A new white paper reveals the business benefits of linking wellbeing to employee engagement, potentially giving HR directors new means of boosting performance levels.
The Evidence: Wellbeing and Employee Engagement, compiled by Engage for Success, finds that engaged employees are more attached to their organisations than those with low levels of wellbeing and the best companies in this regard outperform their competitors.
According to this comprehensive survey of literature on the topic, wellbeing and engagement can form a virtuous circle, whereby increasing levels of one can increase levels of the other.
The evidence suggests that committed and engaged employees deliver higher levels of customer service, boosting outcomes and sales performance.
Engaged employees are likely to be agile and resilient, as well as having fewer health problems. Consequently, they are likely to have a significant effect on business performance, with savings in terms of staff costs, productivity and performance.
Vanessa King, board member at non-profit Action for Happiness and a member of the Engage for Success wellbeing subgroup, said businesses often consider engagement and wellbeing separately and this is why they are not taken seriously, HR Magazine reports.
"Combining them builds a stronger case as they are both really impactful on UK PLC," she said. "The focus [around wellbeing] has tended to be on compliance and cure, not prevention and investment to drive performance. Are we at a tipping point now?"
Engage for success has drawn up a 12-point plan for introducing an engagement and wellbeing programme that can be used by organisations looking to improve their performance in this area.
The organisation says gaining the support of the chief executive officer in order to ensure initiatives get off the ground is a vital first step.
Dedicated teams could be established to deal with the issue, and an action plan drawn up once data has been gathered on engagement and wellbeing.
An effective communications strategy is also recommended, while leaders can act as role models for other employees and may require coaching to ensure they effectively promote engagement and wellbeing.