By 4.8 min read

Hybrid working attitudes and investments in wellness have changed over the last five years, mainly due to the pandemic. But as such a complex topic (and in economic uncertainty), how do you tackle wellness to improve employee well-being and not break the bank?

Join us as we explore how Kind Mind’s wellness tech can transform culture in a hybrid working model and tackle financial expense.

 

How wellness attitudes have changed since the rise of hybrid working

In recent years the wellness industry has grown to a $1.5 trillion beast as consumer interest exploded. This conversation naturally spilt into the workplace, where leadership became increasingly aware that positive attitudes to wellness could enhance employee success through a better employee experience.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the importance of wellness and mental health in remote and hybrid situations, leadership investment actually shrank by $3.7bn. And understandably so – business trading paused for many industries and slowed for others. So whilst we became acutely aware that many employees struggled with stress, anxiety, and burnout during this time, we didn’t have the funding to make as much change as we’d like.

This is where technology came into its own because, alongside mental health resources, office environment enhancements, flexible work arrangements, and stress management support, tech could tackle employee wellness remotely. And technology is often a more affordable solution and is quickly embraced by an increasingly tech-hungry audience.

Many new apps came onto the market, and leadership embraced them, testing multiple offerings with their staff. However, deciding which app to settle on wouldn’t be as easy as they’d hoped.

The global corporate wellness market is expected to rise to $100 billion by 2030, showing that leaders want to increase their workforce investments – attitudes and funding opportunities are changing. Unfortunately, alongside this is growing market saturation, making spotting “the wheat from the chaff” when it comes to legit wellness provisions difficult.

And that’s where we find ourselves, in a sea of wellness provision where there are many unscrupulous attempts to deliver spurious short-term solutions that do not last. This is why Kind Mind is striving to be radically different.

 

So, what does the future of hybrid working wellness tech look like?

Before we get there, let’s backtrack a little and ask, “what is workplace wellness?”

Wellness in the workplace refers to the efforts and practices taken by organisations to support and promote their employees’ overall health and well-being. This includes physical, mental, and emotional health, and it can significantly impact employee productivity, engagement, and job satisfaction.

Harvard Business Review researched how company culture affects employee wellness and found that high-pressure environments can be 50% more expensive on employee healthcare expenditure and see 50% more voluntary turnover. In a hybrid working situation, high pressure is compounded by feelings of not being seen or being able to prove worth in a remote setting. This makes mental health, in particular, much more of a challenge.

Our research found that a more positive hybrid company culture can see quite the reverse; a drop in healthcare expenses and increased productivity and retention. So how do we achieve a more positive outlook while offering a hybrid working practice?

Quote from Josh summarising that workplaces need to add the comfort and flexibility of hoe in order to retain engagement in the office

 

We should consider designing a workspace that coexists and competes with home while balancing the emotional and physical needs of those in remote locations. We must also ensure that there is a balance in social connectedness with a culture that promotes collaboration and teamwork even at a distance.

Wellness technology is a helpful tool here because it can help us maintain those relationships and create a supportive environment regardless of where our employees are. In turn, employees will be more likely to engage in healthy behaviours, experience less stress, and feel more satisfied with their health.

For us, this means technology investment has to be at the forefront of organisational change alongside revisiting cultural change.

 

But wellness tech has to be fit for purpose

To really benefit employees, wellness tech has to be fit for purpose. We cannot waste time and money on products that do not holistically serve all aspects of employee wellness: physical, emotional and social balance.

More than that, it must help leadership understand how and where to make cultural changes.

This is where Kind Mind is leading the pack.

 

Kind Mind’s wellness commitment to wellness attitudes and your hybrid working staff

Our commitment has to be more than just a few words in a blog; it has to be what we live and breathe. It has to be our attitude to employee wellness and how our cost-effective app works to create a positive outcome.

To do this, we’ve turned to science to genuinely understand employee wellness. That means diving into the latest research and working with leading academic institutions to conduct our own.

We focus on providing a holistic approach, software that helps employees learn and understand their feelings, make permanent changes and feel more positive about their future.

And we are going beyond employee life cycles to do that.

By embracing employees’ personal journeys, we have already seen vast improvements in the physical, emotional and social connectedness of the employees and businesses we work with.

Alongside this, for employers, we’ve created detailed reporting tools to give real-time oversight to employee well-being. With our support, employers have guidance on using this information to make systemic and permanent culture changes for the better – better for their employees and the business.

We would love to show you how that works.

Need some help setting up your employee wellness solution? Book a Kind Mind demo today, and let us show you what we can do!

Categories: CultureTags: ,

Want to Help Your People Feel Better, Faster?

Explore Kind Mind’s suite of solutions, crafted to enhance wellbeing the wellbeing of those in your workplace. From pay-as-you-go personalised therapy and individual self-care recommendations to data-led insights for HR leaders. We’re here to guide you and your staff towards a healthier, more productive future.