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Creating your wellbeing workplace policy
A health and wellbeing policy is an excellent way to build a positive and healthy workplace. Use our tool to create one for your business.
What you need to know
Business.govt.nz collaborated with Te Whatu Ora to develop a health and wellbeing policy that can be customised to your business.
A workplace wellbeing policy is an excellent way to build a positive and healthy workplace. It helps you, as an employer, demonstrate your commitment to the health and wellbeing of your employees.
Use the Workplace Policy Builder to develop your own health and wellbeing policy. It can be as short or as detailed as you like depending on what you choose to include. At every step, there’s information, tips, and advice on how to avoid common mistakes.
Build your own workplace policies
Use our Workplace Policy Builder to create policies tailored to your workplace. The tool has tips to help you decide what to put in and leave out of your policy. You’ll also find common mistakes employers make and ways to avoid them.
Why a health and wellbeing policy is important
Your most important asset is your people (He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata), and it’s good for business to ensure the health and wellbeing of your employees is a priority.
Businesses that create a work environment where employees’ physical and mental wellbeing is considered have lower absenteeism, fewer injuries, and experience higher productivity and customer satisfaction. A company culture of support is also good for attracting and retaining employees.
Employees who feel healthy and supported are more productive, engaged, resilient, creative, and generally perform better.
A health and wellbeing policy helps show your staff that you’re making a commitment to their wellbeing. It nurtures a healthy environment where your people can thrive.
When you’re creating your policy
When you’re creating your health and wellbeing policy think about how the work environment and work organisation might affect employees’ health and wellbeing, and what health and wellbeing issues employees might bring to work. These might include:
- mental health issues, including stress
- physical health issues
- smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke
- sun exposure
- alcohol at work events.
There are customisable sections covering all these topics in the workplace health and wellbeing policy builder.
Ask your employees what they would like to see included in your policy. Make sure your policy can apply to everyone who comes into your workplace – contractors, fixed-term employees, temps, and visitors.
You can find more information and resources, including a quiz, case studies, advice about healthy workplaces, and a framework to support businesses work better through wellbeing, in the links below.
Work-related health: Mental health(external link) — WorkSafe
Workplace wellbeing quiz(external link) — Good4Work
Building a healthy workplace(external link) — Wellplace.nz
Work better through wellbeing(external link) — WorkWell
Case study
Duncan's restaurant
Duncan owns a restaurant. He has several regular and casual employees who he relies on to provide a great dining experience for his customers, and to maintain the reputation of his business.
He wants to keep his employees happy and healthy, so he asks them what they’d like to see in a health and wellbeing policy. He then uses the Workplace Policy Builder to create a health and wellbeing policy that will support his employees’ wellbeing.
While the health and wellbeing policy offers a wide range of topics, Duncan focuses on those subjects he knows are important to his employees and his business.
His new health and wellbeing policy outlines the company’s policies and expectations around a range of factors that could impact on his employees’ health and wellbeing at work. These include smoking, alcohol and responsible hosting, mental health, staying at work or returning to work after illness or injury, and hiring policies.
Duncan has communicated the new policy to his employees, and they now understand what their employer will be doing to provide a workplace that will support their health and wellbeing. Duncan’s business is also likely to gain from a more engaged – and healthier – workforce.
