More and more companies are investing in their employees’ health and wellbeing, with the aim of increasing productivity, reducing absenteeism and presenteeism and creating a positive work culture.

The CIPD defines wellbeing as: “creating an environment to promote a state of contentment which allows an employee to flourish and achieve their full potential for the benefit of themselves and their organisation”.

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of improving the wellbeing of your employees.

The first is a fairly simple link, by helping employees to improve their health and wellbeing you are ultimately showing that you value and care about them as individuals. This is a simple way to enhance employee engagement levels which should in turn help increase their productivity.

The next significant business benefit is equally important. Investing in employees’ health will help to reduce absenteeism and lost working hours through presenteeism. Absenteeism alone costs UK businesses £32 billion per annum* and by improving an employee’s health, a small reduction in absenteeism will have significant impact on the bottom line. Reducing absenteeism and presenteeism through a carefully considered and delivered wellbeing strategy means an employee will deliver more in terms of innovation and productivity.

“But it’s not my job to ensure my employees are taking care of their health and wellbeing!” True but the final benefit of wellbeing strategy is the opportunity for you to create or enhance the culture of wellbeing in your organisation that will spread and help increase productivity and employee engagement. You will already have employees who exhibit key positive emotions, have healthier lifestyles and are more engaged with their organisation. These employees are your number one asset to help you improve the wellbeing of others within your organisation.  A recent BBC article described these employees as “the worried well”, but I will refer to them as potential “wellbeing champions”. If they’re willing to get involved, these champions are the ideal way to influence the more sedentary employees in your organisation; encouraging them to take more interest in their health and fitness. As the article explains “less active types are more likely to take part if their colleagues are already doing it.” Creating a culture of wellbeing in an organisation will encourage employees to improve their health and this in turn will help to engage them. This approach will also improve your external reputation which in turn will help retain and engage existing employees and attract new employees of a high calibre.

When creating a wellbeing initiative the associated benefits of doing so are there to see, but it’s important not to treat this as a quick win and a box ticked. In order to achieve a reduction absenteeism and improving productivity, it is vital you harness the right combination of tools and delivery mechanism. It must be supported by targeted communications supported by wellbeing champions to get your message across. Remember that the results will not be instant but they will be worthwhile; if an employee benefits in the long run through better health and wellbeing then so does your business through productivity and output.