20.03.2019
According to the World Health Organisation, “Most of the world’s population (58%) spend one-third of their adult life at work.” The evidence is also well documented that employee wellness and wellbeing are linked to employee performance. Organisations big and small need to lay the foundations for an ongoing wellbeing culture if they are going to create an engaged productive workforce.
Where to start? Take a look at Partner Summertown's 10 do's and don'ts for establishing a CSR Wellbeing Program!
Do’s:
1. Assign CSR Wellbeing champions to specific goals and initiatives
2. Include CSR Wellbeing related goals and objectives in the company’s employee appraisal system
3. Establish small committees to involve employees from the decision stage to implementation (Sustainability/HSE Committee etc)
4. Select a large variety of initiatives for the Wellbeing Program (everyone has different interests)
5. Promote the events through talking in person not only sending an invitation via e-mail
6. Encourage senior managers to lead by example (employees participate in more events more if their managers also participate)
7. Measure the impact of volunteering and wellbeing activities through employee surveys (Wellbeing Satisfaction Survey)
8. Define a budget needed for CSR Wellbeing initiatives (it can be very small to start)
9. Use every occasion to inspire your employees and other companies by sharing the knowledge and experiences through key company
communication channels, workshops, and social media etc.
10. Release an annual Sustainability Report (Excellent framework for sustainable goal setting, strategy alignment, performance
measurement and encouraging engagement long term).
Don’ts:
1. Don’t wait to launch your CSR programs because you don’t have a resource (even if you are a small business with no dedicated CSR
representatives/department create a team/committee to share the tasks)
2. Don’t wait for a budget to approved (many initiatives can be achieved at no or minimal cost)
3. Don’t let the process intimidate you
4. Don’t feel demoralized if you only achieve a little in the first few years because you don’t get the full support from other departments;
eventually the Department Heads and employees will buy-in after seeing the impacts on the workplace and business performance.
5. Don’t rely on e-mail communication only to promote initiatives and events (the most effective method is personal small talks and word
of mouth)
6. Don’t dictate the initiatives to employees (ask for their ideas and feedback)
7. Don’t try to invent everything by yourself (search for external best practices and ask for ideas)
8. Don’t forget to share feedback and impact with non-participants (for example; an employee talking about their experience participating
at a team meeting)
9. Don’t do the same initiative too many times
10. Don’t schedule all initiatives in non-working hours.
Summertown Interiors embraces sustainability in every aspect of the business. They believe that a company cannot be sustainable unless employees at all levels share this vision and are committed to achieving it.
