Workshop sessions featuring Frank Adu ANIM and Genevieve Pearl Duncan OBUOBI (Dr): Maintaining equilibrium between professional and personal commitments (Part 2)

Prioritizing Employee Wellness for Corporate Advantage

In her recently published book, "The Diary of a Branch Manager", Dr. Genevieve Duncan Obuobi highlighted the importance of corporate wellness policies in promoting employee wellbeing and productivity. The book, based on over a decade of banking experience, emphasizes the responsibility of managers in creating an environment that fosters employee growth, motivation, and engagement.

Dr. Obuobi urged researchers, particularly DBA scholars, to delve deeper into workplace issues across various industries, with the aim of providing evidence-based solutions to improve corporate strategies and resolve industry-wide challenges.

The book launch coincided with growing concerns about employee wellbeing, leading to discussions on initiating wellness programs through seminars, training sessions, and policy drafts. Discovery Leadership's Work-Life Balance Program focuses on four main areas of concern: career development, healthcare and fitness planning, financial management, and stress and time management.

Defining employee wellbeing, Dr. Obuobi explained that it encompasses mental and physical health, born from workplace dynamics and a myriad of other factors. Organizations can encourage employee participation by offering engaging internal content such as wellness announcements, sharing employee stories, promoting training sessions, and providing free resources.

When employees feel well, they are better able to develop their potential, contribute creatively, and build positive relationships. Promoting employee wellbeing programs and communicating their benefits fosters internal awareness, ensuring they are built to achieve the desired outcomes. Effective communication is key to driving employee participation and understanding the personal and organizational benefits of wellbeing.

Companies have traditionally struggled to embrace employee wellbeing within the workplace due to a lack of genuine concern, structure, foresight, resources, and prioritization. However, recent changes have led to significant improvements in employee wellbeing.

To initiate an employee wellness program, employers should first understand their employees' fears, needs, wants, problems, and concerns. Well-planned programs yield mutual benefits, including higher engagement, improved productivity, better company culture, increased retention, reduced health costs, and absenteeism.

Empowering employees involves giving them autonomy and flexibility at work. This approach has been shown to increase engagement and improve firm performance in growth and profitability. If organizations wish to retain staff, they must prioritize benefits that align with employees' wellbeing.

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of employee wellness in shaping the future of work. Employers must prioritize people and purpose over processes and create a culture driven by empathy and focused on holistic employee well-being. Organizations that prioritize employee well-being are more likely to remain relevant and competitively advantageous.

To evaluate and improve employee wellbeing at work, employers should conduct thorough research to understand their employees' needs and expectations. By listening to employees, understanding their concerns, and adapting policies accordingly, organizations can foster a healthier, more engaged, and more productive workforce. This approach will be crucial in realizing the corporate vision, particularly in current challenging times.

Dr. Obuobi's book, "The Diary of a Branch Manager," emphasizes the importance of corporate wellness policies in promoting employee wellbeing and productivity, particularly through areas of focus like career development, healthcare and fitness planning, financial management, and stress and time management.
The Discovery Leadership's Work-Life Balance Program is designed to address these four main areas, with the goal of improving employee wellbeing and, in turn, corporate strategies and productivity.
Organizations can encourage employee participation in wellness programs by offering engaging internal content, such as wellness announcements, employee stories, and free resources.
When employees feel well, they are better able to develop their potential, contribute creatively, and build positive relationships, which leads to mutual benefits such as higher engagement, improved productivity, better company culture, increased retention, reduced health costs, and absenteeism.
Employers should prioritize understanding their employees' fears, needs, wants, problems, and concerns when initiating an employee wellness program to ensure it yields mutual benefits.
In the wake of the pandemic, organizations that prioritize employee well-being are more likely to remain relevant and competitively advantageous by shaping the future of work with empathy and a focus on holistic employee well-being.

Workshop sessions featuring Frank Adu ANIM and Genevieve Pearl Duncan OBUOBI (Dr): Maintaining equilibrium between professional and personal commitments (Part 2)