“We need to lure staff back to the office. Some breakfast or healthy snacks should do the job. That will keep them happy.”

Cue the breakfast treats lined up at the entrance, ready for the day ahead. Like the siren playing the harp in the distance, luring in the tired and hungry employee closer to the workplace, with sweet granola and smoothies.

I say this tongue in cheek of course, but there is some truth in it…

Increasingly I’m being asked to apply our learnings from high performance sport into different business settings. I feel this give me a somewhat unique perspective of what is possible within an organisation, and with individual ‘talent’. 

So it’s important I disclose from the off that my consultancy, INTRA, provides services within this space. 

And it’s only as I’ve become more immersed in this sector that I’ve noticed what I consider some pretty fundamental flaws in the way that corporate wellbeing/wellness is approached. 

There are of course many different components of wellbeing – the focus under my ‘umbrella’ are those primarily translated from sport; physical activity, nutrition, psychology and sleep/recovery).

P is for Performance

I’ve mentioned a few times that ‘performance’ can often be seen as a hard and intimating word in the workplace – but the truth is that many employees want to feel energised and at their best in different aspects of their life – at work, during their workout, and in their leisure time away from the office.  

Within high performance sport, we have a multidisciplinary team of experts (coaches, doctors, physios, nutritionists, psychologists) working with athletes to personalise their programmes, to sustain health and performance over long and often gruelling seasons. 

Each of these services are integrated, to provide the unique blend support/programming that each individual requires (for some it might be more nutrition, for others more psychological support). 

Within each organisation, there accepted ‘norms’ or ways of doing things – how to ‘prepare’ and ‘recover’ from competition, utilising the expertise of each of the performance services. 

Yes, the training centres are generally world-class facilities with the best equipment (cryotherapy, medical suites, restaurants) and often garner a lot of attention – but it’s the culture of high performance from the leadership team and across all athletes and staff, which normalises how athletes are expected to look after their body and mind. And this extends to how athletes look after themselves at home, away from their ‘workplace’. 

None of these organisations are perfect of course. But the intention and focus on high performance is clear.

Mind your language

In stark contrast, the best way I can describe the way the standard industry approach to employee wellbeing is ‘scattergun’ – A tapas style selection of wellbeing initiatives on offer: Free food, smoothie stations, massages, health appointments, and mindfulness apps. 

The language itself encapsulates the issue – these are fundamental ‘first-principles’ for human health and performance – but are still often referred to as ‘perks’ or products.

For most organisations the approach to employee wellbeing is well intentioned, but isn’t embedded within the organisation. Staff at all levels don’t live and breathe the culture each day – it’s more of an option they can select if they are ‘interested in wellbeing’.

Initiatives are often run by individuals who are trying to make a change, but through no fault of their own, aren’t empowered to build the structured support that organisation desperately needs, and often don’t know where to start. In this case they opt for the well trodden off-the-shelf options:

Off-the-shelf

He are some of the common off-the-shelf options and issues, in my opinion:

Wellbeing week – A week-long focus on various wellbeing topics – often evaluated by the number of employees which attended (however briefly), rather than if any behaviours have been changed 1, 3 or 6 months later. 

Wellbeing hub – Larger companies may have static resources on their intranet or through an external benefits provider – However without these being fully integrated into an overall company ethos or wellbeing/performance strategy, they remain underused. Often the resources themselves; 1) lack authority or execution (bland corporate branding) or 2) are fragmented, with no strategic objective.

Guest speakers – I speak to many firms who would like a talk to ‘pep up’ employees. My response now is actually pretty similar. It won’t work. Do something meaningful or don’t waste your money…

Across the globe there is still very limited evidence that corporate wellness initiatives currently work – or even what is defined as ‘success’ (e.g. Is this improved wellbeing competencies/behaviours, productivity, or for some is it just the potential to reduce healthcare costs?). 

Currently only 9% of companies measure return on investment (ROI) from their health & wellbeing programme, which highlights how much room for development there is in this space.

I have witnessed some organisations approaching wellbeing in a very progressive way, but they are in the minority. The current investment on wellbeing is often significant and could be redeployed on initiatives with greater impact.

Attracting and retaining talent 

Employers are desperately searching for ways to engage and retain talent. And younger generations are increasingly demanding a greater focus on health…

In fact 89% of Gen Z employees would consider leaving their company if there was insufficient focus on wellbeing. They are also looking for more personalised experiences, around exercise, sleep, nutrition and psychology. 

Providing employees with the tools (within a company culture which actively support this) to self-manage their own health and performance in relation to their daily demands (both cognitive and physical), both in and out of the workplace, will become increasingly important.

My bet is that in the near future providing food will no be longer enough – progressive workplaces will not only increase/improve their food offering, but also provide education on personalising nutrition to performance-related outcomes (e.g. improved energy, sleep/recovery).

It is of course an open market and employees will migrate to progressive organisations offering a holistic culture which better fits their needs.

D is for discovery 

So how can an organisation take the first step towards meaningful change?

Well the first step is really to internally define objectives (or the questions they are trying to answer) with buy-in from exec/senior leadership.

The brief can then be discussed with a suitable professional or organisation to develop a service plan/roadmap. 

There should be a period of discovery. And often this should look quite messy, while the organisation tests and refines how services should be adapted and embedded within their unique culture.  

A business must resist the urge to choose something off-the-shelf. Of course this is the path of least resistance, but is highly unlikely to deliver long term impact. 

If a business starts with a clear objective, and appreciates there will be a discovery process to build a culture for the long term, then anything is possible – in my experience employees will appreciate and join the direction, and often be the biggest allies. 

I think it really just depends whether an organisation wants to do something meaningful, or just dish up some more perks. 

James