An employee engagement strategy should consider employee wellness as an integral part. Happiness on the job has a positive effect on health and a healthy employee who feels at his or her best physically and mentally feels happier on the job. In effect, wellness and employee engagement go together and build off each other. Alan Kohll, a contributor on Forbes, makes these observations and relates a Gallup study which found that 62% of engaged employees felt their work positively affected their physical health. This figure dipped to 39% for disengaged employees and 22% for actively disengaged employees. The statistics were much dimmer in terms of the psychological health of employees.
So, who exactly are engaged employees? They are described as involved, committed, and enthusiastic. The opposite are employees who are typically “mentally checked-out, unmotivated, and just ‘going through the motions’ to get a paycheck.” These are the ones who are unhappy with their jobs and are driven on the job by their unhappiness; these are the ones that are likely to spread negativity among other employees and lower office morale while being costly to your business.
It is a massive undertaking in terms of effort and outlay to create an engaged workforce; however, the benefits far outweigh the effort. Significantly higher performance and loyalty to the company are two benefits of having engaged employees.
Employee engagement can be enhanced by workplace wellness via:
- opportunities for social connection through wellness activities
- the practice of healthy habits which are supported and promoted by a wellness program
- decreased stress through stress management classes and other stress-reduction activities
- improved mental well-being through mental health education, resources, and support, and
- increased morale through a strong company culture.
eCornell’s Strategic Human Resources Leadership course carries a module on Strategic Engagement. This course will help you to differentiate between an average employee engagement effort and one that can drive superior organizational performance.
eCornell courses are approved by SkillsFuture Singapore for SkillsFuture Credit as well as by HRDF Malaysia under its SBL Scheme.