The definition of employee wellbeing in 2024 is worlds different than it was a decade agoâeven just five years agoâas the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated HR and business leadersâ understanding of the true breadth of wellness, and its impact on the workplace. What was once considered an HR focus aimed at helping employees maintain physical health has significantly broadened to acknowledge that wellness includes financial, mental, social and other aspects. And that improving employee wellbeing isnât possible through a one-off program or check-the-box exercise; instead, experts say, it needs to be embedded in and supported by company culture.
A recent survey by HRE of senior HR leaders found that they largely recognize the power of culture in driving business success: Improving company culture ranked second among the list of top HR challenges, only after recruiting and retaining top talent. However, the emphasis on wellbeing isnât as sharp: Employee wellbeing came in fifth in terms of where HR professionals surveyed are spending most of their time.
As organizations move further away from traditional definitions of employee wellness as being habit-focused, now is the time to marry this work with culture, says Laura Putnam, wellbeing expert and author of Workplace Wellbeing That Works.
âThe assumption was that we are âcreatures of habitââso wellbeing work focused on individual issues like mindset and motivation and individual practices,â Putnam says. âBut what the evidence really suggests is that we as humans are arguably more âcreatures of cultureâ.â
Putnam points to the worldâs âblue zonesââareas where lifespan is longer than average. Itâs not that those residents are all better equipped than others to individually maintain healthy habits; rather, they were lucky enough to be born into communities that prize and foster good health.
âI liken it to the analogy of the water weâre swimming in: Is it pushing you toward better health or doing the opposite?â Putnam says. âOur focus needs to be much more directed toward optimizing environments and culturesâfocusing less on the fish, per se, and more on the water that surrounds those fish.â
Moving employees âtoward their better selvesâ
How can employers shift the wellness focus from employees to culture?
Ultimately, Putnam says, leadership has to be intentional about every aspect of how work gets doneâconsidering the impact on employee wellbeing at every turn.
This includes obvious triggers of stress like heavy workloads and workplace incivility but also more nuanced influences, like how meetings are run, the degree of belonging and fairness people feel at work and how performance reviews are conducted, Putnam says.
Another opportunity to tie wellbeing and culture exists in employee recognition. A recent study by Workhuman and Gallup, for instance, found that an effective recognition strategy can have a measurable impact on employee wellbeing.
In particular, researchers found, employees recognized for work and life events are 3x as likely to feel connected to culture and 3x as likely to say their company cares about their wellbeing.
âEmployee recognition programs contribute to a virtuous cycle, where a culture of wellbeing encourages greater recognition, and greater recognition reinforces a culture of wellbeing,â Workhuman researchers wrote in a recent white paper.
âItâs the systems, the broader organizational culture and how teams work together that can uplift people and move them closer toward being their better selves,â adds Putnam.
4 steps to embed wellbeing in culture
When wellbeing programs are treated as standalone, individual interventions, employees may feel barraged by âwellness to-dos,â Putnam says. Instead, by infusing wellness into âdeeply entrenched working practices that inadvertently undermine peopleâs sense of wellbeing,â companies can more meaningfully move their workforces toward better health.
Putnam suggests a four-point framework to help guide HR leaders as they seek to marry culture and wellness:
- Study the currents of the organization: Engage with employees about what their daily experience is like at workâand whether theyâre healthier and happier because of work, or less so because of work. Conversations can include everything from burnout and pessimism to perceptions on fairness and workload.
- Confront deep, structural issues: When listening strategies identify potential pain points, Putnam says, leadership needs to get to the root causes and create alternate ways of working that center wellness. âEasier said than done,â Putnam acknowledges.
- Empower leaders and managers: In a wellness-centric culture, they should become âeveryday heroesâ for the people they lead, Putnam says. Employee wellbeing should be considered as managers and leaders refine their leadership style and it must be a focal point of any leadership training and mentoring.
- Engage teams, not individuals: Social connection in the workplace can be a primary driver of employee wellbeing, so leadership should provide opportunities, such as through volunteering, to feed employeesâ natural need to engage with others.
âIf we understand that the way weâve been doing wellbeing isnât really working, letâs not ditch the idea of wellbeing at work,â Putnam advises, âbut instead start doing it in a way that actually works.â
To learn more about the role of employee wellbeing in company culture, and gain three ways to support a continuous culture of wellbeing at your organization, read Workhumanâs recent white paper, Integrating Culture and Wellbeing in the Workplace.