Culture club: 5 important elements for building a culture of health
Building a workplace culture requires finding the right mix and application of strategies for your environment and workforce.
Culture matters in the workplace. It affects everything from employee engagement to recruitment and retention. There is also growing evidence that workplace culture has a significant impact on employee health.
That’s why employers are increasingly asking not if they should invest in a workplace culture of health, but what that means and how best to achieve this goal.
Related: How to create a healthier workplace environment
As defined by the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) Culture of Health Committee, a workplace culture of health is “intentionally designed with elements that support health and well-being.” That’s the what. As for the how, the committee identified 24 elements present in healthy workplace cultures. Then, through a series of case studies highlighting employers that have been recognized for their culture of health workplace practices, they identified some of the elements that were most consistently adopted by participating employers.
Building a workplace culture requires finding the right mix and application of strategies for your environment and workforce. That will look a little bit different in every workplace, but if you’d like to get a running start, the following five tips offer a solid foundation for building an effective culture of health.
1. Get your message across
Developing a culture of health requires an ongoing dialogue about health and well-being and its value to both the individual and the organization. Regular, formal communication demonstrates an organization’s commitment to the health of their workforce and underscores the importance of health and well-being as an organizational value. Use a variety of communications channels to make sure everyone gets the message. For example, emails may not be the best way to reach employees who don’t work at a computer regularly. It’s also important to give employees a chance to have input. Focus groups and testimonials can be an effective part of a multi-modal strategy.
2. Enlist leadership
Leaders who embrace well-being through their decision making, resource allocation, and role modeling of a healthy lifestyle give employees a clear message that health and well-being are a core component of the business. In other words, when leaders make healthy choices a priority, employees are more likely to follow suit. Make sure you have buy-in from leaders at all levels, whether that means encouraging managers to support participation in well-being activities during the workday or having the CEO organize events in the office. Leaders can also appear in videos that promote healthy activities, talk up well-being in corporate communications channels, or contribute personal stories to materials shared with employees.
3. Give back
Many case study companies have healthy cultures that include volunteer opportunities. Giving back to the community through regular volunteering and support of charitable causes allows employees to see that they can make a positive difference beyond the workplace. Start by supporting your local community through donations and encourage employees to participate in volunteer programs and community-building efforts.
4. Formalize your efforts
It’s one thing to say you support employee health and well-being; it’s another thing altogether to support that commitment with formal policies and procedures that foster an environment that encourages well-being. When those policies are missing, it suggests a lack of support for well-being initiatives, and may encourage employees to disengage. Consider formalizing your commitment through policies like creating tobacco-free campuses, offering paid time off for volunteering, or eliminating donuts from workday meetings in favor of healthier options. If those policies don’t make sense for your office, find something that does.
5. Consider your physical environment
Encouraging employees to bike to work loses some of its meaning when there’s no safe bike parking at the office and no place for employees to shower after a sweaty commute. A physical environment that is conducive to well-being makes it easier for employees to make healthy choices. Consider increasing the availability of healthy foods, creating safe places for employees to walk during the day, or supporting stress management and relaxation.
Culture exists in the workplace regardless of whether it’s cultivated by leaders within the organization. The choice employers must make is whether they want to let that culture evolve on its own, or whether they choose to develop a thoughtful strategy that shapes workplace culture into something that supports their larger business goals. By leveraging these key elements, employers can create and sustain a healthy workplace culture that benefits everyone.
Roshi Fisher is vice president and senior consultant at Lockton. Jennifer Posa is global head of employee mental well-being and workplace effectiveness at Johnson & Johnson. Dyann Matson Koffman is a health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) is a national non-profit dedicated to identifying and sharing best practices in the field of workplace health and well-being (HWB). HERO was established more than 20 years ago to create and disseminate research, policy, leadership, and strategy to advance workplace HWB, providing leadership of the nation’s workforce. Much of the good work that HERO does is achieved through the efforts of its volunteer committees. To learn more, please see the report, “Five Important Elements for Building a Culture of Health: What, Why, and How?”
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