Wellbeing in the Workplace
A great workplace is one built on trust. Trust in turn drives sustainable engagement, and engagement drives business performance. The benefits speak for themselves!
The Importance of Wellbeing
Wellbeing and the importance of workplace culture
There is growing awareness of the impact wellbeing can have on individuals, businesses, the economy and society, along with growing interest from the investment community in wellbeing as a leading indicator of an organisations financial performance and market value; research shows that organisations with effective wellbeing programmes outperform the many organisations that don’t.
Mental & Physical Health
Wellbeing includes people’s physical and mental health and the social/relationship aspects of their work environment. It is a key driver of engagement so for many ‘employers of choice’ focusing on employees’ wellbeing is a conscious business decision. But to be effective wellbeing doesn’t always mean spending money. Recognising people as individuals, showing appreciation and trusting people by providing flexible working are no-cost ways of addressing work-life balance, a key driver of wellbeing.
Stress is widely recognised as one of the biggest drivers of poor wellbeing in the workplace, and this in turn can be driven by many factors such as not enough time to do the job, not having the right equipment or tools, being bulled by work colleagues, or personal issues which can be short or long-term.
Organisational culture is critical to wellbeing as a culture where people feel trusted, valued and respected will in itself engender feelings of wellbeing. Organisations where the culture is poor are more likely to suffer lower levels of wellbeing so, whilst wellbeing programmes are important, they will be less effective if the organisation’s culture is poor. The average UK organisation has wellbeing scores of just 53% compared to 84% at best-in-class organisations like the UK’s Best Workplaces, whose cultures are more positive and supportive.
SAFETY ZONE Can Help
We at Safety-Zone can help. We have a variety of services and training that will help you and your organisation to reduce stress of all types, improve wellbeing, and make your organisation much more productive, and more importantly, A Great Place to Work!
Wellbeing goes beyond just ‘wellness’, important as that is. It’s a complex blend of the physical, psychological, social and relationship aspects of employees’ working lives. It includes factors such as their working environment and how they get on with their manager and colleagues. Wellbeing affects not only the lives of individuals but businesses, the economy and society. There is increased societal awareness of the non-financial aspects of wellbeing or ‘happiness’ and the impact wellbeing has on engagement.
‘We believe we have a moral obligation to make the workplace great for people who spend much of their lives at work.’