Happy Employees Drive Success: Why Aren't Employers Investing in Workplace Culture?

We all know happy, healthy, motivated employees sell more, offer more, and work harder than those who are burnt out and underappreciated, so why aren’t we more focused on raising morale and improving work culture? Why aren’t companies spending more on workplace wellness? 

There could be many reasons but 3 that I want to discuss are:

1. Ownership blind spots 

2. Fear of added cost

3. Overlooking the Benefits of ROI

1. Blindspots

Ownership blind spots means that the owner is either focused on one particular thing or pulled in so many directions they haven’t had a chance to check in with their employees. Many times owners aren’t even taking care of themselves, they’re super stressed, running on fumes, have a poor diet, and can lack awareness. Most small businesses are built on sheer grit and determination and owner-operators do have a lot on their plate. Still, if they’re not taking care of themselves they will be hard-pressed to provide a highly engaged work environment. 

2. Fear of cost

Added expenses scare business owners plain and simple. Small businesses have expenses that most people don’t even think of from credit card processing fees, business-priced internet which is much higher than home internet, ongoing maintenance expenses, and high overhead, another expenditure can seem overwhelming. But, if employee and company wellness was built into a monthly expense plan and had quarterly allocations based on sales this expense could easily be planned for.

3. ROI

Return on investment can be hard to track if we’re trying to follow the money linearly. After all, you can’t track dollar for dollar when you’re investing in sound baths, breathwork, or organic lunches. But what you can see over time is employees who begin to feel valued, you can start to see subtle changes in employee communication, level of pride in their work, and in turn, sales and finances improve. When you invest in these things regularly, such as quarterly, you can start to track the data. You can see the numbers before any wellness investment from the years prior and compare them to the quarters and years afterward. Ownership should take part in these wellness investments, they likely need it too! A wellness investment should be seen as an opportunity for team building, a chance to let our guard down and allow real conversations to flow. 

Investing in your people is like working on client relations, you need to be consistent to earn trust and build the relationship. Sending a client a gift once a year is nice but checking on them throughout the year is better, it’s the same for people who work in your company. 

A bonus of improving and investing in workplace health is you begin to attract a higher caliber of employees and applicants. Current employees begin to tell their friends and word spreads about the community and environment created here. 

If you ask me thriving workplace culture is always worth the investment especially when you take into account all the potential you have to gain.