Wellness Intro
Wellbeing at work seems to be the buzz word of the past 12 months, and rightly so. We are all aware of the impact of the pandemic has had on mental health, and the change in working environments has been a huge contribution to that.
The wellbeing at work initiative has been pushed by the Government over the past 10 years, encouraging companies to sign up, and shift the health and safety initiatives at work to encompass the psychosocial aspects of working life. What was a nice to have, has become more of a corporate social responsibility, should have.
Some organisations have embraced this whole heartedly, and some have provided token gestures. I don’t think there is an organisation anywhere, where no matter their position on the scale before, wouldn’t benefit from evaluating their Wellness provision today.
I embrace wholeheartedly, the change in emphasis, how the mental health of all staff (and I say ALL, as even the toughest CEO will have some anxieties) is acknowledged to apply 24 hours a day and is simply not paused during working hours. And how, the mental health of employees may be a direct result of what occurs during the working hours.
So change is afoot, and lets make sure it’s meaningful.
We know that with any initiative or Change within an organisation, Culture is at the heart of it being successful. There is little point in saying that staff are our most prized asset, if it is not recognised that they are being pushed too hard, or the Board do not consider the impact on staff when they drive the next target.
What is the point in the Board saying that they address wellness of their staff, if a line manager gives no time to listening (actively listening) and showing compassion to an individual’s concerns.
And what use is an intervention to improve employee wellness if it doesn’t meet the needs of the team? If the employees have not collaborated on what they need to help address wellness at work, then it becomes a tick box exercise and is just a cost to the organisation with no value.
At ProAction HR our approach to Wellness is centred around the above 3 C’s; Culture, Compassion and Collaboration. All three areas need to be addressed and embodied to provide a meaningful approach to Wellness. Without it, it is purely a tick box exercise, and a cost to the organisation without any real return.