In today’s dynamic business environment, embracing employee wellness and engagement as a strategic imperative represents a paradigm shift in the corporate world.
The adoption of employee engagement and wellness is gaining momentum, rising to become one of the top priorities in the corporate world. For too long, it has been viewed as the responsibility of the HR department and not an integral part of business strategy. However, it is increasingly clear that unhealthy and unengaged employees are a drag on productivity, innovation, and consequently, a company’s bottom line.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is central to human happiness and well-being. Healthy populations live longer, are more productive, save more resources, and make important contributions to sustainability, a better world, and economic progress.
Over the years, companies in the Middle East have learned to appreciate the value of having a sustainable employee engagement programme in place as they realise how happy employees can create happier workplaces which, in turn, can have positive effects on business growth.
For instance, over 95% of employees in the UAE believe they would be more productive if they were happier in their workplace, according to a research commissioned by Oman Insurance Company and Bupa Global which surveyed almost 1,000 individuals in 2017. Furthermore, the survey revealed over 72% of respondents feel work-life balance is key to managing employee well-being and overall happiness in the workplace.
A shift in approach
Currently there is no set requirement as to what corporate wellness should look like across different companies. In general, it would include programmes intended to improve and promote the health and fitness of employees at the workplace, while the goals, implementation and communication of these initiatives vary widely from company to company.
Technological innovations, globalisation, hyper-connectivity and their influence on workplace culture, coupled with less distinction between work and home life, mean that people in the Middle East are putting in longer hours and facing ever more intense demands in the workplace, said Ms Catherine Darroue, senior director of customer proposition, EMEA, at Aetna International. “As a result, employee mental health and lifestyle-related health conditions are increasingly impacting their productivity and the performance of the organisations to which they belong.”
In response to this, “regional companies are implementing increasingly sophisticated risk-management strategies. So, health and wellness benefits and well-being agendas are now as commonplace as policies for annual holidays and sick leave, provision for company pensions and on-site health and safety”, she said.
Today, the concept of health and wellness has become much broader in scope than just the treatment or management of disease, said Ms Darroue. “Well-being encompasses several dimensions, including physical and emotional health, financial security, social connectedness, purpose and character strength. This view is reflected in the demands and expectations of well-informed employees, and they’re looking for health and wellness initiatives that keep pace,” she noted.
There has been a significant shift in how companies approach well-being at work with a more inclusive culture and by introducing tailored programmes for the betterment of employees in the Middle East, said Mr Jerome Droesch, CEO, Cigna Middle East and Africa. “It is archaic to believe that wellness programmes are just about physical health, which was a notion previously. The conversation around health is now becoming more holistic. What started as an emphasis on occupational injuries and physical health issues has now grown to encompass various aspects of health, including mental health.”
Compromised mental health is a real and significant issue that impacts individuals, organisations and the broader community, said Ms Mona Abou Hana, chief people officer and consulting partner at PwC Middle East. Mental health conditions present substantial costs to organisations, according to a study by PwC. However, “through the successful implementation of an effective action to create a mentally healthy workplace, organisations, on average, can expect a positive return on investment (ROI) of 2.3”, she said.
The benefits
With increasing healthcare costs, organisations in the Middle East are now understanding the economic implication and benefits from investing in employee wellness programmes, said Ms Hana.
In the Middle East region in particular, studies show that workplace stress is a serious issue for many businesses which could be costing companies significantly in terms of lost productivity, while also driving up healthcare costs and making insurance premiums more expensive, said Ms Lauren McCluskey, group HR & training director, Now Health International. While there is still much to do, “companies in the region are increasingly seeing the benefits of workplace wellness as a way to attract and retain the best talent long term, while also benefitting their bottom line”.
Ms McCluskey added that there are many varied and cost effective ways to drive a culture of corporate wellness across a business. For example, Now Health has in place initiatives such as fundraising activities and events around key health awareness days; sharing information about coping with stress through internal communication campaigns; and offering flexible working arrangements and an employee assistance programme.
It is a fact that healthy employees are more productive and tend to contribute positively to the overall morale of an organisation, Mr Droesch said. “Unhealthy employees, on average, are less productive due to absenteeism, presenteeism, higher stress and other factors, which can drastically affect their work. This has become a major factor in organisations taking the lead to provide better support to employees in leading healthy lifestyles, identifying and dealing with stress and emotions, and ensuring employees are content and satisfied to improve productivity. The perceptions in the region of wellness has moved from a ‘nice-to-have’ to a strategic human capital management tool,” he added.
Managing challenges
While increasing investments in physical well-being is a good thing, organisations in the Middle East have yet to catch up with their global peers in terms of looking beyond physical well-being and understanding and supporting mental and emotional health conditions, said Ms Hana. It is important to consider all aspects of well-being as equally important and made top priority.
Boosting productivity and diversifying revenue are key challenges in the region, especially in the era of lower oil prices, according to PwC’s Middle East edition of ‘Workforce of the Future’. Organisations have tended to respond to these challenges by increasing individuals’ workloads instead of improving performance. The long-standing view has been, especially in the public sector, that jobs are for life and that productivity is less important – a view which has been reinforced by the nationalisation agenda.
The PwC’s survey respondents agreed that this is still a central challenge with three of the top four overall risks for the Middle East centred on organisations’ ability to balance employee well-being and maintaining productivity.
