Take the Lead on Health in 2022

“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year”

Vern McLellan

A new year gives us an opportunity to start something new or to improve our existing habits, however, without a concrete commitment or plan, our good intentions won’t be enough. If you have not yet created a vision and strategy for workplace health and wellbeing, we would like to encourage you to start this year differently.


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Moving from Reactive to Proactive

Over the past 2 years most employers around the world have been responding to employee health wellbeing in a reactive fashion due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Most scheduled or regular initiatives and activities were dropped completely as we couldn’t meet in person, access facilities or in some cases leave our homes. Sadly, what has become completely clear to all of us, is that our wellbeing has been impacted negatively, both our mental and physical health. Whether it’s due to a feeling of isolation, increased intake of alcohol or increased stress for those who haven’t been able to work remotely, employers must start working more proactively.

Here are 3 steps that will help you become more proactive than reactive:

1. Agreeing a wellbeing definition and a clear vision for your health & wellbeing strategy.

Naturally, you can go to the Oxford Dictionary for a definition of wellbeing, but for your organisation to be successful in this area, it’s important that you establish a common definition for wellbeing in your workplace. When you create your unique definition of wellbeing, link it with your company’s strategy and your values.

2. Diagnosing and understanding the wellbeing needs within your organisation.

Data-driven insights are critical to your success. Ensure that your employees are invited to provide feedback on their own personal health and the health status of the organisation. Employee feedback helps you action relevant areas of health. Read more on our model »

3. Setting wellbeing objectives and key performance indicators.

No vision will ever become reality unless it is linked with specific areas of focus, timebound objectives and ways to measure the impact of an initiative. Read more on the Healthy Place to Work Development Plan »

Collaborate for personal and organisational wellbeing

If change is required, it needs to be led from the top and it is vital that your senior leaders are committed and act as role models. Collaboration between leaders and employees is also critical for your success, as some health factors will be individual and other organisational. We all need to take responsibility of our wellbeing, not just follow, and here is how:

1. Gaining senior team commitment and alignment.

Involve your senior leaders and employee representatives in the process of defining your wellbeing strategy. Challenge their predisposition around health and wellbeing and gain real commitment. Read more on the Healthy Place to Work’s workshop offering »

2. Take a hard look at the “soft” numbers

Leaders have traditionally relied on financial measures to evaluate the company’s performance, but we know this is changing. Today most companies measure employee engagement as a leading indicator of business success. Don’t forget to include health factors in your balanced scorecard so that you don’t lose sight of employee wellbeing.

3. Creating a culture of health in your organisation.

Organisations who are serious about this topic will have a root and branch review to ensure that their culture is consistent with their stated aspirations about the health of their workforce – They will create a healthy culture throughout the organisation.

Remember, a coherent, holistic health and wellbeing strategy will mark you out from the crowd both as a business and an employer. Healthy Place to Work® has developed an easy-to-use set of tools and techniques for organisations to monitor and improve the performance and health of employees.