AC 3.2 The concept of well-being in the workplace and why it is essential

Employee well-being can be termed as the overall mental, physical, and economic health of employees within a particular organisation. Bolstering employee well-being at the workplace is vital for people within a particular organisation (CIPD Factsheet 2022). In fact, championing better work and working lives is the heart of the CIPD Profession Map (2022). The CIPD Factsheet (2022) further shows that facilitating a healthy working environment helps employees to flourish and reach their maximum potential. Specifically, a healthy working environment entails creating a clear environment that actively bolsters the state of contentment, which benefits both employees and their organisations. Recently, mental health has grown to become among the key focus of health and well-being activities (CIPD Health and Wellbeing Report 2022). According to the CIPD Factsheet (2022), investing in employees’ well-being can result in increased resilience, increased productivity, improved employee engagement, as well as reduced sickness-related absenteeism. Additionally, employee well-being initiatives are also instrumental in creating a happier workforce (Wellneux.com 2018).

 Regarding happiness, employees participating in well-being initiatives are more content with their work-related factors. Furthermore, well-being initiatives at the workplace bring employees together and improve their working relationships. Once employees co-exist well and peacefully with one another, organisations’ productivity significantly increases. However, on numerous occasions, employee well-being initiatives often fail to achieve their intended objectives because they stand alone. Hence, it is essential to ensure that well-being initiatives are not isolated from everyday business. Additionally, it is also vital to ensure that employee well-being priorities are integrated throughout the whole organisation and embedded in its culture and leadership. In conclusion, investing in well-being initiatives should not be a one-time thing but should be a continuous endeavour in which the organisation invests over time (CIPD Factsheet 2022; Wellneux.com 2018).