Employee wellbeing has become an important focus for businesses in recent years. A lot of research has shown that looking after employee wellness delivers great benefits for businesses and employees alike.
However, not all businesses have been as quick to adopt employee wellness programmes as others. There appears to be a divide between the north and the south of the country, with the north currently leading the way. Here, we’ll look at what businesses in the north of the UK are doing to improve their employee wellbeing.
Providing wellbeing benefits
One thing a lot of Northern companies have started doing, is introducing wellbeing benefits into the workplace. These include flexible working hours, an unlimited holiday allowance and even an office dog policy.
These types of benefits have proven to help boost morale, productivity and employee wellness. The more wellbeing benefits you offer your employees, the happier they’ll be and the more productive they’ll be.
Group learning sessions
As well as offering general wellbeing benefits, one norther business is also providing group learning sessions. Hive, an HR technology provider based in Newcastle, has won the Organisation of the Year achievement from the UK’s Conscious Employer Awards. Part of its employee wellbeing benefits include group learning sessions known as “Lunch and Learn”. These are employee-led sessions and they’re great for improving skills and boosting confidence in the workplace.
Many employees cite training as one of the major benefits a workplace can provide. So, more businesses could certainly benefit from offering these types of group learning sessions.
Employee wellness workshops
Another northern business leading the way with employee wellness is William Hill. Based in Leeds, the online gaming and gambling company has recently launched a “Be Your Best Self” physical and mental wellbeing campaign.
The company provided workshops to senior leaders showing them evidence-backed techniques they can adopt in the workplace to boost employee wellness. The goal is for the leaders to pass on these techniques down to managers within the company.
Taking care of financial wellbeing
Another way businesses are helping to improve employee wellbeing, is to offer financial aid. This could be in the form of education, access to salary-linked savings and help towards commuting costs. Some businesses also offer employee loans to help ease the financial pressures they are under. Helping towards your employee’s financial salutation delivers exceptional benefits in terms of employee wellbeing.
So, when it comes to employee wellbeing, businesses in the north do seem to be paving the way. Seeing the success these businesses are having is sure to make businesses all across the UK take note. Improving employee wellness within the workplace is key to helping a business expand and succeed.
