RETURN ON INVESTMENT WHY LOOKING AFTER THE WELLBEING OF STAFF CAN PAY OFF FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

By Pramod Morjaria

Sports & Remedial Massage Therapist

Of course, money talks when it comes to the top criteria for job seekers: the salary, pension offer, bonuses. But businesses are generally wising up to the fact that it’s not just the financial package they need to offer when recruiting or indeed trying to retain staff, but also the benefits they can’t necessarily count in pounds and pence.

Click on the careers tab of most big company websites, and you’ll find a Wellbeing section where the business will outline ways in which it looks after its staff. Access to a 24-hour GP hotline, discounted gym membership, counselling services, are just a few of the incentives. That’s great for businesses able to afford to shoulder the costs of these tasty but expensive carrots for potential recruits, but what about the smaller companies who can’t?

Grow low hanging fruit

There are relatively cheaper options out there in terms of corporate wellness offers that are easy to set up, and have real potential to give a great return on investment. Let’s dive down in more detail to one example:

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that that over 7 million working days were lost in 2021/22 due to Musculoskeletal conditions (MSK), with one in ten current employees dealing with a MSK problem.

The most common of these being Back and Neck pain. Why not then consider engaging the services of a Self-Employed Massage Therapist to come every 6 months to provide 15 or 20 minute upper body (over clothes) seated acupressure massage to staff. A great therapist might also suggest some gentle remedial stretches when at work.

Workplace Wellness Champions

So the feedback for the workplace massage was great, staff loved it.They would like to do these kinds of things more regularly. Get your staff to own this and hand the responsibility over to them. They can for example become Seasonal Wellbeing Champions who rotate in the role. They’ll wear the position as a badge of honour! Give them a budget – more often than not, you’ll be surprised by what they get within your price range: Midday Mindfulness, Online Yoga, a Nutrition workshop. If they are good negotiators, they will haggle the cost down for your business too!

A win win for employer and employee

In the case of workplace massage, aside from some of the immediate benefits of easing muscle tension, improving circulation, or reducing stress, staff will be more engaged with thinking about how to better their own physical and emotional wellbeing. The same applies to the other wellbeing examples mentioned. But they will also know that their employer cares about them and wants to look after them. A healthier team is a happier one – more productive, less likely to take time off sick with individuals not always looking to jump ship to another job. So, taking those first steps to enhance staff Wellbeing can really pay off for small businesses.