A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to employee wellness won't work

Monday, 4 October 2021

OPINION: Today’s technology-driven environment makes it easier for everyone to be accessible almost 24/7.

However, this also means your staff are working longer than they used to.

Ensuring you know how to help your staff manage their mental wellness is important if you want to hang onto them in today’s competitive labour market.

The problem is that most companies address employee mental wellness via a 'one-size-fits-all' approach.

* Should companies be offering mental health days instead of more sick leave?

* Businesses going beyond the call on health and well-being**

Businesses may spend a few weeks a year developing a wellness plan that is intended to suit everyone, from the single 22 year old to the 70 year old due to retire with 10 grandchildren.

Something we’ve come to understand about people and mental health is that everyone is affected differently.

Everyone responds and reacts to things in different ways. Everyone has different motivations and ways of coping with the ups and downs going on in their lives.

So, why then do we think one wellness plan for all will work?

I want to work for a company that genuinely asks me how they can help me with my wellbeing, instead of telling me how they are going to help me.

Companies spend hours planning strategies, then breaking these down into goals for each team member.

Your business and your team is only as strong as its weakest link.

Management spends time each quarter talking with team members on an individual basis about how they might meet these goals, what things will help them, what things will hinder them and if they think the goals are achievable.

Each performance plan is tailored to each individual, and team members are encouraged to track their performance against this plan.

Staff members are encouraged to communicate successes and problems that need addressing.

Mental wellness for our employees should take just as much priority and, in fact, should be planned at the same time as the company strategic reviews and planning sessions.

You know why?

Your business and your team is only as strong as its weakest link.

If there are mental wellness problems preventing peak performance, in the same way that if your car has got a working engine but no charge in the battery, you won’t achieve your planned results.

You will most likely find that if team members have their health and wellness needs met, they will reach their business goals.

Whether we like it or not, employee wellness is critical to our team being successful.

Each team member has family and friends that they are responsible for or have a commitment to in some way. Each person’s life situation is different.

Within your organisation you have many different types of people who value very different things in life and have very different approaches to their mental wellness.

Understanding your employees' situations and life commitments is key to understanding how you can help them balance their work and personal commitments, and in turn their mental wellbeing.

Your staff will benefit and so will your business.

Wellness agreements between staff and employers should become part of the norm, either at the time of goal-setting or as part of setting targets.

Or, if we take it a step further, at the time of signing a contract as part of contract negotiation.

I have learned through running a volunteer program for a not-for-profit organisation for six years, and then running my own company for the last four, that it’s not the money or even the type of work that keeps my team members with me.

Amy Christie believes that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to employee wellness won't work

It’s the fact that I take time to really understand them and support them to manage their life commitments.

When a new person joins my team, while writing up their work plans and setting goals I also spend time making sure to talk to them about how they see their work progressing.

Do they want to upskill or are they happy where they are?

I genuinely ask each team member, “What would be useful to you in terms of personal support?”

This is often met with a question in reply such as, “What do you mean?”

So I have to convince them.

For example, I might say, “I know you’re a mother of two, I’m a mother of three myself, so what helps you manage your work balance with your children?”

Some say they don’t need any help (which is their prerogative) but I would then say, “great, I will write in your plan that if you ever need time off for your children for illness or school visits or anything really then you automatically have five days of extra leave if needed”.

Slowly but surely over the years they learn that I mean what I say, and they begin to ask for what really means something to them.

I make sure the wellness plans in place are measurable, such as checking whether the team member took the five days of extra leave.

Are they positive, happy, and engaged in work?

I might say, “I know you’re a mother of two, I’m a mother of three myself, so what helps you manage your work balanced with your children?”

Have they met their business goals?

We revisit the plan a minimum of once a quarter, but each team member knows they can talk to me at any time if they require immediate extra support.

Health and wellness must become a celebrated critical part of 'business as usual' to be successful.

Unfortunately, the other option is it’s just an afterthought, with you watching your staff burn out or resign and head to greener pastures.

Amy Christie is the Founder and Director of AC Administration and Transcription Services. She has worked for over 20 years in administration and project management roles, and specialises in streamlining business administration and implementing holistic processes that make a real difference for business.