The Benefits of Workplace Wellness

Implementing wellness initiatives at work offers numerous benefits for both employees and employers. One of the most significant benefits is the positive impact on employee health and wellbeing. Encouraging regular exercise, nutritious diets, and mindfulness practices can help employees reduce stress, feel their best, and improve their mental clarity. Investing in employee wellness can also lead to higher morale, job satisfaction, and overall engagement with the organisation. Healthier employees get sick less often, leave less frequently, and are more productive when they are at work.

How HR Leaders Can Help

HR leaders have an essential role to play in promoting workplace wellness initiatives. They work with management to educate employees about the benefits of wellness programs, develop health and wellness incentives, and support their successful implementation. HR leaders also help management identify the unique wellness needs of their employees and workplace culture. They can suggest individualised wellness interventions that respond to those needs, which may include yoga or meditation classes, nutritionist consultations, or mental health support. Beyond physical initiatives, HR leaders can also provide resources to help employees establish healthy work/life boundaries, manage their stress levels, and other wellness best practices.

Navigating Unique Workplace Cultures

Not every workplace culture is conducive to promoting wellness and self-care practices. Working with management, HR leaders must take into account the unique elements of an organisation’s culture and target the right objectives for their wellness programs. For example; if a fast-paced sales team has minimum time in their workday, a mid-day yoga session may not be feasible. Instead, consider stretching exercises that can be done on desks, or even a reminder app that pops up every hour, reminding employees to take breaks from their screens. HR cross-functional efforts to bring wellness into a culture can be more about creating and offering a variety rather than specific programs that work for everyone. Initial offerings can then be adapted according to usage and feedback of these offerings.

Promoting workplace wellness programs is an essential responsibility for HR leaders, and it improves not only employee health but overall job satisfaction and productivity. It’s important to consider unique workplace characteristics when implementing wellness programs, and to tailor initiatives to the needs of employees. By nurturing self-care practices in the workplace, businesses can attract and retain top talent, boost productivity and get an excellent ROI on their investment. HR leaders are instrumental in developing and implementing programs that meet the specific needs of individual organisations and employees, and ultimately lead to a happier, healthier, and more productive workforce.

Related Blogs: Succession Planning: Nurturing Future Leaders, The Art of Talent Acquisition: Strategies and Techniques for HR Leaders

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In a world that seems to be always throwing curveballs, from our own daily challenges to frightening global events, Maya Angelou’s mission inspires us to make sure we’re taking control of our lives. Six illuminating questions arise from the very essence of the word she uses – THRIVE. They range from our individual narratives, through to the big changes in our careers and lifestyles as a result of ai and automation. They can act as a framework to help us think about personal progress, happiness, and success. So, how do we Thrive?

Truthful. Are we honest with ourselves and others? We have all shaped ourselves to different situations – it can be useful, safe, helps us fit in. But if we do not get to know who we are, our values, what we want, and think about how we behave, are we able to develop the satisfying future we could have?

“It is the Truth that I’m after. The truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.” said the stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor, Maruc Aurelius

Humanity/Human. As more & more tasks are done by non-humans – a trend that’s growing at a breathtaking pace – how do we leverage being a human? New uses of AI and tech require us to think deeply about our human value, capabilities, creativity, and unique attributes. What might be the values of the best human you can be?

Relationships.  What are we putting into the relationship we’d like to develop, keep, or improve? Good relationships are the standout factor in the most comprehensive longitudinal study for reported happiness – and long life*. For thriving. The Harvard study has been running for 84 years and has fascinating insights into maintaining strong relationships now, in our era of social media. It’s Director, Dr Rober Waldinger says “Good relationships wither away from neglect. There doesn’t have to be a problem of any kind, but if you don’t keep them up, they fall out of your life” – and he says keeping them up doesn’t need to require a big effort, even a regular, tiny action – a text, a coffee, a walk maintains them.

