The win-win of effective well-being initiatives: 5 steps for leaders

For business leaders, prioritizing employee well-being isn’t just a good thing to do; it’s a good thing for the bottom line.

However, for any good to come of well-being efforts, leaders can’t simply check a box.

They must figure out how to make a real difference in their employees’ lives, which in turn can make a real difference in the form of employee retention and fewer costly searches to fill vacancies.

“The commitment to well-being must extend beyond the walls of HR,” Rita Meyerson, principal researcher of human capital for The Conference Board, said in a news release. “Embedding it into the business strategy and culture is all the more important at a time when employee well-being is languishing.”

Meyerson is co-author of The Next Frontier for Employee Well-Being, a report by The Conference Board that finds that while companies are committed to employee well-being initiatives, the effectiveness of those efforts is debatable.

While 82% of 1,306 U.S. employees surveyed said their organization is committed to their well-being, 62% said their well-being is the same or worse than six months ago.

A lot is at stake for leaders to shift that sentiment: Another recent workforce survey found that two of three U.S. employees would change jobs for better benefits.

Fifty-five percent said they want a better understanding of their benefits, suggesting that the challenge for chief human resource officers (CHROs) and related stakeholders is two-fold: improve well-being offerings and make sure employees understand how to use those benefits effectively.

Related to the first part of the challenge, The Conference Board report found that 95% of CHROs intend to maintain or increase their spending on well-being in 2024, with 61% at least considering adding new well-being programs.

“Employers that fail to demonstrate a commitment to employee well-being will be at a competitive disadvantage in the talent marketplace,” said Diana Scott, Human Capital Center Leader at The Conference Board. “By working together, CHROs and the C-suite can embed it into the culture and strategy, intertwining well-being with the brand and identity of the company.”

The Conference Board report recommends several steps that CHROs and related stakeholders can take to improve their well-being programs and to make sure that current and potential employees are aware of and excited about the initiatives:

• Extend responsibility for well-being beyond HR to the whole organization. Recruit executive sponsors from across the business to collectively define well-being goals aligned with business strategy, execute the plan, and measure results.
• Embed well-being into enterprisewide branding and publicly share information. Demonstrate organizational commitment to well-being by illustrating alignment with the business, reporting on progress, and sharing effective best practices for others to employ.
• Hold managers accountable for well-being by integrating it into performance management systems. Augment performance management systems to create incentives for managers to invest time and attention to their team members’ well-being. Promote individuals who excel at people management, reinforcing and signaling the value of people to the business.
• Modify leadership development programs to teach leaders to model behaviors that support well-being. Arm leaders with new behaviors that support well-being such as active listening skills, leading with empathy, and recognizing changes in employees that could signal distress or burnout.
• Encourage employees to contribute to collective well-being. Organizational culture is fundamentally shaped by the way people behave at work. Leaders can create a virtuous cycle that accelerates movement toward a culture of well-being by reinforcing desired behaviors.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.