Fashion, beauty, and consumer products industries are starting to amp up employee wellness and well-being programs. If designed well, monitored, and communicated from the top down, they can serve as a great ROI, a true win-win for employees and companies. I was recently interviewed by a reporter for The Business of Fashion media (BOF), for an article titled How to Design Wellness Programs Employees Actually Use. I was quoted “It starts with listening to your employees and customizing a program from their perspective.” While handling Executive Search Recruiting at Theory / Fast Retailing, we offered a monthly child care stipend to employees – a fantastic example of a customized and beneficial program that was derived from listening to employees.
I told the BOF reporter Sheena Butler-Young, there are a number of non-traditional ways to listen at work, such as when the employee’s quality of work is suffering, during the hiring process, or participating in and listening to casual chats before a meeting. Managers should be encouraged to tune in on day-to-day cues and share employee needs and feedback with their leaders and HR partners so they can effectively draft and customize their wellness programs.
As an HR leader, I’ve designed, launched, and rolled out wellness programs and benefits at startups, midsize companies like Theory and Farfetch and large companies such as Warner Bros and Levi’s. In any size company, the key to a successful program is a twofold equation; listen to employees and prioritize the company’s objectives, then create a customized program accordingly. In my experience, this formula leads to successful, meaningful, beneficial and effective programs that employees appreciate and use.
I am optimistic that we’ll see more workplace wellness and well-being programs in the future. The outlook is good for culture-driven companies. Those that listen and know their business priorities will be the ones with the better wellness programs. Companies want best ROI and realize there are repercussions without employee well-being such as disengaged employees, miscommunication, costly errors, stressed employees, poor work output or performance issues, and low retention.
Companies want to retain employees and are willing to look at new benefits to offer such as trending Pet Care/ Pet Insurance, Child Care programs, extended Parental Leave programs and the popular topic of hybrid and onsite flex schedules.
If you would like to read the full article for The Business of Fashion, Workplace and Talent see link below:
Article written by Lisa Hollister
About the Author / Writer
Lisa Hollister, PHR is the Founder of Talent Suede; HR consulting and Executive Search Recruiter for the apparel industry and small businesses. As a certified HR professional, she brings 16 years HR leadership and fashion industry experience, specializing in HR solutions, including Wellness Programs, Executive Search and Career Coaching. When not working, Lisa hosts Hiring Manager and Executive round tables in NYC and attends fashion markets at Dover Street Market NYC and travels to other markets such as Dover Street London and trade shows such as Couterie /Magic and ReMode Sustainability to expand her network, resources, and bring you up-to-date industry information.
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