In 2019, workplace wellbeing is no longer a 'nice to have'. If you want to attract and retain the very best staff in the tech sector, it is an essential differentiator for your company.

As an employer, including flexibility and wellness in your employee engagement strategy will make your business stand out from the crowd for candidates, and help you to retain existing staff. As your company keeps up with the needs and desires of employees around physical and mental health, wellbeing and work-life balance, you can also expect to see a healthier, more engaged and more productive workforce.

If you're not already offering workplace wellness initiatives, you risk being left behind. The 2018 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends Survey found that 88 per cent of business and HR leaders in the UK are working towards improving employee wellbeing, by offering wellness and work-life balance programmes at work.

But, according to the same report, just five per cent of organisations currently have extensive wellbeing programmes. Just over half (59 per cent) say they have limited or basic wellbeing programmes. So the time is right to take action and put robust employee engagement strategies in place that enhance flexibility and wellness
in the workplace.

Three key reasons to promote wellbeing in the workplace are:

• increased productivity and motivation
• better morale and improved team working
• decresed workplace stress and absenteeism

Including flexibility and wellness in your employee engagement strategy need not be expensive. The latest
Employee Wellbeing Research by REBA found it cost on average between £51 and £75 per employee. With the benefits that level of investment can bring to the company, in terms of staff retention, productivity and reduced absenteeism, it really is money well spent.

Every company is different, so consider what initiatives will help fulfil your own aims – whether that is a better calibre of candidate or reduced absenteeism – and your employees' own priorities.

Private medical care or reduced gym memberships are always popular with staff, and have the benefit of
improving employee health. For these initiatives, you may find it useful to partner with a local or national provider of these services.

Other initiatives can come from within the organisation. Consider setting up a lunchtime walking group or yoga sessions, a cycle to work scheme or free fruit in the workplace. Walking meetings in the fresh air can encourage a whole new perspective compared to a meeting in a stuffy boardroom. Volunteering as a company for a local charity or community organisation can help build team morale, and opens up wellbeing initiatives to staff who may be unable to be active due to disability or age.

If you have employees who are already motivated, get them on board to become champions of your initiatives. A scheme with employee involvement is often more effective in getting off the ground and becoming embedded in your culture.

But wellness isn't just about healthy eating and exercise, it is about emotional and mental wellbeing. For many employees, work-life balance is the key to wellbeing. Whether they have caring responsibilities outside of work, or just perform better with an earlier or later start to the day, flexible working is relatively easy and low cost to implement. Most importantly, it should result in a happier, more engaged workforce with improved morale. Flexible working could mean working at home for one day a week, working a nine-day fortnight, or having an earlier start or later finish.

Flexible working often includes open-plan offices and hot-desking, but this in itself may not always improve wellbeing. In fact, it may have the opposite effect. Recent research by Brickendon Digital found that 92% of office workers who have hot-desking arrangements have issues with it, with 80% saying workplace seating
arrangements had a negative effect on their mental wellbeing.

Workplace noise is also an issue for 40 per cent of workers, according to The Noise and Wellbeing at Work 2019 survey, carried out by Remark Group. Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) said noise from everything from ringing phones, to private conversations, bursts of laughter and even eating, affected their ability to complete their
work in an accurate and timely way.

The right employee engagement and wellbeing programme is proven to enhance productivity, retention and aid attraction to your company. It shows your workforce that you value them.

If your current strategy isn't working, or if you don't yet have a strategy in place, the key is to refine it until it is having the desired impact on recruitment and retention – or risk missing out on the very best talent.