Anti-Burnout Culture: Strategies to Prioritize Employee Well-Being

In the social-impact sector, so much of our energy goes toward successfully recruiting and hiring top talent. But, once you find your new hire, what comes next? 

We think employee retention deserves as much attention (or more) as recruitment. In order to build a stellar new-employee experience, it's critical to develop a robust employee retention plan that values and invests in staff health and well-being.

Nurturing a “whole person” culture can also benefit your organization’s bottom line. After all, healthy, rested, and fulfilled staff members are more productive, miss fewer days of work, and stay with their employer for longer. 

Whether you have a retention plan in place or you’re considering how to get started, here are some strategies to include in your organization’s playbook:

Take the temperature at your organization

The best way to find out how employees are feeling is to ask them. Build out an organizational survey or conduct focus groups to gather direct feedback, and consider offering the option of anonymity as it may improve engagement. You can also pull internal data, focusing on things like employee turnover rates, sick-day usage, and progress toward organizational goals. These often serve as powerful indicators of employee morale and well-being. 

Develop some actionable goals

Once you have a better picture of how your organization is doing, it's time to set goals around how you’d like to improve or build upon your current plan.

If you are starting from scratch, set a goal for the number of wellness activities you’d like to launch, considering metrics around things like employee engagement. How many employees are taking advantage of fitness reimbursements or an in-office mindfulness session?

If you are building on what your organization already has in place, think about growth metrics like an increase in employee participation, work goals reached, or decreases in employee absences.

Meet employees where they are 

• Create wellness opportunities for employees at home or in the office. Taking into consideration possible barriers like budget restraints, you might want to start with something low-cost and easy to implement. For example, consider organizing a monthly lunch and learn, where the entire office pauses work to connect over a specific topic or content area. You could tap senior level staff, board members, or external partners to lead sessions. If it’s not in your budget to provide a catered lunch, think of other resourceful options like an office potluck or build-your-own lunch buffet. 
• Initiate an employee recognition program. Small actions can go a long way in building a supportive work environment. Send handwritten thank-you notes, recognize wins in staff meetings, offer an incentive like a $10 coffee gift card, and celebrate employee milestones. 
• Launch an organization-wide wellness challenge. Get creative while focusing on inclusivity. Consider a meditation or sleep challenge (yes, sleep!). Offer flexibility in work schedules, providing employees with time each week to complete and/or document their participation. 
• Improve your benefits offerings. Take stock of your organization's current benefits with a benchmarking survey. If you have some room in the budget, boost your wellness offerings with a subscription to a wellness app, like Calm or Meditopia.

Assess and adjust

Once your plan is up and running, make sure to schedule checkpoints along the way to evaluate its impact. If things are working, continue to focus on ways to expand, gather feedback, and incorporate some variety to shake things up.

If your attempts aren't moving the needle, pivot. Invite employees to provide another round of feedback and don’t be afraid to experiment with something new!