Intentional. What choices are we making to take steps to the future we could have? What choices are we ducking? “Choice not Chance determines your Destiny” – a saying attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, puts the onus firmly on us. Intention can be truly liberating. It can help us thrive by seeing that we have agency and are not just supporting cast members in other people’s stories.

Variety. Are we open to new ideas, people, experiences, and pursuits as we change? What got us here is unlikely to be what stretches and interests us next – or arguably what is useful or needed in navigating the uncertainties that lie ahead. Our ability to learn and adapt, our “fluid intelligence” *, is now widely understood. How do we put it to use to thrive?

Energy. Do we notice what drains us, and what buzzes us? Learning how our body works, and what affects our energy levels, helps us make choices – food, activities, when we are most able to tackle tasks. When in the day, or year, are we most alive, and who with? (We might think we are an introvert or extrovert – but as we behave differently in different situations, it is worth checking if our self-definition is always the case.) How can understanding our energy and what affects it give us clues to how we thrive?

A few years ago I went to hear a talk by the author, Elizabeth Strout, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel about a woman called Olive Kitteridge. She’d found herself feeling a strong need to write a sequel, even though Olive was in her 70’s and “old, big and sagging” in Olive’s own words. Strout couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d be doing next.  So, she wrote “Olive again”. Because, she said “we all continue to grow, or we continue to diminish – we never stay the same”.

It is our decision whether we grow or diminish. In a world that feels constantly changing, uncertain and difficulty to navigate, we can start to check-in on ourselves – with some help from the six question areas that emerge from the word THRIVE.

*Marcus Aurelius, Meditations the Book V1 XX

*https://www.adultdevelopmentstudy.org/

* Fluid intelligence, or fluid reasoning, is a core feature of human cognition. It refers to the ability to solve novel, abstract problems that do not depend on task-specific knowledge (Blair, 2006; Carroll, 1993; Deary, 2012; Horn and Cattell, 1966).

This blog was written by Leadership Coach Karen O’Connor. Karen brings insight into navigating change and empowering teams, from 30 years of experience as a Senior Leader in the fast-changing media content and news industry. Her style is direct – with careful listening, empathy, and challenge.

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As coaches we’re able to influence leaders and teams to reimagine how they achieve productive outcomes by working on their own happiness and well-being first. When we support people to make conscious and positive choices it can enable them to support cultural change. This is the sweet spot where coaching meets positive psychology and uses evidence based approaches to support people to change.

Positive Psychology, Well-being and Flourishing.

A recent (2022) global study by AXA found that the UK workforce are languishing with nearly 50% of people struggling with their emotional well-being. We were the lowest ranked country in the survey. At a collective and individual level there needs to be a change to how we look at well-being and emotional health as it’s quite clear what has gone before isn’t working for a myriad of reasons.

Organisational culture can be built on expectations : often people perceive that they are measured by their output or leaders consider this is the only way forward. Where there are KPIs that people are performance reviewed against it takes a bold leader to step back from using these when leading their staff and start to look at other measures.

The PERMA+ Model and Well-being scales

As coaches there are many tools we can use: I’m a fan of the PERMA+ model by Martin Seligman as a starting point to have conversations about well-being. If you’re doing this in the workplace he’s developed his own scale to use there. The big thing to consider is psychological safety and understanding that people know the purpose of using such tools. Personally, I’ve fallen down by using it and not explaining that it’s there as a starting point to help raise an individuals awareness and work with them to enhance their well-being : this is often where a coach will come in to support them with a plan around what changes they can make. It requires an investment in coaching and in dialogue with employees as there may be things that leaders don’t want to hear.

What is interesting is when this is done well the PERMA+ model or other well-being scales can be the starting point for individual and organisational change. It’s hard to change what we can’t measure and although there is some subjectiveness around well-being and what it includes starting to see it as critical to the organisation as profitability in itself can be a welcome shift for many employees.

