly half of the organisations participating in its 2010 absence management survey have an EW strategy in place.
The main reason for this rising interest is the established link between health and performance in the workplace. The general hypothesis is that the healthier and happier people are, the more productive they are likely to be in the workplace. We all perform at our best when we are feeling good and the academic research generally supports this notion.
While this is the theory, the harsh reality behind the vast majority of EW programmes is something different. If the overall goal of such initiatives is to enhance performance, the bulk of programmes are likely to faiL Employee interest dwindles, resource is wasted and the cynics have a field day.
So why do EW programmes have the potential to go so wrong? The main reason for failure is the lack of agreement about what is meant by the term EW at the start. If there is no shared understanding at the outset, fundamental flaws in approach and content can quickly follow.
Undoubtedly, a lot of good work on improving EW is emerging. However, there is, inexplicably, a dearth of good working definitions about what we mean by this subject....