Evidence Based Ways To Improve Workplace Wellbeing: Part 1

Part 1 of a 3 part series

“In the past, people used to ask about pay and bonuses in the recruitment process. Now they are also asking about our wellbeing strategy, what support we have for mental health and options for flexibility. We see people willing to walk away from roles if our wellbeing offering doesn’t meet expectations, especially younger candidates” Charlotte, a HR manager at a large corporate services firm and as she is speaking to me about her experience hiring and retaining staff.

Charlotte is not alone; the last two years have put wellbeing at work firmly on the agenda across the world. Indeed’s 2023 work wellbeing report showed that 46% of people say their expectations around happiness and wellbeing at work has increased.

Even as the economic outlook changes in 2023 and hiring slows, companies are trying to figure out how to support and retain their existing staff. Wellbeing at work as a concept is here to stay. But what should companies actually be doing to support people?

A quick Google search on how to improve staff wellbeing can easily send you in a tailspin. There are endless articles, benchmarking tools, coaches, digital tools, analytics software options and a sea of suggestions of quick fixes. All these options and choices can be confusing especially when it isn’t clear what will work at all. The things that seem matter also tend to be more abstract concepts rather than tangible solution.

So, we’ve looked at the latest evidence and changing trends to outline three things that present promising ways to improve employee wellbeing. We break down abstract concepts into tangible, evidence-based examples.

This week we are covering Autonomy

Give employees a greater sense of control or autonomy over their work and hours.

In the 90s, epidemiologist Michael Marmot found significant health inequalities across British civil service workers. His team found that more senior civil servants had far better heart health, and lower rates of mortality compared to junior colleagues. They examined various factors that might explain this and job control to be most important. The senior civil servants had more control over their jobs despite having seeming more stressful decision-making roles. It was actually the junior staff who experienced more stress due to lower levels of job control which in turn drove worse health outcomes.

Since Marmot’s study, lots of research has found a strong link between a ‘perception of control’ at work and poor wellbeing, health and productivity. Despite this, a Wellable Labs study found only 3% of organization are trying to improve autonomy.

So, a sense of control matters but what are some practical ways forward?

1. Unilever Flex Experiences – Unilever introduced an internal marketplace which allowed full time employees to spend a small proportion of their work week on side projects, where capacity allows. This provided the employees with some autonomy over the projects they do and gave them a chance to learn new skills. Employee wellbeing improved and productivity jumped by 40%

2. A call centre company up-skilled and equipped its employees to be able to deal with a wider range of tasks and more complex complaints on their own without supervisor support. This led to an improved wellbeing and performance.

3. The Stable Scheduling study found that increasing predictability of working hours in retail increased employee wellbeing but also sales too. Predictability included things like publishing shift schedules two weeks ahead of time and getting rid of tentative shift or on-calls.

These practical examples are encouraging. They show that employee wellbeing and organisational performance can be aligned. However, for autonomy, wellbeing, and performance to go hand in hand, organisations need to set out a clear vision of what sorts of problems / end goals their staff should be trying to get to, leaving more flex in the ways they achieve them.

At Eudaimonia Health, we partner with clients to improve health and wellbeing in homes, workplaces and local communities.