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Invest in wellbeing or risk losing half your staff 

The Well at Work Monitor improves team morale, and organisational performance 

Well at Work is based on a collaboration between Deloitte and Zilveren Kruis. The Well at Work Monitor is a groundbreaking tool designed to improve workplace wellbeing for the benefit of individuals, teams, and organisations. These benefits relate to the health and energy levels of people, among other things, and ultimately to improved team and organisational performance. 

The business case for investing in workplace wellbeing has been building for many years. Its positive effect on employee retention, engagement and productivity is widely recognised, alongside its broader impact on recruitment, workplace culture, and societal contribution. Underinvest in wellbeing at your peril – Deloitte analysis in 20221 identified that 57% of employees were seriously considering quitting their job in favour of a more supportive employer. 

Wellbeing – a driver for success 

 

The momentum continues. Whereas previously the active management of employees’ mental and physical capacity was deemed a ‘nice to have’, we now see organisations collaborating and even competing on wellbeing investment – so fundamental are an organisation’s people to its sustainable success. The Wellbeing Community founded by Deloitte, Zilveren Kruis and TNO in 2018 is an example of this collaboration in practice. Frontrunner companies that participate in the Community spur each other to embed wellbeing in their strategy and implementation, by sharing best practices and co-creating on innovative and science-backed tooling.  

The Community now numbers 17 organisations, and research within that group into what matters most to employees amounts to the largest study of its kind globally. From those insights came the Well at Work Monitor, which has been designed to turn that rich scientific analysis into a practical toolset for individuals, teams and organisations to use every day. 

Increasing urgency to invest in people 

 

Undoubtedly, the scarcity of talent has been a key motivator for organisations to take workplace wellbeing more seriously. When worker supply is limited, it makes sense to invest in the current workforce rather than depending on the labour market to combat employee turnover.  

However, recent research extends the reasoning for wellbeing investment beyond supply and demand. Employees who feel invested in are more likely to connect with the business in a way that transcends the contractual relationship, engaging on issues such as employability, purpose and career in a more meaningful way. When employees are invigorated and empowered to improve their working experience and wellbeing, they are increasingly likely to perform better and demonstrate greater loyalty to their team and organisation. This is a win-win situation, and a central tenet of the Well at Work Monitor, which is pivotal to achieving that change in attitude for individuals, team leaders, HR managers, and whole organisations. 

The Well at Work Monitor in practice  

 

The use of the Monitor, with its simplicity of design and scientific backing, allows everyone in an organisation to focus on what’s important. It provides data that tells the story of what’s really going on at the heart of each organisation, and promotes conversations about what needs to be improved – both from the perspective of what employees can manage for themselves, and what organisations and leaders can do to help and enable that self-action. 

Practical steps such as enhanced team interaction, leadership programmes and better-tailored job design are leading to more positive employment experiences – which in turn lead to improved outcomes in retention, engagement and productivity. There is now compelling evidence that investment in wellbeing is a direct contributor in improved business performance, through enhanced engagement and productivity, and as a powerful indicator of an organisation’s values and culture. Although these largely intangible improvements are harder to demonstrate financially, the use of an index approach – such as the soon-to-be-released Well at Work Index – means that organisations can establish baseline measures across key dimensions that, over time, will help everyone to understand which interventions matter most in terms of business performance. The most impactful of those can be used as the basis of a virtuous circle of improvements.  

What’s more, the indices used within one organisation should lend themselves to comparative measurement between peer organisations within a sector, and ultimately evolve to be used across many sectors within an economy and internationally. The goal will be to have a more standardised approach to wellbeing recognition and measurement in the workplace, which will encourage organisations to be the best they can be at enabling individuals to feel good and perform at their best, both at work and beyond. 

For more details on The Wellbeing Community and how the Well at Work Monitor can help your organisation, contact Egon Hoppe or Maureen Berkhout.

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