Issue No.21 On Sustainable Wellbeing

Today, more and more workers are worried about dealing with chronic stress and struggling to balance the demands of both work and personal lives. The toll on their mental health is growing. Recent global events (such as pandemics, and wars) also sparked a reckoning among many workers who no longer feel that sacrificing their health, family, and communities for work is an acceptable trade-off.

Organizations are also increasingly aware of another trade-off: when the mental health of workers suffers, so does workplace productivity, creativity, and retention.?So, as a response, companies have started to focus more and more on the well-being of their employees by putting in place different programmes - such as Employee Assistance Programmes, well-being weeks or rebranding sick days as "well-being days". However, this kind of initiatives are only a short-term band-aid and do not focus on sustainable and holistic well-being.

If we want to create a sustainable culture of well-being we need to look at the situation holistically. A culture of well-being needs to consider organizational design, systems, policies and redesign them in a way that puts human beings at the centre, responding to their different needs.?

A new way of looking at well-being

A recently published framework for Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being by the U.S. Surgeon General highlights five components for addressing workplace well-being based on human needs:

• Protection from Harm: Creating the conditions for physical and psychological safety is a critical foundation for ensuring workplace mental health and well-being.
• Opportunity for Growth: When organizations create more opportunities for workers to accomplish goals based on their skills and growth, workers become more optimistic about their abilities and more enthusiastic about contributing to the organization.?
• Connection & Community: Fostering positive social interactions and relationships in the workplace supports worker well-being.
• Mattering at Work: People want to know that they matter to those around them and that their work matters. Knowing you matter has been shown to lower stress while feeling like you do not can raise the risk for depression.
• Work-Life Harmony: Professional and personal roles can together create work and non-work conflicts. The ability to integrate work and non-work demands, for all workers, rests on the human need for autonomy?and?flexibility.

In simple words, The?Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being?emphasizes the connection between the well-being of workers and the health of organizations and provides actionable steps towards this direction.

Below you can find some tools, practices and other resources meant to inspire you to design a sustainable well-being culture for yourself and your team or organization.

???Tools & practices

• Free resources to support staff mental health.
• The Five Ways to Wellbeing (Connect,Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, Give).
• Tools to Promote Emotional and Mental Well-being and Resilience .
• Sustainable Wellbeing Futures: A Research and Action Agenda for Ecological Economics.
• Guidelines on Mental Health at Work by World Health Organization (WHO).
• Employer Toolkit: Work Design for Health

???Book of the week

The book offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who are serious about success in the modern economy. With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talent--but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule or intimidate.

People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal, where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing.

This book explores this culture of psychological safety and provides a blueprint for bringing it to life. The road is sometimes bumpy, but succinct and informative scenario-based explanations provide a clear path forward to constant learning and healthy innovation.

??Surprise of the week

??Newroom

• The New Future of Work, Research from Microsoft into the Pandemic’s Impact on Work Practices .
• Introducing Human Sustainability Hub - A conversation on how we can create a more sustainable world, starting with ourselves.
• Employee well-being is so critical to some organizations that they’re turning it into a new C-suite role .
• Some really great ideas here on how to measure and enhance employee engagement through A.I.

???Video Of The Week

There are three billion working people on this planet, and only 40 per cent of them report being happy at work. Michael C. Bush shares his insights into what makes workers unhappy -- and how companies can benefit their bottom lines by fostering satisfaction.

??Podcast of the week

Many organizations have perks and programs designed to enhance employee wellness, but these efforts often miss the mark in actually boosting worker well-being. On this episode, Deloitte Chief Well-being Officer Jen Fisher talks with Dr. Richard Safeer, Chief Medical Director of employee Health and well-being for Johns Hopkins Medicine about the importance of truly building well-being into the core of an organization through peer support, leader engagement, setting norms, shared values, and more.

??Let’s work together!?

When you are ready, these are 3 ways I can support you:

• Join the you.thenticity community ?- dedicated to people who are interested in Training, Wellbeing, Coaching, or simply interested in discovering themselves more and growing.
• Book a free 1:1 discussion with me .
• Let me take care of your Training, Wellbeing or Coaching project.

See you again next Wednesday, with another round of resources on Training, Coaching & well-being.

If you’re hungry for even more content, you can follow me on?Facebook ?&?Instagram .