When asked why so many businesses are cutting Workplace Wellbeing budgets, in a post on LinkedIn, the words of Viviana Baetu, Corporate Health Strategist and former Wellbeing Advisor at Nomura, in response, jumped out:
“Passion is powerful, but without evidence, structure and strategy, it’s difficult to gain buy-in at the top.”
Certainly, there’s no shortage of people with passion, and commitment to improving workplace wellbeing, in this industry. You just have to read the profile pages of this site and hear Leaders talk at our Leaders’ Club meetings, and you can feel their dedication (for more about our Leaders’ Club and how to join, see here).
Hard to get C-suite buy-in
Neither is there any shortage of robust evidence to prove the business case for looking after employees’ Health and Wellbeing (although, admittedly, there could always be more).
Yet the uncomfortable truth remains that many Health and Wellbeing Leaders are finding it hard to get the ear, let alone the respect, of senior management.
“We need to make sure that the boardroom understands the importance of it as part of a competitive and strategic business strategy. But it’s just not landing right now as CEOs aren’t the ones attending wellbeing conferences, and wellbeing leads are too far removed from the boardroom to be heard,” says Emily Pearson, Founder and CEO of the Wellbeing Lead Academy.
Lonely and frustrating
Several Leaders have talked to us about how lonely and frustrating this can feel, but also about what they are doing to rise up in response (spoiler alert: they are not giving up, and don’t think you should either).
But – with the DEI backlash, hikes in costs like National Insurance and soaring stress rates – it’s more important than ever that this ‘rising up’ to the challenges is well thought out, coordinated, consistent, collaborative and collective. The industry needs to be on the same page in order to prove to other functions that it is a skilled, strategic and financially literate role that deserves a voice on the board.
“Rather than blame leaders, we need to identify what the cause is, and how we can remedy this ourselves,” says Elliot Foster, Head of Wellbeing Strategy at SuperWellness, who posed the question on LinkedIn which Baetu answered.
“Until we define and align around what effective workplace wellbeing actually looks like, we can’t expect leaders to prioritise it. I refuse to think that there is no budget available for Workplace Wellbeing, it just requires us to better explain the concepts and value of it to them.”
Business leaders will invest…
Health and Wellbeing Strategist Nick Davison agrees, adding:
“Business leaders will invest if they can see and value those benefits especially when times are hard, as the need to succeed/survive is even more pressing. The proliferation of burnout, as an example, and its human and organisational impact, suggests the case just isn’t being made effectively.”
So, the big question: how do we get the respect, and then buy-in and budget, from senior management? How can we show the C-suite that the industry has grown up and come of age?
The lack of a professional framework in the industry has unquestionably been a major impediment to the function being taken seriously. However, there is hope on this front.
Several industry experts are creating this much needed professional framework.
Hope on the horizon
One of them is SuperWellness, another is Affinity Health at Work and a third is the Wellbeing Lead Academy (a more indepth feature is forthcoming on these various professional frameworks currently available or in the planning process; this feature intends to set the scene first).
The need for this is deftly summed up by one Workplace Wellbeing Lead who took part in a focus group about creating a professional framework, run by Affinity Health at Work, saying:
“I’m really keen to make sure that it [the role] is professionalised and it gives the people working in this space credibility. Part of the problem with the Wellbeing space is that everyone thinks they know how to do it, therefore that means they can dismiss us because anyone can do this, can’t they? Credibility is really important, as is understanding that it is a legitimate, professional area. That there are knowledge and skills that are needed. Not everyone can do it.”
Employers welcome framework
As well as a literature review and focus groups, Affinity Health at Work has also created a steering committee to provide oversight and guidance on developing its professional framework. Leaders such as Becky Thoseby, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at Ministry of Justice UK, Hannah Pearsall, Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at Hays and Nikki Kirbell, Global Head of Wellbeing at Rolls-Royce are on this committee.
Kirbell says she welcomes the framework particularly because the Workplace Wellbeing industry has evolved so rapidly, meaning that people from many different backgrounds are in these roles, driving the agenda.
“This can lead to disparities in how wellbeing is embedded across organisations”, she says. “So having a framework for professionals to guide their development will be invaluable to anyone already in the industry or wanting to work in it.”
Questions around framework
Former Head of Wellbeing at both Anglian Water and The Post Office, Victoria Sloan, is a big advocate of Wellbeing Professionals skilling themselves appropriately for the role, particularly when it comes to business acumen and strategy. She did the University of Nottingham’s MSc in Workplace Health and Wellbeing, alongside a full time role at Anglian.
She welcomes the much-needed clarity a framework could bring – but also brings many questions of her own, as yet which don’t have answers: is there going to be different pathways for people from different career backgrounds? Is the hope to get the framework mandated in employers? Are professionals across the industry going to be benchmarked?
Power is in what the industry now does
Sloan also adds a cautionary note. She’s been part of the creation of many frameworks and protocols over the years and, while they can be powerful, that largely depends on how professionals actually respond to them; whether they are proactive or not.
As she rightly stresses:
“The power is not in what frameworks you create. The power is in what you do. The power is in getting employers to use the frameworks in the way that they’re intended. So that they can actually make a difference and make an impact on Workplace Wellbeing.”
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