Enhancing Well-Being in the Workplace: Tips for Leaders

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Enhancing well-being in the workplace is paramount. But as leaders, we must be genuine in our actions and words.

It’s all good and well saying that we care, adopting hybrid work models, providing four-day work weeks, and offering our people paid time off to ensure they can put their mental and physical health first.

But if our people don’t believe that we truly care about them, they’ll not only find it hard to trust us, but they’ll likely look to take their expertise elsewhere.

Failure to prioritise the well-being of our people could additionally lead to a decrease in productivity, an increase in conflict, higher levels of stress, and prolonged periods of absence.

But how can we support our people and enhance their well-being in the workplace?

Enhancing Well-Being in The Workplace

Leaders play a key role in fostering and enhancing well-being in the workplace. However, no one person is the same. This means that as leaders, we need to find and adopt approaches and resources that work best for our people.

“We are embedding health and well-being at the heart of our business strategy because our people are our greatest asset, and we recognize that a healthy, happy and committed workforce is vital to our business success.” - Alex Gourlay

To enhance well-being in the workplace, we can:

Promote Psychological Safety

Psychological safety in the workplace ensures that people feel safe to share their ideas without worrying that they will be judged, laughed at, or belittled. Yet, according to a study conducted by Workhuman, only 26% of employees felt psychologically safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organisations and leaders who promote psychological safety in the workplace are more likely to find that:

• Employees are engaged
• People feel as though they can speak up
• Job satisfaction is higher
• Employee turnover is lower
• Employees have better physical and mental health

To promote psychological safety and enhance well-being in the workplace, there are many things you can do. For example, you could:

• Encourage open communication
• Empower your people to expand their skills
• Ensure your people know that it’s okay to make mistakes

Offer Additional Support

When it comes to enhancing well-being in the workplace, it’s essential to consider what support is already in place for your people.

Taking a step back, ask yourself who your people can turn to when they are struggling with their well-being. Is there a dedicated team or HR professional? Do you provide well-being resources? Do you offer external support in the form of counselling? Do you promote or host activities that reduce stress and increase physical and mental well-being?

If the answer to any of the above questions is no, it may well be time for you to consider providing additional support to your people. In doing so you can work towards giving your people the tools they need to improve their health and well-being.

Assessing what support you currently offer and asking for feedback will additionally enable you to consider what else you need to be doing.

Promote Flexible Working

Although many organisations across the world have adopted hybrid working models, are promoting flexible working, and are trialling or implementing four-day work weeks, some companies are now requiring their people to once again work long hours from the office (Elon Musk, we’re looking at you).

Much research has been carried out and shows the benefit of flexible working on our health and well-being. For example, CIPD has shared that flexible working increases job satisfaction, reduces absence rates, and enables employees to manage long-term health conditions and disabilities better .

Contributing to this, additional studies show that flexible working and working from home increases well-being in the workplace as it reduces stress at work by 56% .

Ask For Feedback

Often as leaders, we give feedback to our people regarding tasks they’ve completed. We also share feedback from stakeholders and clients. But research shows that not all leaders ask their people for feedback to determine how effective their leadership is.

When we consider that leaders who ask for feedback rank higher for leadership effectiveness , it’s vital that we start asking for feedback if we are to enhance well-being in the workplace.

• Is there anything I could be doing differently to support your well-being?
• Could the organisation do anything else to support you?

In asking these questions, you will have the opportunity to assess what you are doing well and what could be improved to support your people.

Work With An Executive Coach

Enhancing well-being in the workplace and prioritising our people’s physical and psychological health is of utmost importance. As noted above, doing so has many benefits.

If you are committed to enhancing well-being in the workplace, the above tips make great starting points. However, you and your people may also benefit from executive coaching for additional support and a different perspective.

Contact Us Today

To find out more about how working with an external coaching provider can assist you in enhancing well-being in the workplace, contact us today by calling 03450 950 480.

Alternatively, email [email protected] or visit our website for more information about our services and coaching team .