Home » Blog » Here is why you should integrate well-being into performance management

An increasing number of employers are turning their focus to well-being in the workplace as part of a drive to improve their company culture.  As you know a happy and healthy workforce is engaged, motivated and a key driver in business success.

Business needs are also driving a revolutionary change in performance management. The old-school days of the annual appraisal are over.

A huge cultural shift is taking place in the business community. A strong company culture is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s essential. As businesses endeavour to build more agile workplaces, performance management has moved away from the appraisal which is just completed annually and put in a drawer for another year

Why bother with well-being at work?

Workplace well-being programmes are attracting interest because they have a significant impact on employee health. Well-being initiatives are a significant lever in reducing absenteeism and presenteeism, and have been shown to contribute to an increase in productivity.

Well-being in the workplace matters for a number of reasons and it isn’t just physical health that needs to be supported. Mental health is important too. Promoting health is part of a cultural drive to ensure employees are engaged and want to be at work.

A healthy, happy workforce is good for staff turnover. Employees are less likely to leave if they are engaged and enjoying their work. When employees are disengaged, absenteeism, workplace accidents and mistakes go up. Promoting health adds to the bottom line.

What is good workplace well-being?

Creating a culture of health and wellness is much more than providing a bowl of fruit and a cheap gym membership. All too often, mental health and the social and emotional side of wellness at work is forgotten. Employers think they have ticked the wellness at work box by providing workplace yoga, a fruit bowl and mindfulness courses.

So, what exactly constitutes good workplace well-being? Genuine well-being programmes can only work if they are embedded from the top down. Simple actions like supporting staff to take lunch breaks and keep to healthy working hours is a good place to start. Raising the profile of mental health in the workplace is also important, as is promoting an open door policy for dialogue and feedback. A culture of openness and promoting a healthy work-life balance are key.

The financial wellness of employees is another area business would do well to take a look at. Financial stress can be a huge distraction for employees. Do you have an Employee Assistance Programme, look into your insurance policies to see if you have, then promote it, if not then look into one. This allows employees to access a confidential helpline on all sorts of areas that the organisation aren’t able to support.

For more information on how to promote well-being and tackle the causes of work-related mental health problems, see mental health charity, MIND’s well-being at work resource

What is performance management?

Performance management is the blanket term used to describe the process of assessing and supporting employees in order to advance the goals and objectives of the organisation. It focuses on developing employees’ capabilities over time to enable them to contribute to the success of the business. Performance management is a pro-active process of ongoing accountability, support and encouragement based on regular communication and check-ins between managers and employees.

How is well-being relevant to performance management?

Good performance helps everyone in the organisation and well-being is essential for that to happen. Formalising the importance of well-being at work helps managers and employees focus on healthier ways of working. ACAS point out that a major factor that diminishes well-being at work is overwork and high job demands.

One of the most poignant starting points for well-being at work is enabling employees to reach out when they are feeling overwhelmed. The problem for businesses still operating a system of annual reviews is the lack of opportunity that presents to employees to ask for support when they aren’t coping as well.

Performance management has such huge potential as a tool to improve wellness at work. With openness, honesty and the right support employees can achieve great things. Most importantly is the weekly check-in. It gives employees a voice and makes conversations about stress and work-life balance so much easier.

Pay-rises and perks aren’t enough to engage employees. Caring about their well-being and their future is.

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