Wellbeing in the Workplace

We hear so much these days about “wellbeing” and how to improve our environments and day to day practices to encourage a healthier, happier life – but if you’re an employer how can you actually go about improving the wellbeing in your workplace?

What does “wellbeing” actually mean? In essence, our wellbeing is how we feel and function on a day to day basis and how our environments, actions and experiences impact us.

We spend over a third of our lives at work so it’s not surprising that the workplace can have serious impacts on our wellbeing both on a day to day basis but also long term. Below we look at ways you can improve wellbeing in your business.

PHYSICAL HEALTH

A key element of wellbeing is physical health – in the UK sitting at a desk for 8 hours is still the preferred way of working so why not bring in stand-up desks, encourage lunch time team walks, offer a cycle to work scheme or see if you can negotiate a discount with a local gym or health centre for your employees. A great lunch time activity is yoga or Pilates, this can be done in a relatively small space, doesn’t require any equipment and can be done relatively sweat-free to eliminate those lengthy post work-out showers! There’s lots of free YouTube videos so why not splash out on a few yoga mats!

MENTAL/EMOTIONAL HEALTH

Improving mental health within the workplace can be a complex thing, particularly if you work in a high pressured, stressful environment. It’s important for employees to have the ability to feel heard so if you don’t have a specific HR department then teaching line managers and senior members of staff to have regular conversations with their team and how to handle difficult conversations is key to ensuring effective people management. Social events and team bonding sessions are great for workplace wellbeing too, this doesn’t have to mean expensive trips away or cringe-worthy team building exercises; offering an hour each work for your staff to sit and have lunch together or bringing in a coffee in the morning for you all to sit round and chat over can be enough for relationships to blossom and burdens to be shared.

PERSONAL GROWTH 

Not having a clear path to progression or a proper job description can be demoralizing for staff members so having regular performance reviews lets employees know you acknowledge what they bring to the business (good or bad!). Do you currently have any opportunities for additional training? People like to be invested in and it shows you want them to stick around and further their careers in your company. Maybe you can bring in “town hall” meetings, giving clear information on how the company is progressing and allowing employees to voice their opinions and ideas.

There are many ways to improve employee wellbeing and we hope the above gives you some ideas or tips on how to help your company improve its vibe! Happy Friday!