Developing coaching skills within organisations

Another way that coaches can impact well-being within organisations is through facilitating training around Positive psychology and well-being to develop the coaching capacity of the ogranisation. At an organisational level when people have basic coaching skills they’re able to have more effective conversations around these topics and equally to be able to self-coach themselves becoming aware of what their needs are before they might if they didn’t have these skills.

If you’re thinking about where to start a great resource is my new book How To Feel Better which talks you through a simple self-coaching formula which anyone can use and can be a great supplement to a well-being program you can find out more here 

Ruth Kudzi – Optimus Coach Academy

As one of fewer than 70 Master Certified Coaches in the UK, Ruth Kudzi is independently verified as one of the top coaches by the international coaching federation (ICF). She has been coaching for well over a decade and running her award-winning coaching business since 2016. Ruth combines over 27 years experience studying Psychology and Neuroscience (with the BA, MA and diplomas under her belt) with senior leadership experience in the educational sector and a prior life in sales. She holds a raft of accreditations, from NLP Practitioner to Positive Psychology Diploma to Spiral Energy Coach to DISC Personality L3 trainer to a PGCERT in Coaching to Small Business Diploma to Neuroscience for Leadership as well as many more courses and training. 

Other blogs you might like:

Think clearly and creatively, even under pressure…

Four mistakes to avoid when it comes to workplace wellbeing

Well-being is ‘being well’

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If you’re responsible for looking after people at work, I’m sure workplace wellbeing hasn’t been far from your mind over the last two years.

And as a wellbeing coach and workplace psychologist, I know it’s been an urgent priority for organisations everywhere, as they try to support their people through an incredibly challenging period.

I take an inclusive perspective on wellbeing, viewing it not simply as the absence of illness, but as the opportunity for people to be their best selves at work. It therefore encompasses psychological, physical and social wellbeing. The old adage of thriving, not just surviving is particularly appropriate here.

That said, positive organisation intention doesn’t always turn into positive results, so based on my experience as a wellbeing practitioner, here are four common mistakes to avoid:

Treating wellbeing like an event

While it can be useful to draw attention to workplace wellbeing with a special week in the year, your focus on wellbeing needs to extend beyond events and become an ongoing area of focus. As individuals, we don’t focus on our health for a single week, we keep an eye on it throughout the year. By all means organise a ‘wellbeing week’ – but ensure you keep the momentum going after all the lunchtime talks and yoga sessions are over.

Not following through

Related to wellbeing-as-event, a failure to follow through on promises made can simply lead to cynicism in the workplace. Organisational leaders need to walk the wellbeing talk in order to effect change and promises made when everyone’s watching need to be met even when it’s inconvenient. If leaders are failing to real-model effective wellbeing behaviours, then why should anyone else believe what the organisation says on the topic? If you say it’s important to effectively disconnect from work in the evenings, but this is followed by emails at all hours, what does this say to your employees?

Neglecting the essentials

It’s easy to be attracted to the new and innovative when it comes to wellbeing at work – we frequently want to be seen as working at the cutting edge. But ‘new’ doesn’t mean it works and a focus on fads can distract us from taking care of the essentials: good job design, helping people manage workloads, cultivating an appropriate management culture, managing change effectively. The UK’s Health and Safety Executive has an actionable list of important job factors like this, which you should ideally address before moving on to anything else. If not, their negative impact on employee wellbeing will undermine what you’re doing in other areas.

Adding features instead of removing bugs

To borrow an image from the world of software engineering, many initiatives to improve workplace wellbeing consist of adding new things: new processes, new events, new responsibilities and so on. Whereas you’re likely to get a much better result if you looked first to remove what’s not working – the organisational ‘bugs’. What stops people feeing good about work and being their best selves: endless video meetings, poor management behaviours, micro-management…the list goes on. So before adding new wellbeing focused activities, think what you could remove first.

Workplace wellbeing isn’t easy and requires an ongoing focus. But it’s essential for organisational leaders to have a joined-up perspective on this key element of the employee experience.

