Wellbeing in work across cultures

A wellbeing in work strategy will help to ensure your employees feel happy and supported, but it is also important to remember that your employees can come from any number of backgrounds and cultures, meaning their needs might differ from others. Wellbeing solutions, just like environments, aren’t one-size-fits-all and support offered needs to account for it. 

A wellbeing strategy needs to be inclusive and may require frequent check-ins with employees to ensure you are meeting everyone’s needs.

What can you do?

How do you keep track of all the different needs of your employees? Well, it doesn’t have to be difficult. 

Communication

Maintaining open channels of communication and organising check-ins is a great way to keep in touch with your employees. You can set up a meeting once a month to make sure everyone is happy or have a box or inbox for suggestions that can then be discussed and, if appropriate, implemented.  

It is important to remember to address any issues or concerns raised without judgement. If your employees feel like they might face judgement for their ideas, they will be hesitant about coming forward with any problems, which can have a negative effect on the workplace culture and employee happiness.

Technology

Use an occupational health and wellbeing app which hosts a variety of resources to help employees from all cultures and background to get help across the full range of occupational health queries. There are many technological solutions available to help you achieve this. For example, through our wellness app Fuse AI.

Research

Do your own research on different cultures and traditions and how their needs and requirements may be different from that of your own. This will help guide you on how you can incorporate different wellbeing solutions for different employees. For example, during Ramadan some workers might benefit from a lighter workload, flexible working hours, and more frequent breaks. This will prevent accidents, and it will allow your employees to continue working as normal while also showing understanding and consideration.

Finally, remember to be inclusive and not single employees out. Highlight cultural benefits of your strategy to all employees and not just the ones it relates to.

If you are looking for more advice or want to reach out, don’t hesitate to contact us!