Wellbeing is at the forefront of corporate minds - and companies all over the world are pioneering ways in which to deliver it. From Government funded initiatives to big global names offering up new programs, wellbeing is important to today’s workforce.
To this end, resilience - both personally and with work - is gaining more traction, and set to gain even more in the coming years. Resilience initiatives will help shape the workplace of 2020, and ensure its ongoing ability to perform.
Government Input
It’s not just us saying this. Government initiatives support the modernisation of today's workforce and are responding to increasing stress levels.
Fit for Work: The government is pioneering its Fit for Work scheme where employers can get occupational physiotherapy expertise for their teams, preventing issues such as chronic back pain and treating them if they already exist.
Flexible Working: This is a big draw for many professionals and legally, can be requested if an employee has worked continuously for their employer for the last 26 weeks.
Corporate Input
On the corporate side, other company initiatives directed at stress and resilience are being pioneered by Sprint Nextel, Hearst and Ayetna who all have onsite health clinics with prescriptions and Doctors present - the intention is to reduce the employee’s need for time off work to seek medical care or collect medication.
For companies with smaller budgets, the message of wellbeing is still filtering down, with many offering free gym memberships or breakfasts to their workforce to help lessen their stress levels.
Supporting Statistics
The reasons for all this effort are clear to understand:
- Sick days are costing UK employers £29 billion a year (PWC 2013)
- British workers take up to four times as many days off as rival economies (PWC 2013)
- In 2014/15, 23.3 million days were lost due to work related health (HSE 2015)
The current climate is already working towards wellbeing and stress initiatives, on a government, SME and corporate level. It remains only a matter of time before these filter through to L&D professionals and their - newly resilient - teams.
Takeaways:
- Today’s workforce is suffering from increasing stress levels
- Government, corporate and SME organisations are all taking steps to improve wellbeing
- The cost of sickness to UK employers tops £29 billion per year
To learn more about Government and corporate initiatives filtering down to help the 2020 workforce become a more resilient one, click here to download our eGuide.
