How to get workplace wellness right – MEED
James Gavin
Higher oil prices look set to continue in 2022
Work-related stress can affect the mental, physical and emotional health of employees and, if gone unchecked, may result in long-term illnesses and, in some cases, life-threatening diseases.
Even before the Covid-19 crisis, employers globally had started to realise the importance of fostering a well-balanced ecosystem for a healthier, more productive workforce.
The pandemic has further accelerated the need for workplace wellness.
Remote working has added time management problems and digital miscommunication issues to an already demanding and time-compressed work environment.
Cigna’s flagship 360 Well-Being Survey highlights that nearly 50 per cent of UAE respondents have intentions to change their jobs in the next 12 months.
The sandwich generation – aged 35 to 59 – reveals higher job insecurity, with 45 per cent intending to change jobs in the UAE.
The top reasons cited are excessive workload, high employer expectations and lack of a routine.
The largest gap lies in mental health support, where 34 per cent claim to have a lack of support and 39 per cent feel they need access to resilience training for mental health.
How do organisations get workplace wellness right in these volatile times?
For people to thrive in their work, wellness programmes must be treated as more than just a series of employee benefits for them to be more effective in a future filled with uncertainty.
The programmes need to be personalised to cater to the needs of the employees because a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to wellbeing does not work.
The goal is to help build resilience for virtual workers and provide them with a higher sense of wellbeing, which in turn translates into improved productivity and loyalty.
To achieve this, shifting paradigms and understanding the importance of wellbeing as an enabler is key. At Cigna, we have built a robust workplace wellness roadmap that looks at wellbeing in a holistic manner.
To start with, Cigna’s employee assistance programme is quite complete. Along with counselling there is also an online cognitive behavioural therapy component. Mindfulness programmes and work-life balance services and seminars can be arranged for a group of employees, even remotely.
We have online programmes to help employees improve their resilience and reduce their stress levels. Our ‘One Small Change’ tool helps them make one small change at a time, which will then evolve into behavioural changes, helping members cope better with stress.
How employers ensure employee wellness for a distributed workforce through these uncertain times, keeping wellness holistic yet focused, is crucial. It will determine their ability to build a healthy and productive workplace, one that is not just profitable and gets the job done, but one that has a purpose, with the sustainability of both people and business at its core.
Published in partnership with Cigna
28 December 2021
28 December 2021
28 December 2021
28 December 2021
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