The Returns On Wellbeing Institute (ROWI) in Cape Cod, Mass. recently looked into best practices for businesses to invest in wellbeing and while they came up with some good ideas, they also found that organizations have a lot of work to do in other areas to address the litany of problems.
“People talk a lot about building a good culture within their workplace and introducing programs like this but if you’re only focusing on specific elements, like physical health for instance, you’re not supporting them in all the areas of their life that might have an impact on their work,” says Sophie Bryant, digital marketing manager at CloudAdvisors, a Vancouver-based benefits marketplace.
By throwing money at the problems inherent in a pandemic-affected workplace, many companies are not getting effective results, according to the ROWI report.
“We were rather surprised to find out that corporate America — and I’m sure Canada too — was spending over a billion dollars a year for programs and not getting much [in the way of] returns and employees aren’t getting healthier; they’re getting less engaged and turnover is increasing, and there seemed to be something terribly wrong about that paradigm,” says Jim Purcell, cofounder.
High awareness
Eighty-five per cent of employees think employers should be focusing on mental health programs in the workplace, according to a national study.
