Linking wellness to performance

Does wellbeing really have an impact on performance? Most definitely, judging by the results of a global survey from Aon.

By focusing on improving the performance of individual and organizational wellbeing, organizations see an impact and improvement on business outcomes.

For one, organizations that improve employee wellbeing performance by three percent see a one-percent increase in customer satisfaction and retention, while those that improve employee wellbeing performance by 3.5 per cent see a one-percent increase in employee satisfaction and customer acquisition.

When organizations improve employee wellbeing performance by four per cent, they see a one-percent increase in company profit and a one-per-cent decrease in employee turnover, found the report Working Well: 2021 Global Wellbeing Survey encompassing 1,648 companies in 41 countries, including 140 firms in Canada.

“That's one of the biggest takeaways of the report,” says Erin Murphy-Sheriffs, Associate Vice President, health solutions, at Aon Canada. “This showcases why it's important to have a strategy in place and also leadership support to achieve these outcomes.

“It's all connected. Business success comes from evolving performance. Wellbeing becomes critical to those business outcomes when there's a strategic focus, a measurement plan and key performance indicators.”

“I believe this is the first time that we've ever seen this linkage in data in terms of wellbeing, performance and impact to company performance.”

Wellness strategies lacking

Another piece of encouraging news is that Canada stacks up impressively internationally. Eighty-one percent of employers have incorporated emotional wellbeing into their strategy, for example, compared to the global average of 67 percent.

However, while 79 percent of Canadian respondents say employee wellbeing is important, and 90 percent have at least one wellness initiative, only 54 percent have an actual strategy in place while just 16 percent fully integrate wellbeing into their business and talent strategy.

Wellbeing performance has a direct connection to a strong and focused wellbeing strategy, while a series of standalone wellbeing initiatives has less impact, finds the Aon report.

Initiatives are defined as any wellbeing event, program, tool, workshop, activity, challenge or campaign, while strategy is defined as a long-term plan of action using resources to achieve wellbeing solutions or goals.

Wellbeing has become much more than programs, apps, tools and nice-to-have resources to change employee behaviour. Wellbeing is a people and performance strategy.

“What we commonly see is that organizations may have a lot of programs or smaller initiatives, but they're not particularly tied to an overarching, broader strategy,” says Murphy-Sheriffs.

Mental health considerations

Wellbeing issues pose significant risk to organizations in the form of lost productivity, time away from work and retention. And while it would be easy to think that workplace stress has been caused by the coronavirus pandemic, even before the pandemic, more people around the world were under stress compared to a decade ago.

The top conditions impacting company performance in Canada are stress (69 percent), anxiety (49 percent) and musculoskeletal conditions (48 percent).

Mental health and work-life balance are the top wellbeing issues in Canada by some considerable length, chosen by 72 percent and 69 percent of respondents, respectively. This was followed by burnout (52 percent), virtual work environment and working environment or culture (both at 39 percent).

It’s a key takeaway: company performance is at risk due to stress and anxiety, says Murphy-Sheriffs.

“The data and the relationship between well-being, performance and company performance just shows the value of having a strategy that's aligned and has organizational and leadership support.”

Leadership engagement

Encouragingly, 79 percent of Canadian companies say that employee wellbeing is important to them. And 71 percent of employers say company culture is the number-one driver in developing the business case for wellbeing.

Many in the C-suite are onboard with the focus on wellness. Not surprisingly, 49 percent of CHROs are considered “champions” while 36 percent are “supporters,” followed by CEOs at 27 percent and 49 per cent, respectively, and chief talent officers at 21 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.

However, the top reason (78 percent) for wellbeing not being prioritized at an organization is “leadership has other focuses,” finds the Aon survey.

Further, 42 percent of global survey participants said one of their biggest challenges when starting or expanding wellbeing initiatives is employee engagement and interest.

“There are, of course, a lot of competing priorities within any organization,” says Murphy-Sheriffs.

“An important aspect is making sure that the right programs are in place: understanding your people, knowing what your people want, what they are looking for. What are the supports or the resources that they need?”

Using communication to establish what employees want certainly needs to be part of a strategy, she says.

“It’s also important to make sure that communication and engagement is there for employees in terms of the ecosystem — making sure that it's clear and simple for the employees to understand what the offering is and to navigate through programs.”

Measuring success

In looking at the successfulness of wellness initiatives, the numbers for Canada are not encouraging. While a quarter (26 percent) of wellbeing programs are performing exceptionally or above average, 60 percent are only meeting expectations, finds Aon.

And 21 percent of these companies do not measure the success of wellbeing initiatives, notably above the global rate of 13 percent.

It’s important for employers to gauge the success of their well-being programs and initiatives, says Murphy-Sheriffs. “How are organizations tracking key outcomes to measure the success rate?

Companies should assess if their organizational culture is helping or hindering them in their wellbeing and resilience efforts, says Murphy-Sheriffs.

Especially now, as the combination of a global pandemic, social unrest and a rapidly changing economy has elevated its importance to individuals, organizations and communities.
 
To view the full report and additional content, visit www.aon.com/global-wellbeing-survey.aspx.