Beyond the Fruit Bowl: 4 Essential Aspects of Workplace Wellbeing

Picture this: a workplace where employees feel good, function at their best, and find fulfilment in both their professional and personal lives. Wellbeing has taken centre stage in recent years as organisations upgrade their understanding and appreciation of the many benefits. Workplaces have been shifting from a traditional health and safety or ‘medical’ model, focused on diagnosing and treating symptoms and supporting recovery from issues and incidences; to a more proactive and ‘wellbeing-promotion + incident-prevention’ focused approach inspired by the positive psychology movement.

Why Is Wellbeing At Work So Critical?

When we experience wellbeing in our life and work, it leads to better mental, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual health. It culminates in greater fulfilment, elevated energy and happiness, and improved relationships. People with high levels of wellbeing tend to better handle their life and work demands, face challenges with greater resilience, and recognise and capitalise on opportunities for growth. It's clear that improving wellbeing is essential for a fulfilling life and top performance. In fact, wellbeing and performance are inherently interdependent - as our wellbeing improves, so does our performance, and vice versa.

So let’s take a moment to quickly explore four key elements that make up an effective approach to workplace wellbeing.

1. Measure And Monitor Wellbeing Continuously

Gone are the days of guesswork and assumptions. It's time to bring science and data analytics to the forefront. Many organisations miss out on understanding the connection between wellbeing and performance because they lack a systematic approach to measurement and monitoring. As a result, leaders are often in the dark about their employees' work and life experiences and how these shape or are impacted by leadership practices and organisational culture. Imagine having real-time insights into the factors that affect your team's wellbeing and being able to proactively address them. Being able to show and speak to fluctuations, course direct troubling trends, and elevate the potential of people on purpose should be every leaders reality - not just a dream. And, it’s possible now for leaders that go after it.

2. Personalise Wellbeing To Meet Unique Employee Needs

While some health and safety issues are universal, improving employee wellbeing often requires a personalised approach that takes into account individual needs and what employees find meaningful, valuable, and fulfilling. A 'one-size-fits-all' approach won't cut it. Organisations need to focus on personalisation to create a supportive, inclusive workplace for all employees - one where human beings are respected and even celebrated for the diversity and uniqueness they bring.

3. Go Beyond Engagement

Engagement is a key metric for measuring how connected employees are to the organisation, but it doesn't capture all aspects of how employees feel about work and their ability to perform at their best. To truly understand employee engagement, it’s important to also explore employee wellbeing - and in that focus - it's crucial to respect that there is an interplay between the nature of work AND non-work life experiences people are having.

4. Beyond Health And Safety: Psychological And Psychosocial Safety Climate

Creating a safe and supportive work environment goes beyond physical health and safety. Psychological safety reflects an employee’s feeling that they can speak openly and honestly and be themselves at work and in their workplace relationships without fear of adverse consequences and it plays an important role in employee engagement and wellbeing (amongst numerous other benefits). In a psychologically safe environment, employees feel they can freely express their problems and concerns, their mistakes or self-doubts, their ideas and needs for learning. Psychosocial safety climate is a bigger topic than 1 sentence can convey - but has been becoming a hugely significant indicator of hazards associated with work stress and burnout risk, employee health and safety risk, and the impact of workplace climate on engagement, wellbeing, and performance outcomes.

So let’s all agree quickly that wellbeing is a positive force that goes well beyond just not being ill or injured. It's about feeling and functioning at our best and performing at a high level so that we can contribute with great impact in our work and personal lives. Moreover, individuals with high levels of wellbeing demonstrate resilience in handling life's demands, facing uncertainty and challenge, and seizing growth opportunities. Organisations need to focus on personalising wellbeing to meet unique employee needs, strengthening leader capability to develop and support their people, and adopt a more sophisticated and ongoing approach to measurement and monitoring. The time for a brighter future is now.

To find out how Benny Button can help your organisation reach new levels of wellbeing and performance [email protected] or visit www.bennybutton.com