Doing Wellbeing Well: A New Model for Corporate Wellbeing

Gordana Landen, Chief Human Resources Officer, Adecco Group; Board Member at the Adecco Group Foundation

With the lines blurred between work and home and the pandemic crisis affecting people around the world, 2020 has emphasized the critical need for effective wellbeing programs in the workplace. The coronavirus pandemic, physical isolation and an uncertain economy have all contributed to declining mental wellbeing for thousands of working adults.

A recent study conducted by the Adecco Group found that a majority of executive leaders feel unequipped to handle conversations around mental wellbeing. In fact, 54% say it’s difficult to provide effective advice to staff on their mental wellbeing during the pandemic and, similarly, 50% say it’s difficult to remain aware of how their staff is feeling. This gap is important to note since 28% of employees say their mental health has declined during the pandemic and 80% say their employer is responsible for ensuring a better working world after COVID-19.

This calls for a greater focus on improving corporate wellbeing programs. For decades, many companies have approached wellbeing programs by investing in convenience-based services or perks, like gyms and ping pong tables; however, these offerings don’t operate as part of a holistic approach and lack the key elements needed for long-term success. As businesses look to revamp corporate wellbeing programs, it’s important to adopt a model that is sustainable and can evolve over time.

Corporate Wellbeing: A New Holistic Model

The Workforce Vitality Model, created by the Adecco Group Foundation, provides a holistic approach to employee wellbeing that unites both top-down management and bottom-up feedback. The holistic approach incorporates next to mental and physical wellbeing a social aspect, which encompasses employees’ ability to connect, engage with others and ensure inclusivity, as well as purpose, which focuses on employees’ beliefs and principles to serve as motivation.

The Workforce Vitality Model by the Adecco Group Foundation

These elements, merged with physical and mental wellbeing, create a model that’s enabled by:

Policy and practice: structures that support and reinforce behavior through both rules and motivation.

Culture: sets the precedent of “how we do things and why,” reinforcing intrinsic motivation.

Environment: physical and organizational elements that support wellbeing.

Technology and tools: low-threshold, integrated, financially accessible and simple.

When looking at these elements holistically, businesses can deliver solutions tailored to an organization’s unique needs.

Work shopping the Workforce Vitality Model starts with detecting a problem, identifying the underlying needs, ideating a solution, and outlining a path to success. For example, a company that is facing a lack of engagement may find that the underlying employee need is better support throughout their tenure. In order to achieve that, the company can implement solutions such as:

Organized development days for skills-building and networking

New, direct communications channels to share regular updates, news and social invitations

A new structured incentive program surrounding mentorship or mental wellbeing

New company roles specialized in engagement and wellbeing; and

Implementing new technologies and platforms designed specifically for wellbeing.

The Workforce Vitality Model provides a framework that is sustainable, effective, and scalable – no matter the industry. This is critical as the dynamics of the workforce continue to shift as we reset normal.

In turn, this new approach to corporate wellbeing can be highly effective in attracting, engaging and retaining top talent and improving overall performance. By providing opportunities for employees to create a better lifestyle and a successful career path, companies will be set up for success in a post-pandemic world.