Richard MacKinnon is a Chartered Psychologist and Registered Coaching Psychologist based in London, with over 18 years experience as a practitioner. Richard’s coaching practice focuses on three broad areas: wellbeing, productivity and interpersonal effectiveness. 

Read more blogs from Richard – Dealing with anxious thoughts and feelings

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Consider the following process:  Sensory organs pick up the environment, sends signals to the brain, which transmits these to the heart causing it to respond  with appropriate change in it’s pumping function. The heart monitors itself and then transmits messages to the brain to regulate cognitive function. The Heartmath Institute reports,  “This limits our ability to think clearly, remember, learn, reason, and make effective decisions. (This helps explain why we may often act impulsively and unwisely when we’re under stress.)” 

Being well at work can be compromised,  by the pressure of actual work or the perception of expectations at work, as well as generally in life.  Problems often occur when the level of compromise is beyond normal coping mechanisms.  Consider a definition of well-being. “Well-being, put simply, is about ‘how we are doing’ as individuals, communities and as a nation.” Up until now my definition of well-being has been “the state of good mental and physical health that enables optimal performance and success”.  Both describe a state, rather than actions.

The compound word is not ‘well-doing’ or ‘well-having’ but well-being, which suggests that it is about who we are ‘being’, rather than what we ‘have’ or ‘do’. Who we are being is about holistic alignment of our actions,  possessions and desires to personal values – the principles that are most important to us. If we concern ourselves with actions and acquisitions to generate a being, both must be well chosen.

We comprise Body, Mind and Spirit, so let us briefly identify how we keep each well. 

Body:  What we eat, drink, our sleep and physical environment usually determine our how well our bodies are.  As we mature, it becomes increasingly important that we are uniquely suited to suited to our food, drink, sleep patterns and physical environment.  A misalignment would be noticed if we paid attention to our body’s response.

Mind:  Our mind comprises the workings of our brain, heart and gut together to guide our perceptions, processing and actions. The interplay between the sensing and processing in the three centres work best when we give attention to their promptings.  When our actions reflect what we think, feel and are inspired to do.

Spirit:  Our spirit concerns itself with finding meaning in the many circumstances we encounter, finding our calling, and often being involved in something larger than ourselves. Altruism and Charity are positive expressions of our Spirit.  It’s very intangible nature relegates the Spirit to the background in a rational world. This makes it no less real.

‘Knowing’ who you are, ‘feeling’ who you are, and ‘doing’ what you are here to do, is a good recipe for being well, for well-being.  Discovering a deep understanding of these elements for ourselves, requires an investment. We deserve such an investment because we deserve to be well, even in the midst of the many demands made on us in a fast-paced changing world. Are you prepared to regularly make such investment?  No one else will do it for you. 

Joseph Ogbonna is a London-based versatile, experienced coach, with excellent supporting skills in strategic thinking, relationship building, mindfulness, organisational development, project and programme management skills, serving a range of public and private sector clients.

Read more blogs from Joseph Ogbonna – Lessons for a generation, “Keep Calm and Wash your hands”

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As a professional coach I am dedicated to engaging in conversations that make a transformational difference for my clients, and there is no better proof of the lasting impact of even just one conversation than the story of Jonny Benjamin and Neil Laybourn (featured above) where one conversation with Neil literally saved Jonny’s life as he was perched on a bridge about to end it all.

In that moment of despair Neil was able to get through to Jonny and persuade him there was something worth living for.  The two became reunited years later and today are champions for mental health awareness.  Charity – Jonny Benjamin

As Jonny relates his story of the conversation, it becomes clear that Neil was able to connect with him in a way that all the professionals and psychiatrists hadn’t.  The professionals were constantly telling him what was wrong with him, yet Neil normalised things and said “Don’t be embarrassed.” and “You’ll be alright mate”

Neil’s advice to anyone in a helping role “Don’t forget to be yourself.  On that bridge I couldn’t be anyone other than myself – and that was how I was able to connect on a human level with Jonny”

As a professional coach I believe this to be an incredibly important message – that skills and knowledge are often secondary to the ability to really connect with someone fully, meeting them as they are – person to person, and that even one conversation can make a big difference.

