The financial impact of well-being and the employee experience

If you take care of your people, you will make more money. And it’s also the right thing to do.

According to the Society of Human Resource Management, replacing an employee can cost three to four times the employee’s salary. Recent data from McKinsey states that workplace flexibility and support for employee health and well-being are drivers in employee retention. 

Employees’ experience at their company needs to be designed with their career, emotional, financial, mental and physical well-being in mind. Let’s look closer at mental health benefits. Data from Gallup says 57% of U.S. workers cannot confirm the existence of easily accessible mental health support services in their workplace.

This gap is an opportunity for our profession to work closely with our human resources counterparts to ensure our employees understand how to access the mental health resources and other benefits the company has designed. 

The experience for prospective employees starts even before they meet with a recruiter. They’re learning about how your company addresses well-being on your website, in the job description, through second-hand experiences from peers, and continues through the hiring, onboarding and training process. Their experience will be thoroughly examined during employee satisfaction surveys, exit interviews and ultimately through retention rates highlighted in the company’s financial reports.

Beyond total compensation, as your prospective employees look to their next agency or in-house role, they will be considering the following:

• How is my life positively impacted because I work for this company?

• Does my immediate manager care about me as a person? 

• Is the company clear on the value of working in a physical office? 

• The company offers excellent paid time off benefits, but am I empowered to take the time off I need?

• Will I be rewarded or punished for setting boundaries?

• How will the company offer benefits to help me as a new parent?

Well-being programs need to be backed through first-party quantifiable and qualifiable employee data, designed with measurable objectives and paired with relatable, practical and actionable tactics to benefit the employee and employer. 

When done correctly, employees will feel taken care of and will stay, which will have a positive reputational and financial impact on your company.

This is a new era in the relationship between employee and employer. I look forward to seeing how our profession plays a pivotal role throughout 2023 and beyond.

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Mark Mohammadpour is owner and chief well-being officer at Chasing the Sun.