GetZeN – a new wellbeing platform for the workplace

As we slowly start to return to some semblance of normality there has perhaps never been a better opportunity for organisations to establish a truly impactful and supportive wellbeing strategy. We know that a huge number of organisational working practices have changed forever and now is the time to consider how best to structure your staff wellbeing provisions to ensure all individuals are supported adequately and equally.

At a fundamental level, any wellbeing strategy should ensure that the organisation does not negatively impact their employees physical and mental health. This is actually a legal requirement often forgotten and should form the very base layer or a wellbeing strategy. The opportunity from there is to not just prevent poor mental and physical health in the workplace but to support and encourage an increased level of positive mental and physical wellbeing that has the potential to improve a workforce’s general health and happiness.

To achieve that you need to take a multi-level approach across your organisation to providing a complete offering that adequately supports all employees at all levels in all roles. Building wellbeing into their overall corporate strategy as a key strategic and commercial pillar is fundamental to ensuring your staff are able to bring the best version of themselves to work and will give organisations a good chance of being commercially successful, build a strong culture and attract the best talent.

We are at a point today where there is clear appetite to build more wellbeing programs into organisations. But, all too often, we also see businesses blindly entering into programs and relationships with providers without having clarity on what success looks like for them. Whilst it can be confusing to navigate the diverse offerings in the market and even more difficult to measure the return on investment of your wellbeing investments, it doesn’t have to be that way. By understanding what your goals and priorities are for your organisational wellbeing and you can then build a strategy and curate content that supports those goals and can be successfully delivered within the culture of your business. But perhaps the key to all of this is an ability to measure the impact these programs have on employees. Understanding if they are having a positive or negative effect allows you to make informed decisions on how to improve, justify the investment to a board and understand how this investment is benefitting the bottom line of the business. By incorporating wellbeing into the operational revenue model for the business will start to tangibly show the impact a healthy and happy workforce has to profitability.

Curating that suite of wellbeing offerings is important as you clearly want to support all your staff without any discrimination. Equal opportunity for all. Having spent over ten years in the field of Men’s Health and from my own personal experiences,  I know only too well that in the past health and wellbeing has had a gender bias skewed towards women. This is largely due to women engaging in their health, asking for services and being provided them as a result. As men tend not to engage with their health as much they have been largely ignored. Simple supply and demand.  But with deadly consequences.

We know men are often more socially isolated and this pandemic has profoundly impacted on that further.

75% of suicides are male and globally one man a minute takes his own life.

This huge disparity in incidence rates was a stark indicator of some of the issues that we face as men around engaging in services and the accessibility of support programs.

Only 36% of referrals to NHS talking therapies are for men, for example.

Until we consider all employees’ needs equally and take more time to understand the different ways men and women engage in their health and access wellbeing services, we will always fall short of the mark in providing the right programs, care provision and wellbeing strategies.

But where do you start? Many dip their toe into wellbeing with a piece meal approach. A yoga session here, a duvet day there and perhaps an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) slapped on top and left to gather dust. This may be due to a lack of knowledge, small token budget allocation, a lack of prioritising wellbeing as a core business requirement or combination of factors. Getting the best advice in one place can save time and money and finding a wellbeing business that understands all of these challenges whilst offering a curated wellbeing programme, delivered by experts to benefit employees, is a good start. If that organisation used the latest technology platforms to allow your business to curate, procure and measure the impact of those programmes you are well on your way to creating a truly impactful offering that you can quantify, qualify and validate within the business.

GetZeN is one such business that has just launched the first progressive web app (PWA) for wellbeing. Utilising their proprietary diagnostic platform, they can combine computer science with psychology which allows them to understand your organisation and employees & measure the value of your investment.

I’m excited to be working with them as they really understand the challenges faced by organisations. They have built a team of experts to address those challenges and build robust, measurable, impactful wellbeing programmes that are bespoke to their clients giving them a better chance of success. Bringing together the clinical and holistic sides to mental health and wellbeing means you can get a full service offering for your wellbeing program.

It is our personal responsibility to proactively engage in our own physical & mental health and investing the time to understand what works for you to stay well is the first step. But is also important that organisations support this self-management and ensure workplaces are a place of positivity and not somewhere that negatively impacts on our wellbeing. GetZeN is an organisation that can help you achieve those goals.

Let’s take this opportunity to build a healthy happy workplace for all and empower everyone to be the best version of themselves.

Carpe diem.

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