How do you increase the uptake and effectiveness of your employee wellbeing strategy? Prepare to think like a marketer.
Having an employee wellbeing strategy at work isn't much use if nobody's taking advantage of it. You can't just come up with a wellbeing initiative and expect staff to flood in without effectively communicating all the necessary information. Does everybody know what wellbeing is? Does everybody know what the point of a wellbeing strategy is, and how it could help them?
While an employee wellbeing strategy isn't exactly a commodity - at least not in the same way the products and services you market and sell externally are, there's no harm in applying similar marketing techniques to try to increase interest and uptake.
Marketing is all about understanding your audience and effectively communicating the right messages to them to reach a desired goal.
In this case your audience is your workforce and the goal behind your wellbeing strategy is, presumably, one or all of the below:
- increase mental health awareness
- increase level of support available
- demonstrate importance of physical activity
- lower absenteeism
- increase productivity
- boost office morale.
Understanding your audience
Bear in mind that your wellbeing strategy might be met with some resistance, depending on the main demographics within your organisation. Some studies show that younger generations entering the workforce are drawn to employers who already have wellbeing strategies in place. However, more experienced individuals may find the concept intrusive.
Not everybody loves the idea of discussing their physical and mental health at work. What do our personal lives have to do with our bosses? Where is all that collected data going? Does it make us vulnerable?
Keep these differences in mind when choosing how to promote your wellbeing strategy. Try to be as inclusive and sensitive as possible.
Tone of voice
As with any marketing campaign, carefully consider your tone of voice in any written content. How do you want to come across? The most important thing is to be clear, concise and thorough to minimise confusion and maximise take-up.
Here are 5 classic marketing techniques you could consider to increase awareness and uptake:
Awareness posters and infographics
Forget digital marketing for the moment, let's start with the basics. Printing and sticking posters up around the office is a great way to get some important messages across about mental and physical health. Focus on places like the lunch room, by the water cooler, printers, or on the back of toilet doors - anywhere people are likely to linger.
Just like a teaser billboard, a health awareness poster can spark a person's curiosity and make them want to know more. It plants a seed and gets them thinking before you've even launched your wellbeing strategy.
Our own design team regularly creates a range of original posters and infographics that are perfect for any office. You can download them for free here:
The four elements of heart health at work ›
10 ways to combat workplace stress ›
What happens when you go for a lunchtime walk? ›
Email is where it starts to get more personal. You can use email to send out invitations to various wellbeing events, or just use it to raise awareness in general. You could even send a calendar invite via email to make it easier for staff to attend various initiatives.
Website
You could consider either creating a dedicated wellbeing section on your intranet, or creating a new web space for staff to learn about wellbeing and the initiatives available to them internally.
Training
Organise a series of face-to-face training sessions to make sure the leaders within your business understand the reasoning behind the employee wellbeing strategy. It's essential to make sure everybody is on the same page working towards a mutual goal. Once leaders are on-board, they can filter the message through to all employees.
Training can help boost confidence, too. Various aspects of wellbeing could be quite daunting for some managers. How do you strike up a conversation about mental heath, for instance?
Events
Health screenings, mental health awareness days and other wellbeing-related events can really help to raise awareness and start conversations. Our Posturite consultants can attend your event to offer advice on any aspect of workplace health and wellbeing, from DSE ergonomics, to confidential mental and physical health screenings.
To organise an event with us, please contact our consulting team ›