In line with the global picture, regional respondents placed importance on their workers’ well-being, encouraging teamwork, collaboration and innovation. This fits with a global trend of looking beyond rewards, incentives and discipline to boost performance, and towards a more holistic view of how employees excel. In comparison, organisations in the Middle East are not doing nearly enough in practice.
Many people do not tend to view workplace wellness in a holistic manner, and often overlook elements like emotions and stress, said Mr Droesch, adding that there is still a lack of widespread education and awareness about the impact mental health has on organisations and employees alike. Participants of the Cigna 360° Well-Being Survey expressed concerns about working longer hours and work-related relationships, with 91% reporting stress at work and 96% perceiving a negative impact of colleagues’ stress in the workplace. It was also noted that stress drivers include personal and family finance concerns as well as being overworked.
He said, “It was interesting to see in our survey results that 43% of the participants claim their companies have a formal workplace wellness programme in place, with a high participation rate of 69%. However, more than half of them think that workplace wellness programmes are committed only to physical wellness and fail to give mental well-being the attention and support it deserves.”
Mistakes to avoid
On the whole, the idea of wellness programmes can be very enticing, but the results may vary from business to business. All this boils down to how well the wellness programme is implemented to address the given concern and more importantly, avoiding making common mistakes that could threaten to derail the initiatives.
In the Middle East region, “organisations all too often take an ad-hoc approach to promoting employee well-being, favouring this over a carefully thought-out, standalone system. Unfortunately, doing so runs the risk of a scattergun approach that does not fully address the actual challenges being faced in the workplace, despite the best of intentions”, said Ms Darroue.
As a case in point, according to the Aetna International Business of Health 2020 report, ‘Tackling polarised perceptions of corporate health and wellness’, which investigates the opinions and experiences of 5,000 HR directors and employees in the UAE, the US, the UK and Singapore, 76% of HR directors in the UAE said the availability of ongoing programmes to support wellness in their company was good. “This sounds wonderful – until you compare it to the finding that only 27% of employees would say the same and in fact, 26% actually rated the support provided by their employer as poor,” she said.
Ms Darroue said the disparity between the perceptions of HR professionals and employees is partly created by how each understands the concept of health and wellness. “Employers still look at healthcare in the traditional sense – as a sick care system. Employees, on the other hand, tend to think of health in terms of different dimensions of well-being. As a consequence, they’re worried about financial security, travel, family and their lifestyle, and the impact each of these has on their health. They’re equally worried about access to a counsellor when they’re going through a stressful situation in the workplace or at home, which again contributes to mental health.”
When it comes to well-being, “what might be the right solution to enhance well-being for some employees may not be so for others”, said Ms Hana. “While there is an increased investment to financially incentivise physical activities in the workplace with yoga and/or gym memberships as examples, a PwC research has found that investing in the use of wearable technology acts as an energiser to boost corporate well-being. Equipping teams with technology that encourages well-being behaviours promotes accountability, interactivity and even friendly competition among teams. This doesn’t only lead to an improved perception of team effectiveness but to overall physical, mental and emotional well-being.”
Another common misconception is that achieving workplace wellness is expensive or difficult to implement, “which can deter some companies from taking it forward”, said Ms McCluskey. “In reality, there are many workplace wellness initiatives businesses can undertake which cost nothing, or very little, with minimal implementation required. What is key is having the right mindset among the leadership team to drive forward a culture of wellness across the business.”
Getting it right
When a company first implements a workplace wellness programme, they can often expect mixed reactions across the company. Some employees will be engaged and appreciative from the start, but some may never engage with the wellness programme, no matter what the benefits are. While there will always be unique employee groups and reactions to deal with, there are a few fundamental factors that may impact the success of a workplace wellness programme.
Before launching any programme, Ms Darroue said it is imperative that employers take the time to do some in-depth analysis to understand what their employees really need in terms of health and well-being benefits. Once they have this, they can then develop a range of tailored programmes that will suit their employees.
For well-being programmes to succeed in the workplace, organisations must commit to them as a business priority from the top down, while encouraging everyone to contribute their best ideas, said Ms Hana. This may require making changes to the work environment and team dynamics, “but if employees can see leadership living it themselves, they feel empowered to do the same”.
In addition to leadership support, Ms McCluskey said to ensure the success of a workplace wellness journey, it is important to “start small and focus on the everyday things you can do to make a difference to your workplace environment, and then build from there. Even something as simple as providing a fruit basket or allowing employees to leave early to go to the gym one day a week, can help to build a positive culture of wellness”.
It is also important to look at the bigger picture and the overall health and wellness package you offer your staff, Ms McCluskey added. “Many international health insurance providers offer access to wellness checks and other support as part of their plan cover, which businesses can take advantage off at no extra cost.”
“Employees make an organisation, and it is up to the management to make them feel included and heard,” said Mr Droesch. “It is key to base your programme on what employees really need and adjust accordingly through initial and regular evaluations. Thinking holistically helps ensure that your programme looks at all aspects of health and wellness, including physical, emotional, financial and social well-being”.
Ms Darroue agreed that employers need to take a holistic approach — so it’s not just mental well-being but it’s also about emotional well-being and perhaps even financial well-being — and make sure that there’s consistent on-going communication so that employees and their families know what is available for them to use.
In summary, “it boils down to taking a 360° view and adopting personalised and inclusive strategies that address holistic health”, said Ms Darroue. “This is really the only way to ensure employees have access to the right support and interventions at the right time.” M