Just this month Fika surveyed 650 workers in the UK (working a minimum of 30 hours per week) to better understand current workplace wellbeing trends.
275 men and 375 women working across 31 industries were recruited.
The wellbeing of workers in the UK is still cause for concern
Much has been made of the impact that the pandemic had on workers’ wellbeing. But our data shows that we’re certainly not out of the woods yet.
50% of workers in the UK are experiencing medium to high levels of exhaustion. And 40% are experiencing medium to high levels of disengagement.
This is not necessarily a surprise, as many workers are still not only coping with the long tail effects of the pandemic, but are also adapting to changing working conditions and increasing financial pressures.
These findings in of themselves are cause for concern. But they are also translating to staff retention, health and productivity.
More specifically, 39% of those surveyed reported thinking about quitting their jobs with some degree of regularity. And on average respondents reported working at 75% of their full potential. Additionally, across the 650 respondents, 1053 sickness days were reported across the past 12 months alone.
Many workplace wellbeing solutions aren’t having their desired reach or impact
Typically workplace wellbeing solutions are offered as optional health and wellbeing benefits (e.g. subscriptions to meditation apps, access to wellbeing web pages). Yet we found that 82% of workers in the UK either weren’t aware of, or hadn’t used, the health and wellbeing benefits available to them.
Many organisations are challenged with the same problem. How are they going to get their employees to engage proactively with solutions to offset the risk of wellbeing decline?
Many existing wellbeing solutions out there simply aren’t working.
Workplace wellbeing has to start with work, not wellbeing
It’s our belief that optional wellbeing benefits will never be effective. Because typically the leading causes of wellbeing decline at work relate to how people work with their colleagues on a daily basis.
As a result, that’s where workplace wellbeing solutions need to begin - with work, not wellbeing.
