Laura Putnam is a workplace well-being expert and the author of Workplace Wellness that Works. Here she shares her list of the top five wellness trends for 2023.
Hybrid work is here to stay.
In 2022, millions of employees demanded greater flexibility in their work schedule, including the ability to work from home. With a tight labour market, employers will need to remain flexible and allow employees to continue to work from home or risk the ability to attract and retain them.
The rise of the four-day work week.
Just as employees have demanded control over where they work, in 2023 they’ll begin demanding more control over when they work. Don’t be surprised if many companies introduce a four-day work week this year in a bid to remain competitive in the red-hot labour market.
Mental well-being has taken centre stage.
With rates of burnout, depression and anxiety at record levels, many employees will expect their employers to make mental well-being a priority. This will require employers to go beyond providing benefits packages and force companies to rethink how they can create a supportive work environment where employees feel safe and heard.
The labour movement will grow.
With employees in the driver’s seat, they will continue to use their leverage to create stronger unions across many different sectors. In 2022, labour’s surge began to yield big victories, such as the union campaigns at Amazon and Starbucks. Petitions to file union elections shot up nearly 60 per cent and public approval of unions hit its highest point in half a century.
Well-being is a shared responsibility.
CEOs are recognizing that employee well-being needs to be a strategic priority. As recently shared by Francis deSouza, CEO of Illumina, at a recent CEO roundtable hosted by Fortune and Salesforce, “Employee wellness is an imperative. It is one of the criteria that people use to choose a job and whether or not to stay at it.”
