How can coaching enhance employee wellbeing?

People want to feel happy and satisfied at work. If they don’t, companies face low productivity and greater turnover rates. This is why employee wellbeing is important for a company’s success. 

Sadly, companies demand more from their employees to compete with their contemporaries. Such pressure leads to a toxic and stressful work environment, causing exhaustion for employees who no longer feel engaged at work.

When businesses don’t work toward their employees’ wellbeing, it costs them more than they could predict. For instance, according to a study from the CIPD, more than 50% of working days are lost because of work-related anxiety and stress. This doesn’t go well with the companies, and similar studies reveal how investing in employee wellbeing programs such as coaching has actually proven profitable for the company’s work culture and improved its ROI.

So, what is employee wellbeing?

Employee wellbeing is stated to be your workforce’s overall physiological, psychological, emotional, and financial health. It is impacted by several factors, including the relationship with colleagues, decisions made by the company, and the tools and resources they access. Workplace safety, inclusive culture, pay, diversity, and working hours significantly impact employee well-being.

While it differs from person to person, employee wellbeing should comprehensively average to a level that allows for a productive and healthy workspace environment. Outside factors also add to employee wellbeing. Stress around issues like housing, health, and family also add to performance at work.

As per an Alight employee wellbeing study, less than half of US employees positively perceive their overall wellbeing. However, there has been a significant decline in wellbeing from 2020 to mid-2021, once the employees have returned to work again.

How has the focus post covid shifted towards employee wellbeing and is now considered a factor contributing to employee performance and motivation?

After the pandemic, many employers noticed that employee wellbeing significantly impacts their performance and, consequently, the business. While employees were distressed, employers had to look for ways to meet their rising need for empathy toward their workforce.

Psychologists previously warned that quarantine could spark a rise in diseases, such as PTSD or depression. Thus, many employers have started considering employee wellbeing. It has become more critical now than ever to contribute to employee performance and motivation. 

1. Minimal absenteeism and healthcare expenses

Companies have realized that avoiding problems linked to poor employee wellbeing, like burnout, sickness, or depression, was more profitable than resolving the issues when they actually happened.

In specific terms, the sedentary lifestyle of employees increases risks of high blood pressure, diabetes, and other diseases. Moreover, employees who experience burnout have 63% higher chances of taking sick leaves. It means employee wellbeing is directly linked to absenteeism and majorly costs employers.

Because of the numerous advantages, companies have begun offering wellness programs that differ in scope and focus. However, all the programs have proven to be cost-effect for employers and benefits for employees. 

For instance, in the last decade, J&J forecasted their wellness programs saved $250 million on healthcare expenses. The ROI was $2.71 for a single dollar spent on employee wellbeing.

2. Enhanced employee engagement

According to research, 85% of organizations state that wellness programs promote employee engagement. With an employee wellbeing program in action, employees feel more connected, with better health and contentment. These factors add to higher employee engagement levels. However, employee engagement involves good feedback processes and employee recognition. 

3. Boost in employee productivity

Research reveals that smokers are twice likely to take leave from work, and workers with obesity take sick leaves more than normal-weight people yearly. However, employees that know how to manage stress better have limited chances to experience burnout. Overall, employee wellbeing makes your workforce more focused on their job, leading to higher productivity.

4. Enhanced employee morale

During the pandemic, the importance of employee morale was visible. By launching employee wellbeing coaching programs and other initiatives, companies can work on their teams’ mental health and fitness. It significantly leads to a rise in the employees’ morale.

5. Appealing employer branding

78% of companies offer wellness practices to attract and retain top talent. The competition for the best talent is high, and top candidates have several options. Offering employee wellbeing benefits that align with your future team is essential if you want to attract top talent to ensure the success of your business.

Undeniably, 80% of companies state that employee wellbeing is essential for their success in the coming 12 to 18 months, but only 12% are prepared to meet the problem. (Deloitte, 2020) So, what’s all the fuss about? Here are some challenges an organization faces when employee wellbeing is not addressed.

What challenges can an organization run into if employee wellbeing is not addressed?

A meaningful employee wellbeing program benefits employees and employers equally. A successful health and wellbeing practice can boost workforce efficiency and employee engagement and shift in the complete workforce culture driving to a healthier and more active path. However, if the wellness programs are not delivered effectively, an organization can face these challenges:

1. Rising healthcare expenses

Healthcare costs have increased at an excellent rate for the last decade. Many factors contribute to healthcare costs, such as a rise in mental health issues, an increase in healthcare spending, a rise in drug costs, and a rise in chronic diseases.

It can be avoided by providing flexible health benefits to employees and developing a good workplace culture. An inclusive and effective workplace environment makes employees feel happier at work and less likely to suffer from issues like hypertension, depression, and burnout.

2. Lack of communication

Without an effective employee wellbeing plan in action, employees may not participate in active communication and engagement. Remember, multi-channel, creative, and segmented communication is vital for a successful wellbeing strategy.

Hence, companies should go for regular internal communications. To accomplish the best results, managers must communicate regularly with their employees. They should also offer feedback as per their observation. 

3. Inefficient employee engagement

Employee engagement in wellbeing programs is more than just appearing at a health screening or getting an incentive. Though engagement includes creating and maintaining interest, a wellbeing program is only effective if the employees are genuinely engaged. 

