4 stellar companies that are doing employee wellbeing right

It’s no secret that times are tough. In the face of a global healthcare crisis, economic turbulence and other stressors, the majority of businesses are (rightfully) responding to these issues by putting employee wellbeing at the top of the agenda. Despite this, CIPD’s annual survey found that nearly one in five are still not doing anything to improve health and wellbeing in the workplace.

We hope to inspire both those committed to employee wellbeing and galvanise those who have yet to put in the work. This should be a focus area for organisations that care about their people. And that should be all organisations.

We’re always looking for sources of inspiration for our own initiatives. Check out these four businesses that are putting employee wellbeing front and centre. What can you learn from their example? Which policies will you implement?

HubSpot

HubSpot holds the number two spot on Glassdoor Best Place to Work list for 2022. You can see from its much-admired Culture Code that it deserves this accolade for such a strong commitment to employee wellbeing.

The culture code highlights values such as autonomy. This is then backed up by tangible policies of flexible working and unlimited holidays. And, their hiring team recognises that you can approach wellbeing from many angles. So, they provide benefits for physical health, financial health, learning and development and so on.

We’ve put HubSpot on the list not only because we’re HubSpot Diamond Partners, but also because we admire this holistic take on company culture. When it comes to wellbeing, there are no magic bullets. Rather, you need to consider employee wellbeing from multiple angles in order to build a truly supportive working culture.

Happy

‘We embody our values, so what we teach in the classroom about workplace culture and about being given trust and responsibility is true for where we work as well.’

— Lydia, Customer Service Advisor, Happy

Happy is a company that offers training and coaching to help businesses build happy workplaces. So, as you can imagine, it’s a great place to work, too! Not only is it a fellow B Corp, but the business is one of the UK’s and Europe’s best places to work, according to Great Place to Work’s 2022 lists.

Henry Stewart, CEO, has literally written the book on happiness at work. In it, he outlines principles we can all agree make for a happy, healthy working environment. In short, those are:

1. Trust your people
2. Make your people feel good
3. Give freedom within clear guidelines
4. Be open and transparent
5. Recruit for attitude, train for skill
6. Celebrate mistakes
7. Create mutual benefit in your community
8. Love work, get a life
9. Choose managers who are good at managing
10. Play to your strengths

Click here to download the Happy Manifesto for free.

COOK

This recommendation comes straight from our Chief Happiness Officer, Liz, who recently won the Positive Leadership Awards. So, you know it’s a good ‘un!

COOK has made the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies To Work For every year since 2013. One reason why is that it offers employees a sense of empowerment over their working lives.

According to Mental Health At Work,

‘Empowerment is taking personal responsibility for your choices. It also means learning to trust yourself… this includes giving yourself permission to make your own wellbeing a priority.’

How has COOK done this? The team has built an innovative model for employee self-actualisation called ‘The Dream Academy’. This consists of a series of one-to-one coaching sessions to help team members articulate and manifest their working aspirations. This is further supported by their ‘Selfie’ self-evaluation method of appraisals.

PPL

PPL is a social enterprise that exists to promote better health, wellbeing and economic outcomes across the UK.

Over the last year, their management team has set up a Mental Health First Aid team with three first aiders in the business. This practice (which we’ve also adopted here at Articulate) means that there are now trained individuals in the organisation that employees can turn to if they’re struggling with their mental health.

By putting mental health awareness front and centre, PPL is tackling a huge issue in the workplace today. Remember, one in six people experience poor mental health at work.

Such open support for mental wellbeing tells employees and potential candidates that their workplace is a safe space.

Be the example

We’d love to expand our peer network of organisations committed to building positive workplaces. Get in touch if you’d like us to share your wellbeing initiatives on this blog and on our social media network. Or, check out these resources for further inspiration:

• How to create a happy company
• 6 tips to support employee mental health as a remote-working business
• 3 FAQs about Corporate Social Responsibility and ethical branding
• What does it mean to be a better employer?
• 6 mental health apps that prove technology is a force for good