It pains me to say that most of the time when companies are focussing on well-being they are wasting time and resources. They are patching the top hole in the bucket whilst the gaps lower down remain open. Work is vital to a human's well-being because it provides security, connection, meaning, and purpose. Think of the jobs you provide as a bucket.

The more full that bucket is the more positively the jobs you provide are contributing to the health and happiness of your people - resulting in higher levels of loyalty, productivity, and innovation. It’s common for businesses to be hampered in growth by high levels of employee stress and absence. Unsurprisingly they focus on wellbeing initiatives to provide their people with the knowledge insights and motivational boost to improve their health and fix the issue. But we all know that rarely works.

Why? Take a look at the bucket.

It's obvious really - when a business has high levels of stress and absence a lack of knowledge on how to be healthy is one of the last holes to patch. You can provide your people with the best training and resources in the world on how to be healthy, and bring in the best physiotherapists, counselors, and coaches.... but if the work you are providing is still making people miserable the bucket will continue to empty. If people aren't engaged and energised by work, the bucket will still continue to empty. I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't focus on well-being at work. I'm not suggesting that you have to fix every issue before focusing on well-being at work.

I am saying that if you've got high levels of stress and absence that's likely driven by deeper issues in the business and you shouldn't be relying on wellbeing interventions alone to fix that. Any business in virtually any industry has the capacity to provide meaningful work that proactively contributes to the health and happiness of its employees - you have to work to make that happen but your future results will make it worth it.

If you want your established business to flourish you need teams of healthy happy people that want to work hard for you - that passionately want to bring the vision of your organisation to fruition. When you develop an engaging culture most of the wellbeing issues that hold companies back will take care of themselves.

The great news is any business of any size in any industry can make this a reality (usually with just a few tweaks).

Subscribe to the Better Happy Business Club Newsletter below to find out how.