Why employee wellbeing should be top priority for any business leader.

Money is the core focus of every business. Regardless of the mission that’s getting you that money, or what your company chooses to do with the money afterwards, your business revolves around it.
That’s a tale as old as time. It’s the first lesson taught in every business school and in any “induction video” you’re destined to watch when you start a new, usually corporate, job: we’re all about making money.
It wouldn’t be fair or honest for me to sit here and say that those words haven’t been given to any new or old member of staff across my career. I’ve said it many a time. Without money, I wouldn’t have a business to run, or anyone to say it to.
But if you’re a business leader, my advice to you is different: you’re all about caring for the people who are making the money.
To reiterate the words of Angela Ahrendts, Senior VP of Apple: “Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think it’s all about building a relationship with your employees first.”
If you’ve been following my latest blog posts or have heard me speak at conferences, you’ll be very aware that employee wellbeing is a key theme that I like to talk about.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of understanding that care is not a luxury when it comes to employee wellbeing, and shortly after I shared 10 practical ways you can build a wellbeing strategy for your team.
On both occasions, I’ve been focused on how a wellbeing strategy helps employees themselves, with its inevitable link back to benefiting profits and productivity. As I delve further into this topic, I feel it’s important to focus on how that strategy can help you: the Leader.
The Leader vs Boss debate
Almost everyone who’s ever studied or simply shared their view on business are in consensus that there are two types of people who run companies: the “Leader” and the “Boss”.
To simplify, the Leader motivates and empowers their team to perform to their highest standard. They take part, teach, learn, listen, speak and, most notably, lead. They’ll focus on employee development and finding the innovation within them.
The Boss is a ruler. They command, expect, ignore, scold, shout and pick their favourites.
Typically, businesses who operate under a Leader accelerate faster, have healthier finances and last longer than those run by a Boss.
The reasons for this boils down to common sense: the more you invest in your employees, the more they’ll invest in you. However, this can only truly happen when you shift your mindset from “you work for me” to “I work with you”.
Productivity
If you were to implement every suggestion I made in my “10 ways to invest in the health and wellbeing of your staff” list shared a few weeks ago, you’ll start to see productivity in your workplace shoot up fairly quickly.
Poor health and wellbeing cost the UK £56bn in lost productivity last year, according to RAND research. However, the same study found that healthy, highly engaged employees were 30 days’ more productive.
The figures above should give any leader enough cause to create or polish an employee wellbeing strategy as a matter of priority.
This is not to mention that close friendships at work boost employee satisfaction by 50% and people who would work with someone that they describe as a best friend at work are 7 times more likely to be fully engaged, as found by Gallup in February 2017.
Therefore, running regular social events that stretch beyond occasional beer Fridays and sporadic staff parties are key to enabling relationships to blossom at work.
Bupa has said, in recent press statements, that they believe employee wellbeing should be a boardroom concern. When you consider the London Business School’s findings that organisations with high levels of employee wellbeing outperformed the stock market by around 2% — 3% per year over a 25-year period, it’s difficult not to agree with them.
Loyalty
Do you know how much you’ve spent on your employee turnover?
I tend to calculate this based on the cost to hire a replacement and train them to the same standard as the one they’re taking over from.
However, there’s a lot more to that than you think: you’ve got to take into account all the interview time, all the induction meetings that they’ll have and — importantly — what it’ll take to boost the morale that often takes a dip when someone leaves.
I’m aware that in an ideal world, no one wants a high turnover rate. Yet, the most common reason for employees leaving work is because they weren’t happy.
Don’t be quick to take the attitude that if they’re not happy, they’re “not the right fit” — listen to their why, it’ll be invaluable. You need to know what people perceive to be the flaws of your business in order to grow, after all.
Loyalty is an essential quality of every member of your team — no matter what their role is in the business. Those who are loyal to you, as the Leader of the business you’re overseeing, will work harder, protect your business and be more highly engaged.
However, that loyalty can only be earned by proving to be loyal to them, and providing a workplace that empowers them to champion the business, rather than plan their exit strategy.
Growth
The business sphere is different to how it used to be: there’s a looming expectation to be available around the clock, to do more with less, and to be responsive all the time.
Every business leader needs to address how essential that attitude is to their business — and if a long hour practice is what your business needs at the time, are you doing enough to motivate your people?
We all know that long hours lead to overload, stress and mistakes in the end, which are three facts that a Boss pushes to the side.
Invest in physical activity, mindfulness programmes and extra training to give them the confidence to reach targets, earn you money and be the employee who’s loyal, productive and believes in your mission.
If you’re serious about growing your business, then you need to grow the people in it.
Mark Cushway is the CEO of the Inspired Group of companies and is passionate about employee welfare, engagement and motivation. Connect with Mark on Twitter and LinkedIn. This blog post is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud.
