UK 
United States
Westfield Health Head of HR Development and Strategy Fiona Lowe said: “The secret is to create a culture of health and wellbeing by demonstrating that you care about your employees through inspiring leadership, early intervention and having fun.
“Ensure that all your leaders learn how to listen, and really listen. All employees will have good times and bad, both inside and outside the workplace, and your employees should be treated with authentic care and support.
“Consider two members of the same family working in different organisations who have suffered a bereavement. In one organisation, the employee is treated with dignity and respect, having open communications with their line manager who offers counselling, occupational health services and signposting to charity organisations. They are then given time and support to re-integrate back into the workplace. The other family member works for an organisation where there is no contact for weeks and then the line manager is hassling the individual about coming back to work.
“In which instance do you think that you would have an engaged, loyal employee who really cares about working for the organisation? The other employee will be disengaged and, without any support, it’s unlikely that they’ll make a successful return to work.
“Keeping employees healthy is always a priority, so giving them access to support services, including financial matters, legal matters and healthcare, is vital. Getting early intervention through access to occupational health, diagnostics, therapy treatments and counselling support is key to keeping the employee in work and healthy.
“We all say that we spend more time at work than at home with our family or friends, so how can we make the workplace more fun? There are a range of different methods of communication and learning, as well as a variety of social activities, that can help teams to bond, both inside and outside of the organisation.
“Take account of your diverse workforce. One size doesn’t necessarily fit all. You should engage with staff and ask for their ideas - and why not add some competition? We have a fantastic example to share; our successful walking campaign encouraged teams to work together to see how many steps they could collectively complete. As well as getting our staff to be more active during the working day, we created some healthy competition – which made us all feel really good too!”
