Wellbeing champions are individuals within an organization who are responsible for promoting and coordinating the implementation of health and wellbeing initiatives for employees. They typically work in the human resources, employee engagement or employee health and safety departments. They may be employees who volunteer for the role or they may be appointed by management.

Wellbeing champions can have a significant impact on businesses in a variety of ways, including:

• Increased employee engagement: By promoting and coordinating health and wellbeing initiatives, wellbeing champions can help increase employee engagement and participation in these initiatives, which can lead to greater employee satisfaction and motivation.
• Improved employee health and wellbeing: Wellbeing champions can help educate employees about the importance of mental and physical health, and the resources available to them, which can lead to improvements in overall health and wellbeing.
• Reduced absenteeism and presenteeism: By promoting and coordinating initiatives that improve employee health and wellbeing, wellbeing champions can help reduce absenteeism and presenteeism (where employees come to work but are not fully productive), which can lead to increased productivity and cost savings for the organization.
• Increased employee retention: By improving employee health and wellbeing, and creating a culture of health and wellbeing within the organization, wellbeing champions can help increase employee retention and reduce turnover.
• Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements: By promoting and coordinating health and safety initiatives, wellbeing champions can help organizations comply with legal and regulatory requirements related to employee health and safety.
• Cost savings: By promoting and coordinating initiatives that improve employee health and wellbeing, wellbeing champions can help organizations save money on healthcare costs and lost productivity.
• Better work culture: Wellbeing champions can help to create a work culture that is supportive of employee health and wellbeing, which can lead to improved morale, better teamwork, and increased employee satisfaction.

Many large organisations have many wellbeing champions as part of their wellbeing ecosystem. However, wellbeing champions may experience a variety of frustrations in their role, such as resistance from employees to participate in wellness programs, lack of support from management, difficulty measuring the impact of their efforts, and limited resources to implement their ideas. Additionally, they may also struggle with balancing their role as a “champion” with their other responsibilities within the organization. 

So what can companies do differently?

• Have a clear job description: Given the positive impact the role can have on individuals and teams, companies should start looking at creating full time roles than have it as an adjunct function.
• Measure the impact: Evaluating the role of wellbeing champions allows companies to assess the impact of their wellness programs and make necessary adjustments.
• Cost-benefit analysis: By evaluating the role of wellbeing champions, companies can determine if the costs of implementing and maintaining wellness programs are outweighed by the benefits in terms of employee engagement, productivity, and retention.
• Identify gaps: Evaluating the role of wellbeing champions can help companies identify areas where their wellness programs are lacking and where additional resources may be needed.
• Employee feedback: By evaluating the role of wellbeing champions, companies can gather feedback from employees about the effectiveness of their wellness programs and what changes they would like to see.
• Continuous improvement: Regularly evaluating the role of wellbeing champions can help companies make continuous improvements to their wellness programs to better meet the needs of their employees.

It’s important to note that the impact of wellbeing champions will vary depending on the size and culture of the organization, the resources available, and the specific initiatives that are implemented. Regularly evaluating the role and impact of the wellbeing champions is important to ensure that the programs and initiatives are effective and continue to meet the needs of the employees and the organization.

There are various measures that can be used to help wellbeing champions demonstrate the impact they have on teams or individuals. Wellbeing champions can anonymously collate information about individual/teams wellbeing challenges and point them in the right direction. Alternately, they can use online platforms like KAYA to help them in that journey. 

If you are interested in knowing more about how to maximise the role of wellbeing champions or KAYA then do get in touch with us.