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How Leaders Can Improve Wellbeing in the Workplace

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What is wellbeing in the workplace?

Mental health and wellbeing at work are being spoken about more and more thanks to COVID, and organisations are finally really starting to crack down on employee wellbeing in the workplace. According to research by The CIPD, a study over 2019/2020 showed that 18 million working days were lost to mental health related issues like stress, anxiety, and depression.

In short, wellbeing is a state of happiness, comfort, and health. When at work, promoting wellbeing can help prevent employee stress and create a positive working environment for both employees and employers alike. A happier workforce is a more productive and effective workforce. Employers have a duty of care towards their employees and their health or mental health. But how can you as a leader, help to improve wellbeing at work?

The key aspects of wellbeing in the workplace

There is no one way to health and wellbeing in the workplace, as there are many different factors that can induce stress into somebody’s work life. For example:

The five elements of wellbeing are:

Career wellbeing: You like what you do every day.

Social wellbeing: You have meaningful friendships in your life.

Financial wellbeing: You manage your money well.

Physical wellbeing: You have energy to get things done.

Community wellbeing: You like where you live. Gallup finds that the most important element — and the foundation for the other four — is career wellbeing.

Clifton, Jim; Harter, Jim. Wellbeing at Work

  • Mental
  • Physical
  • Social
  • Financial
  • Digital

All of these things can have negative effects on each other. Especially after COVID, when people may have lost jobs or had to adjust to working from home. This would have led to a lack of physical movement, social interaction, and possibly financial trouble. Downfalls in any of these areas contribute to a lot of stress and even depression in those not sure how to handle it. Ensuring that these things are addressed when introducing a philosophy of wellbeing into the workplace will leave employees feeling happier, stress-free, and secure.

As a leader, what can you do?

Being a leader or employer there are some ways that you can improve how you manage wellbeing across your workforce.

  • Regularly check in with your team members. Ask how they are doing, feeling, or if they need any help or advice.
  • Act on it. If you see an employee struggling with one or multiple aspects of their job or life, try to help them. Ask them if there is anything you can do to help, or just talk to them.
  • Find ways to create a safe space for employees. Normalise talking about wellbeing at work and try to implement a wellbeing strategy into the workplace.
  • Learn to recognise the early signs of someone who could be stressed. Perhaps start implementing a stress management initiative?

There are many ways to improve wellbeing in the workplace. If you would like to know more about how to introduce a wellbeing strategy, or how to manage employee stress, do not hesitate to contact Alison Charles here:

Tel: 07768 493157

Office: 020 3290 3157

Email: alison@alisoncharles.co.uk
Twitter: @alisonjcharles
LinkedIn: Alison Charles
Facebook: Alison Charles: Real Resilience

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Is Your To-Do List a Challenge?

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Is Your To-Do List a Challenge?  According to a recent study commissioned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) you are likely to have an average 33 tasks to complete each week.  Is this manageable?

According to the survey, about 60% feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks.  Sorting finances feature quite strongly but day to day tasks like looking after pets and taking care of the household chores are also on the list.

Two-thirds of the people surveyed feel like they are operating on autopilot, meaning to-do lists left as to-do and a never-ending list of tasks just get added to the bottom while others are there so long they fall off altogether.

Many people are planning to use the long bank holiday weekend to tick things off their job lists.  I have to admit, I will be too. My to-do list includes a lot of fun things as well as some household chores. It is really important that you get a balance and remember to schedule some rest and relaxation time.

Is Your To-Do List a Challenge? Here are some simple tips to help get that list sorted.

  1. Categorise the tasks into Urgent, Important, Waiting on someone else, delegate, decision
  2. Focus on the urgent ones first.  Put them in order of urgency.
  3. If the task itself feels large and overwhelming then break it down into a series of smaller, manageable tasks.
  4. Regardless of how long the task takes, do them in the category order.
  5. The more urgent ones you tick off the better you will feel
  6. If you are waiting on someone else, go give them a nudge now
  7. If you can delegate do so

Good luck with your list.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to overcome stress then I would love to connect.

Here’s my calendar link to make finding time easy.

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Stress at Work Rises

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Shocking number of people work while ill; stress at work rises. A new report carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) was released today, just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month.  The statistics are shocking.

People working while ill has tripled since 2010

The Health and Wellbeing at Work Survey was carried out at the beginning of 2018. Respondents to the survey said they had they had observed presenteeism (people working while ill) in their organisation over the last 12 months, compared with 72% in 2016 and just 26% in 2010.  This is their 18th Survey, so there is now a wealth of data to compare with.

Fewer Companies are Challenging “Presenteeism” and “Leavism” than in 2016

Even despite these shocking figures, only a very small number of firms are taking steps to tackle the issue.  In fact 50% fewer companies are taking steps to tackle the issue in 2018 than in 2016.

As well as “Presenteeism” being a problem, the new buzzword is “Leaveism”.  This is when people use their annual leave to work.  This is also highlighted in the report with only 27% of companies that see this behaviour, doing something to discourage it.

Working while ill bad for the individual

Shocking number of people work while ill; stress at work rises. Neither Presenteeism nor Leaveism is good for the individual or the company.  Everyone needs downtime and some R&R.  If staff are using their annual leave to get work done that is bad news.

Work is more pressured than ever and so many people are worried about job security. They show up because they want to be seen and want to give no reason to be first in line for redundancy.  In the longer term this can lead to more serious illness and a lot longer on sick leave.

Bad for Business

As well as impacting the wellbeing of the individual, it will also have a disastrous result for your company productivity.  People who are struggling are not working at their best or fullest capacity.  In fact, they are probably operating well below par. The longer this goes on the less productive they will be.

What Can You Do About It?

There is a direct link between presenteeism/leaveism and increases in stress-related absence and other mental health related illnesses like depression and anxiety.  These are still among the top causes of long-term sickness absence.

If you recognise this behaviour in your company, that people are working when ill in particular, then a focus on employee wellbeing as a whole can reduce unhealthy workplace practices.

Senior leaders are key influencers and must support wellbeing.  They also need to act as role models within the company.  Managers within the company, at all levels, need the training to support employees and often themselves.

“In order to tackle these unhealthy practices within your company, it is vitally important that you invest in a health and wellbeing strategy, and that the strategy is at the core of your values.  I am in no doubt that if you do invest in a health and wellbeing strategy you will absolutely see the benefits.” Pam Whelan, Director of Corporate, Simply Health

I will be taking a deeper dive into different aspects of the report in future blogs.

Need Help?

If you need support in implementing your wellbeing strategy or changing behaviour in your company, or perhaps you are interested in finding out more about how to support your employees then I would love to connect.

Here’s my calendar link to make finding time easy.

 

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