Myth: Employee health isn’t a valuable KPI.
Business leaders, when you’re thinking about your most important company key performance indicators (KPIs), what comes to mind? Is it your revenue and profit margins? Maybe it’s your Net Promoter Score or customer acquisition cost. It might even be employee satisfaction or engagement. We get it, these are all exceptionally important and all indicate the health and wellbeing of your company. But speaking of health and wellbeing, you might be forgetting something…
We’d argue one of the most important and under-recognized corporate KPIs is your employee health and wellbeing. Our partnerships have given us firsthand insight into the difference between companies that prioritize this value and those that don’t. And the data backs up these observations. Simply put, companies that make employee health a nonnegotiable business effort nurture a workforce that’s healthier, happier and more productive. In today’s blog, we make a case for why employee health should be an important indicator of organizational success.
Why should we consider employee health & wellbeing as a key KPI?
Here’s the thing—the average employee is under stress and pressure like never before. They’re disengaged, distracted, and burned out. In fact, some data suggests a whopping two-thirds of employees experience burnout at their current job, and one-third report feeling emotional exhaustion. While burnout has plenty to do with environmental factors within the workplace, it’s also got quite a bit to do with what’s going on outside of work. Burnout is known to be strongly correlated with mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety—which means it’s difficult to say if burnout causes declining mental health, the other way around, or even both. And of course, employee burnout and poor mental health together contribute to a market increase in employee absences in addition to affecting their attitude toward work and productivity.
On top of work-related stresses, six out of ten employees reported being diagnosed with at least one chronic disease, which can have a significant impact on the way they show up to work. And, you guessed it, burnout can also increase the risk of developing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes.
What’s the cost of poor employee health & wellbeing?
First and foremost, burnout, chronic disease, and mental health concerns are massive threats to the financial wellbeing of your organization. The indirect costs of poor health including absenteeism, disability, or reduced work output may only compound these costs and the CDC estimates that productivity losses due to chronic diseases cost employers up to $225.8 billion annually. What’s more, depression, alone, is estimated to cost employers approximately $187.8 billion a year due to health care costs, absenteeism, and productivity losses.
Beyond the financial cost of poor health, an employee’s perception of whether their employer cares about their wellbeing also holds major weight. According to Gallup data, just 24% of employees would agree their employer cares about their wellbeing. The research goes on to suggest this, “should be of great concern to leaders given that these employees are 69% less likely than all other workers to search for a new job, 71% less likely to report experiencing burnout, and five times more likely to serve as an advocate for their organization.” Companies that care about their employee wellbeing in the long term not only insulate themselves from the financial burden of poor employee health but also shape company champions who are dedicated to long-term growth within that organization and are more likely to speak highly of them.
What can employers do to prioritize employee health & wellbeing as a KPI?
Recent research suggests employees want more out of their corporate wellness offerings–61% of employees are dissatisfied with their employer-offered wellness programs and 48% of employees do not believe their wellness programs can help them improve their health. Health coaching has already proven to be highly effective in promoting health and wellbeing for employees. For example, a study found that 12 weeks of wellness coaching led to improvements in overall quality of life, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress levels. Mental health coaching has also been shown to increase productivity and decrease absenteeism.
Here at YourCoach, we’ve also seen the impact health coaching (as non-clinical supplemental mental health support) can have on improving employee health and wellbeing firsthand through our employer partnerships. If you’re an organization that’s interested in partnering with us to deliver health coaching services to your workforce–or even to individual teams with the option to scale down the line–send us a note at team@yourcoach.health. There’s never been a more important time to make employee health and wellbeing a KPI and to achieve greater success through health coaching.