As Mental Health Awareness Week approaches, companies will be working even harder to shine a light on wellbeing in the workplace. There’s no better time to dig into the benefits of a healthy organisation.
But what is it? How does it promote wellbeing in a way that actually works? And can it help you retain top talent and boost your bottom line? Let’s take a look.
The history of a healthy workplace
A healthy organisation is a simple sum that looks at your workplace as a whole. It includes:
- Organisational health e.g. your company’s ability to unite around a shared vision and respond to change to meet company goals.
- Employee health e.g. the physical and mental status of your employees.
So organisational health + employee health = a healthy organisation.
The next big thing
The framework was developed by the Josh Bersin Company. In 2021, the research and advisory company released a year-long research effort deeming it the ‘next big thing in employee wellbeing’.
In their own words, a healthy organisation is different to other initiatives.
“Rather than simply applying a health-centric lens, building a healthy organisation requires a top-down focus. In today’s service-driven, technology powered economy, every employee matters.”
At its most basic, it celebrates ‘healthy people, healthy work and healthy culture’. And according to their research, it’s a company with financial and business results to take notice of.
The healthy organisation framework
It’s made up of seven major elements that contribute in different ways.
- Physical Health: Personal fitness and readiness to work.
- Mental wellbeing: Positive outlook and support for psychological health.
- Financial fitness: Financial security and equitable opportunities for growth.
- Social health and community service: Sense of purpose and opportunities to give back.
- Safe workplace: Safe place to work coupled with safe and protected work practices.
- Healthy culture: Human-centred leadership and healthy ways of working.
- Technology and HR capabilities: Easy-to access wellbeing tools and services.
Having these elements gives your company focus points to make positive and meaningful change. It’s more than offering free fitness classes or safety training. It’s a commitment to healthy practices that go beyond the company walls and make people want to work there.
What does it mean for HR?
One of the key findings from the research was that the biggest contributor to financial performance was when HR and the business work together on wellbeing.
In their report, they name Unilever as a company effectively adopting a healthy org, and speak to the positives of their global wellbeing and diversity center of excellence.
“The newly formed cross-functional council is comprised of HR and business leaders and sees its primary mission as embedding the core tenets of the company’s health strategy into business practices across the enterprise.”
The figures speak for themselves. The report shows that companies working closely with HR to create wellbeing strategies are:
- 20 x more likely to exceed financial targets.
- 3 x more likely to delight customers.
- 5 x more likely to innovate effectively.
Leaders need to walk the walk
All this needs to start from the top. A healthy organisation can only thrive if the leaders are actively promoting the wellbeing initiatives.
Leaders that lead with their humanity and coach, listen and show their employees empathy are the type to bring a healthy organisation to its peak success. It’s about showing, not telling.
It’ll come as no surprise that companies adopting a healthy organisation framework are winning the war for talent. We know this kind of change won’t happen overnight, but small changes in your company will start to make a big difference. So will your company take the steps to become a healthier organisation?
Healthy organization research from the Josh Bersin company, 2021.
