What is employee wellness in the workplace?
The age-old adage that a happy worker is a productive worker has never been more true.
Employee wellness in the workplace has become a hot topic in recent years, as companies increasingly recognise the importance of promoting the health and well-being of their employees. With many people spending a significant portion of their waking hours at work, the workplace has a massive impact on overall health and wellness. There are many facets of employee wellness; one framework for approaching it is the eight pillars of wellness. These pillars provide a holistic approach to employee wellness. In this blog, we’ll explore what the 8 pillars of employee wellness are and why they matter to us at Faircape.
Why employee wellness is important to Faircape
Each environment fosters a culture of inclusion and diversity. In the workplace, where employees are spending more than 40 hours a week with colleagues, it is more important than ever to ensure employee wellness. Wellness and well-being are the foundations for business growth, stability, strength, and overall company sustainability. Employers can help to ensure this by promoting a work-life balance. This can be achieved through open communication on workload, feelings of being overwhelmed, stressed, or even burnt out. Employers can ensure that their workforce is able to perform at an optimal level by encouraging regular breaks in the workday, time away from the screen and desk, and leaving the office at an appropriate time.
At Faircape, we believe that putting excellent people in the right place, and retaining them, is the key to our success. We are dedicated to career growth and staff development. We understand the value of employee wellness because of our decades of experience in a variety of industries. These industries include FMS Property Managers and FMS Sales and Leasing, retirement services through Faircape Life, healthcare services through Faircape Health, utility management through InPower and Water Utility Solutions, connectivity through Faircom, and security services through CCTV Technologies.
What are the 8 Pillars of Employee Wellness?
Health and wellness coaches have identified 8 pillars of holistic wellness. These include physical, nutrition, social, emotional, financial, spiritual, intellectual, and environmental wellbeing. Below we elaborate on the pillars of wellness;
- Physical – Maintaining your long term health means reducing the risk of illness or disease. With regular body movement, there is a release of mood-boosting endorphins and physical health improves. Physical wellness also cultivates a social environment. Avoiding screen time before bed has also been proven to significantly improve physical wellness.
- Nutrition – A nutritious diet diminishes the risk of chronic illnesses over time and supports healthy internal and external functions. Incorporating a proper nutritional diet in your routine helps our wellbeing and allows us to appreciate what our bodies do for us. At Faircape, we provide health snack options in our cafeteria vending machine, ideal for replacing the feeling of fatigue with energy.
- Social – Our social wellness develops through the relationships we make with others. Our sense of belonging and security is fostered through these connections. Building authentic relationships in the workplace may not be easy, however, it is important to have a support system in an environment where most of your time is spent.
- Emotional – Emotional wellness in the workplace is our ability to navigate and communicate our emotions during times of stress. Having a positive and realistic approach to everyday events helps us with our emotional intelligence and helps us feel in control of our feelings.
- Financial – Financial wellness depends on our ability to successfully manage our income. This is often stressful. Planning for the future and making good financial choices can eliminate this feeling.
- Spiritual – Spiritual wellness fosters a connection to a higher purpose or meaning. This is different for each person and aligns with an individual’s personal values. Spiritual wellness enables us to face life’s most difficult challenges with resilience and inner peace.
- Intellectual – Embracing experiences and developing the mind with new interests, skills, collaboration stimulates our intellectual wellness. By seeking out new opportunities both personally and professionally, we enrich our intellectual growth pillar of wellness.
- Environmental – The environment where we feel we are the most comfortable is often where we thrive. In the workplace, having a well ventilated, clean, comfortable space is best for our environmental wellness.
How we are focusing on the 8 pillars in 2023
For 8 months of the year, we will have a different focus each month.
We don’t want to spoil the fun, but a few examples include:
In February, the month of love, our focus was on the Emotional pillar of employee wellbeing. Random Acts of Kindness Day was particularly enjoyable. Each employee was given 5 compliment cards to distribute to coworkers; it’s amazing how much of a difference appreciation makes!
Our quarterly employee satisfaction survey allows employees to freely discuss any areas of concern. If something is not working, we want to know about it – We want Faircape to be the place to work.
The environmental pillar will include a family beach clean-up initiative – animals and the environment are very important to us!
That’s all we can divulge for now!
“The health of your organisation sits squarely on the health and well-being of its biggest asset: your employees.”
Employee wellness in the workplace is not just a feel-good trend; it’s a critical component of a company’s success. Our diverse employee base approaches work-life balance in different ways. Healthy and happy employees are more productive, engaged, and likely to stay with an organisation for the long term.