Thus, employers mark improved employee engagement as their principal objective when presenting a wellbeing program. 

How can coaching play a role in resolving this and ensuring employees’ wellbeing?

Research reveals that employers are taking a proactive approach to workplace wellbeing so that everyone in the team can thrive, with evidence connecting wellbeing coaching to enhanced employee engagement and productivity.

Here are some points that coaching for wellbeing covers:

Preventing burnouts

Investing in wellbeing coaching helps avoid stress and burnout, creating an environment that nurtures and supports staff. Today it has become more critical to have a strategic approach to wellbeing than ever before. The pandemic took a toll on people’s mental health at work and home. Hence, prioritizing wellbeing exhibits an employer’s care for their team. 

Empowering staff with abilities that can eliminate negativity at work is the primary focus of an employer. It is vital to keep them safe and offer them resources to take care of their wellbeing. According to the CIPD survey of 2021, coached employees were more relaxed and engaged at work than un-coached employees.

Good work-life balance

Coaching also helped employees enhance their proficiency in dealing with issues efficiently, managing unexpected situations, and feeling closer to their colleagues. As proven, happy people lead to a content company. An excellent work-life balance positively affects talent retention and reduces staff absenteeism. It makes employees feel satisfied with their work and develops a sense of accountability and self-awareness.

The type of programs of coaching practices that help with this

Here are some wellness coaching programs that help employees:

One-on-one coaching

This coaching program allows the coach to provide individual attention to employees to address their specific challenges. Usually, this coaching includes particular areas of improvement to accomplish specific goals. So, it is a personal approach that helps individuals move forward, improving their wellness.

Group coaching

Another wellness coaching program is group coaching. It uses the group experience, and participants work towards a common goal with individual performance objectives.

For example, group coaching has several team members working on their inclusiveness program. While some may focus on gender diversity, others may work on racism programs. In the end, the goal is to establish inclusiveness in the workplace.

Digital coaching

Digital coaching uses technology to offer coaching and support to participants to help them become their best version. It provides a transformational experience for coachees to reach their goals. It can include personalized plans for participants. 

Corporate programs

These programs include workshops and seminars to promote behavior change driven by internal rewards. Topics range from lifestyle management to stressing less and striking a good balance between work and life.

How this improves the productivity of individuals, teams, and organizations?

Coaching is a reliable tool to gain wellbeing, professionally and personally. It encourages employees to overcome obstacles and increases their ability to feel relaxed at their workplace and understand their individual values. 

Coaching can be customized, so leaders have a choice to add skills they want to improve on and further advanced their wellbeing objectives. It can often create ripple effects of wellbeing throughout a company. 

All in all, coaching is the conscious procedure of developing competent talent in individuals so they work more effectively toward their target. The benefits of wellbeing coaching broadly impact the organization’s bottom line. Here are significant ways coaching improves the productivity of your employee, team, and organization:

• Enhanced confidence

The primary benefit of choosing wellbeing coaching is improved confidence. A corporate wellness coach works on one-on-one coaching to identify their goals, address strengths and weaknesses and develop a plan to help them succeed. It offers leaders and employees the tools and support to make better and more practical choices by boosting their self-confidence and enhancing the long-term outlook of their company.

• Boost in communication skills

Most employees interact in their groups or with the management. Communicating effectively and clearly is part of what makes the work positions so challenging. A coach can help employees learn effective communication strategies, highlight areas that need improvement, and offer suggestions accordingly. Leaders and employees can connect well and instill trust by learning effective communication strategies.

• Better insights

Another advantage of leadership coaching is acquiring a fresh perspective. By working with a coach, teams can learn new tools, ideologies, and strategies for time management, inclusiveness, teamwork, and wellbeing. Coaches often model behaviors to help teams learn. They work together to assess the problem and prepare wellness programs accordingly.

• Better leadership abilities

A wellness coach will work with leaders and employees to enhance stress management behavior and avoid negative emotions during decision-making. It helps leaders learn to work on the fundamental skills to improve thinking and produce better results for themselves, their team, and the company. Coaching prepares teams to respect differences and reinforce leadership behavior to ensure equal treatment with a sense of value, belonging, and inclusiveness.

• Work-life balance

By taking time to assess the teams, the coach aims to offer an excellent work-life balance to enhance the morale and productivity of employees. It further helps in higher employee retention.

With our employee well-being programs, the effectiveness and proper tracking or calculation of the wellbeing coaching program is possible

Honestly, there is no one-size-fits-all program designed for employee wellbeing, and at uExcelerate, we understand your company’s unique needs and characteristics.

Hence we adopt a more personalized framework to promote mental health to improve the culture surrounding employee wellbeing. Our customized program understands the severity of workplace health and wellbeing, and we measure your needs and work accordingly. Download brochure to learn more. 

Our AI-based coaching program helps you find the right coach-coachee fit, create programs, explain their importance, and facilitate feedback. We offer deadlines for each task and ensure to hold accountability.

uExcelerate helps individuals, teams, and companies work together to reach common objectives and meet the needful to enhance the productivity of the teams across all projects. 

Ready to enhance employee wellbeing? Sign up for a free trial for this digital coaching and start today!