Senior managers may be attracted to the concept of promoting workplace wellbeing but are less keen when they realise the time and funding needed to implement and make the programmes successful.
However, that is only because they are not seeing the true cost of the health risks accumulating in their supposedly ‘healthy’ teams.
The disconnect between the theoretical appeal and intent of employers when it comes to workplace wellbeing was recently illustrated in research by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Despite 88% of employers interviewed by the DWP agreeing that they have a responsibility to encourage employees to be physically and mentally healthy, only 57% agreed that the financial benefits of employee health programmes outweighed the costs to implement.
So how can HR professionals persuade senior managers that wellbeing is worth the investment?