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Saturday, October 5, 2024
Employee Wellbeing Simplified - 4 Levels
Business owners and leaders often struggle with employee wellbeing, especially those who are empathetic. They care about their team's health but worry about the impact of sedentary work.
Poor employee health can affect both the team and business performance. This includes physical and mental health concerns.
This article will provide a new perspective on workplace health, helping you see employee wellbeing as an opportunity rather than a challenge.
It’s an opportunity
Let’s set the frame right first. Employee wellbeing is not a challenge to be overcome but opportunity to be grasped.
Embrace that statement and you’ll already be ahead of 90% of other leaders in this area.
It’s not hard to be healthy in the modern world. Imagine going back to a coal miner in the 1930s, telling him about the quality of life we have today then trying to tell him it’s hard to be healthy.
It’s never been easier to be healthy… but it’s also never been easier to be unhealthy.
The real problem is the environment. Although it's never been easier to be healthy, out environment actively encourages poor health.
Had a busy day? Sit down and watch Netflix.. paying for your petrol? Walk past 100 different chocolate bars to get there.
Herein lies the opportunity.
Within your team or business you create your own environment. If you create one that encourages good health - which you are financially motivated to do - you become part of the solution.
You Can Be Healthy Alongside a Sedentary Job
Sounds great but what’s the point if our people have to sit for 6+ hours a day? Isn’t it going to be really hard for them to get healthy alongside that?
No.
In an ideal world we wouldn’t spend that much of our day sitting but the truth is you can have great health alongside that much sitting/looking at computer screens.
My partner and I spend at least 6 hours a day sat down.
We’re both around the age of 40, maintain healthy bodyweight and have better fitness levels than the average 21 year old.
We’re not genetic freaks. We’re not fitness fanatics. We’re just normal people that prioritise our health and use systems to hold ourselves accountable.
We’ve helped countless teams/businesses do the same and so can you.. and it’s simple.
All you’ve got to do is get into level 3 of the 4 levels coming up. Doing this will help you, your team and business thrive.
The 4 Health Culture Levels
Health and wellbeing at work has nothing to do with gym memberships, free fruit or perk boxes.
It has everything to do with your culture which is dictated by the ACTIONS of you. Leaders and managers. (don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you you have to be super healthy)
People do what you do, not what you say. Let’s look at the four levels and how your actions affect each one.
Level 1
It is not possible for people to be healthy with the jobs you provide.
This is rare and usually the outcome of poor leadership.
If you have a culture where people are highly stressed and regularly working crazy hours to a point where they are exhausted, you’re in level 1.
This transpires when leaders and managers are normalising living in a constant state of stress, urgency and reactivity.
Level 2
It is possible to be healthy alongside the jobs you provide but not role modelled by leadership and management.
This is the most common level across businesses in the UK.
Leaders and managers do not prioritise their health so that becomes the norm in the business.
An important note here. I am suggesting that leaders and managers have the responsibility to be in peak physical condition.
What we are talking about here is prioritisation and effort which I’ll explain in the next level.
Level 3
Good health is possible alongside the jobs you provide and it is role modelled by leadership and management.
This is the where most businesses can transform.
When leadership and management both prioritise and make efforts with health cultural transformation follows.
This isn’t about you signing up for a marathon or some crazy challenge but developing a system of discipline around your health like you would and project at work.
Here’s the process we take leaders and managers through in this area, feel free to steal it:
Leadership Habit Building System
Why Template / OKR / Cadence Calendar
E.g. I want to lose weight.
Why? Make me feel more confident, have more energy and increase chances longevity.
Specifics: Current weight 14stone. Target 13 stone in 12 weeks.
Habits/Tasks: Eat healthy breakfast and lunch daily, 600 calories each, home made, 30g protein.
The prioritisation of health and happiness as well as a disciplined system for self accountability should be a non negotiable amongst your leaders and managers.
The system we take leadership teams through is - getting clear on your why, setting specific goals, committing to a controlled amount of new habits quarterly using the cadence calendar.
Level 4
Health is role modelled by leaders and actively encouraged in your team/business.
Businesses tend to skim past level 3 and sporadically try to adopt this level. They try all the different apps, challenges and perks but never seem to make any meaningful change.
Running things like health challenges, putting educational posters up, providing gym memberships, having movements stations at work… all of these are great things to do but they fall short if you’re missing level 3.
Another effective strategy here is to survey your team, find out what area of health they are struggling with or would like to learn about then run a workshop on that topic followed by a challenge.
Doing this encourages everyone to think about and make effort with their health a few times throughout the year without feeling like it’s being rammed down their throat.
If you want to actively encourage health in the workplace simple quarterly challenges that last 4 weeks is a great starting point - but remember, don’t skip stage 3.
What To Do Next
Start by leading. If you’re not very good at prioritising yourself start with the why template.
Get clear on what areas of your life you prioritise most (typically work/family) and how your health impacts those areas.
If you’re a parent and always put your kids first get clear on positive impacts of you having good health, and the negative impacts of you neglecting your health on your kids.
This helps you hack your own psychology and make your health a priority.
Next get specific about what you want to achieve with your health and make it measurable.
Finally choose the few habits you’re going to commit to over the next 12 weeks using the Cadence Calendar and hold yourself accountable.
When you make this a part of your life, creating a healthy culture in your team or business will feel almost effortless.
About Mike & Better Happy
I am a best selling author, business owner and consultant. As a previous military intelligence analyst, resident with monks and burnt out business owner, I now help business owners, leaders and managers create cultures of health, happiness and high performance without burnout.