What is 'Wholebeing'?

Employee wellbeing has been on a real journey of change over the past decade. The rise of digitisation and globalisation coupled with a turbulent economy in the last few years has led to a notable shift in wellbeing norms and employee expectations.

As a result, the wellbeing of employees is becoming a core part of organisational strategy rather than an add-on or a ‘nice to have’ benefit. The goalposts have moved, which can only be a good thing, in my opinion. Employee experience is taking centre stage, and HR teams are beginning to view wellbeing as a baseline requirement to fulfil the basic human needs of their people. We’re all starting to take a more holistic approach to employee wellbeing. And while themes like health, physical fitness and mental resilience are still prominent, broader considerations such as connection, belonging and purpose are moving more into the spotlight. 

Which is where the term ‘wholebeing’ comes into play. 

It builds on the approach of developing a holistic wellbeing strategy that supports and benefits employees’ everyday lives, rather than seeing it as a tick-box exercise. So what actually is ‘wholebeing’, and how can we embrace it in the workplace? 

Defining ‘wholebeing’ 

The concept of ‘wholebeing’ takes the total employee experience into consideration, acknowledging that an employer cannot simply separate out ‘employee wellbeing’ as a standalone initiative or benefit. It’s all about the wellbeing of the whole person, and it encompasses everything from financial security, to physical health, to intellectual wellness, to connection and belonging, to stress management. 

If I had to distill the concept of ‘wholebeing’ into one sentence, I’d define it as an approach that considers an employee’s whole self and total needs – rather than just their physical or mental health.

A big contributor to wholebeing is employee appreciation. Because employees who feel genuinely appreciated and valued at work report higher levels of wellbeing, greater motivation and an increased sense of purpose. So if wholebeing is the end goal, it's important to ensure employees feel appreciated as a whole person – for who they are, as well as what they do.

How does ‘wholebeing’ differ from traditional wellbeing?

Traditional wellbeing models are usually focused on physical or mental wellness in isolation, and are positioned as an added benefit that is separated from an employee’s daily experience of the organisation. But this approach clearly isn’t working. Because despite employee health and wellbeing having been a priority for many organisations over the last decade, 35% of the UK workforce still say their overall wellbeing has decreased in the last two years, and over half say they frequently feel stressed at work.

Where traditional approaches have positioned wellbeing as a perk or benefit, the concept of wholebeing is much more integrated and takes into account the total needs of an employee. This kind of holistic approach encourages HR teams to operate in a far broader manner, designing wellbeing and inclusion strategies to be able to proactively support the everyday needs of their people. 

How Reward Gateway | Edenred support wholebeing

Refocusing your employee wellbeing strategy to take a more holistic approach that strives for ‘wholebeing’ is not always an easy task. It’s important to consider the unique needs of your workforce by understanding the priorities of different employee groups across your organisation – both inside and outside of work. Developing an employee value proposition (EVP) that meets the needs of a multigenerational workforce is one important step toward achieving wholebeing.   

Introducing a comprehensive employee discounts programme that gives your people easy access to everyday savings is another way to address their total needs. Our solution will provide your employees with financial support that enables them to stretch their disposable income further.

Making recognition a central part of your company culture is another impactful way to support both wholebeing and employee appreciation. We offer a tailored employee reward and recognition programme that will support your entire workforce, helping to boost connections and visibility, celebrate daily success and improve employee engagement. 

And, of course, no wholebeing strategy would be complete without a dedicated wellbeing solution that has been designed to engage, educate and empower your people. Our employee wellbeing solution offers multiple unique features that will both support company-wide holistic wellbeing initiatives and enable your employees to set and achieve personal wellbeing goals.  

Get in touch with one of our employee experience experts to arrange a demo for any of the solutions I’ve talked about in this blog post. The team would love to connect!