Wellbeing Designers / January-February Update

Hi Wellbeing Designers,

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024. I thought that switching to a bi-monthly edition would give me more space to write but I have to admit, I am again writing this piece very last minute 29 Feb.? ?

These first two months of the year were incredible!

?? Besides celebrating my 40th birthday #socialwellbeing and having had the chance to visit some exciting sessions at the World Economic Forum in Davos what keeps me energised is that I got the chance to connect with people across cultures and geographies to exchange and work together on the mission of employee wellbeing. I connected with people from the Middle East during my trip in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well as with people form Latin and North America, Asia, Europe through some client work. It is impressive to see how the focus of wellbeing is getting wider everywhere in the world. Meaning that the role of leadership style and (toxic) culture is very much recognised by everyone.

Many people thanked me for being an advocate of this topic.

Still, we needed more data, they said. It is not easy to get executive leadership invest into the topic. I hear you! Luckily today there is much more data out there than in 2019 when I first started this work. Some of the studies e.g. by the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre or by The Josh Bersin Company provide great quantitative proof how investing into employee wellbeing correlates with business success. More will come, I plan to work on some research myself as well this year.?

Last but not least I would like to reflect on a study by dr. William Fleming that went viral in the wellbeing community since it was published in January this year (link to the NYT article below in the Insights section). According to the study wellbeing programs don't have much positive impact, we need to focus on the "working practices" thought. I fully agree that we need to focus on that. However, I still think we need those wellbeing programs as well.

My advice:

1. Less is sometimes more: We should not overwhelm employees with too many wellbeing offerings. Behavioural science proves that we can get frozen if we have too much choice and we then rather don't do anything.
2. Quality of wellbeing offerings: the right programs, workshops can teach wellbeing skills for people that can support them to improve their ways of working.
3. Connecting the dots: support employees consciously and in a holistic way how they can use the wellbeing tools, practices in a way that makes their work-life better.?

What are your thoughts? I am curious to hear... as always:)

Wishing you a good day,

Reka

Founder of wellbeing designers

The Podcast

We arrived to the last show, ?Episode 14? of Season 2 of the Wellbeing Designers Podcast with a special guest?Dr. Steven MacGregor, who is an international speaker, a?professor at The Glasgow School of Art?and an Advisor at McKinsey & Company. Join our conversation about this episode on Chief Wellbeing Officer LinkedIn page?or via our LinkedIn page.

Season 3 is starting soon with Episode 15 which is already recorded. It is a special one as we have three guests on one show! Stay tuned ;) In the meantime follow our LinkedIn page for a recap series of the episodes so far from Season 1 and 2!

Big news! From now on all podcast episodes are available on YouTube as well! Follow us via this link!?In the future you will see more episodes with video!

Voices from the Wellbeing Designers Community

We published our first?article on our blog for 2024, written by our team member?Ani Hovhannisyan PhD,?who is also a Scientific Advisor at Wellbeing Designers. ?Journaling is one way to create self-awareness which is the basis of wellbeing. Ani shares a very insightful overview of the history and various types of journaling. As a life-long practitioner of journaling, she recently published her very own well-being journal called be.come.?

Where we shared our insights

Designathon, Saudi Arabia

A Wellbeing Track on a Designathon calls for Wellbeing Designers! I was invited by the ????? ??????? Ministry of Culture Saudi Arabia for this? event in Riyadh. During Day 1 she was part of the inspirational opening panel along with some amazing personalities. During Day 3 she was member of the Jury Board of the Wellbeing Track. Read some of the press about the event on Linkedin: a?post?by Sumayah Al-Solaiman CEO at Architecture and Design Commission, a?post by me, a?post by Nawal Al-Hamwi .

D&I Summit, Kuwait

I delivered the opening keynote on Day 2 of the summit: "Why and how measuring and actioning wellbeing is a key to business success."?Read more about the event on LinkedIn: a post by me, a post by Frédérique Canneval Head of Employee Experience and his colleague Tarek Majdoub from Alshaya Group.?

Wellbeing Designers is ready to work with you!

We provide inspirational keynotes and workshops; up-skilling via the Wellbeing Designers Academy and trainings; advisory supporting your leaders, wellbeing managers and employees on their Wellbeing Culture Journey. Connect with us here!

To find out more about our next events that we attend and our full list of reading recommendations, sign up for our email newsletter here!

Wellbeing insights on our reading and listening list this month

Walking Mentorship Podcast Episode 33 with Reka Deak by Joao Perre Viana

Lessons from a new study on workplace wellbeing by Kacy Fleming, M.A. and Jen Fisher published by Thrive Global

Workplace Wellness Programs have little benefits, Study finds published in the 纽约时报 ?

Remember, together we can design a human-centric work-life and the future of wellbeing!

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