Seren Trewavas is a Chartered Organisational Psychologist and ICF accredited professional Coach with over 25 years’ experience in personal and organisational development.  She works with leaders and professionals globally to help unlock potential.

Read more blogs from Seren: The Secret of Work Life Integration

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During this uncertain time of the Covid-19 pandemic, it can be beneficial to learn practices to support our mental well-being by focusing on what we can control rather than the things we cannot. And as we find ourselves being bombarded by information, facts and figures surrounding this health crisis; paying attention to this information encourages a perpetual state of fear for ourselves, as well as our friends and family.

If we allow ourselves to succumb to this anxiety about the future, and only focus on the “go-wrongs” our negative thoughts and emotions will continue to spiral down. And this induces even more anxiety.

So in this time, if we practice more progressive ways to deal with this uncharted situation, and learn how to manage our behaviours, thoughts and emotions to create more positive perspectives, it can boost our morale and our health. And this can positively impact our state of mind, inducing a much better way of life for ourselves and those around us.

This is not to say we ignore current affairs: it’s important to stay informed and be aware. It’s true the global pandemic has changed our ‘old normal’ and completely altered the way we live our daily lives. It’s also true we have the power to control ourselves internally: how we view situations – including the lock-downs and outcomes taking place globally, and therefore, how our view affects us personally.

We can choose to be in a place of calmness and self-compassion – recognising in this moment, we are safe. And we can also reassure ourselves, eventually this will pass, and even better, we will emerge more aware and stronger as people and communities.

We are always at choice, in any given moment. What we choose to put inside our minds impacts our physiology, and in turn causes the reaction we experience. If we practice pausing and paying attention to what we are choosing to think and feel, we can learn how to control our internal experiences to ensure they serve us rather than hurt us.

To support ourselves to see different and empowering perspectives, we can stop, breath deeply and ask ourselves some questions such as:

• What is it I can control?
• What can this experience teach me?
• What am I grateful for right now?
• How can I support myself through this?
• How can I support others?

Pausing and breathing allows us to calm down and see things differently by releasing natural chemicals within our bodies, such as Oxytocin, which supports us to identify and change perspectives. This also means we can choose how to respond – and decide upon ways of experiencing our lives so we can feel empowered, uplifted and enlightened. When we look after our own mental well-being, and feel good about ourselves, we are more able to be resourceful and helpful to others.

As we face each day – with perhaps new and empowering ways forward – we can begin to believe the world will emerge a better place where people will be kinder, more compassionate and caring. We might also change the ways we live: slow down, be more mindful about how we use resources and look after our wildlife and nature. Of course, there will still be challenges, but perhaps we can also recognise there can be great, better outcomes.

Be empowered.

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A situation like the present coronavirus epidemic can leave many of us feeling very uncomfortable and anxious. And this anxiety can spill over in all kinds of unwelcome and unhelpful ways.

It might take the form of preoccupation with the rolling news. It might turn into irritability and impatience with those close to us. It might result in fear and isolation from sources of help and assistance.

While nobody enjoys feeling anxious, anxiety is in a sense our mind’s way of warning us of danger. It actually serves a purpose and keeps us alert to threats. But it’s a bit of a blunt instrument, is easily activated, and leaves us unsettled and concerned.

Dr. Steven Hayes, leading researcher and practitioner in the field of psychological flexibility, describes our mind as a ‘thinking engine’ – one without an off switch. This means that our mind will constantly gives us thoughts, images, memories, predictions and emotions. Our job is not to control this stream of content, but rather to act in helpful ways, despite the discomfort they bring.

What does psychological flexibility tell us about thoughts and emotions?

Firstly, thoughts are just thoughts. They’re not necessarily facts, or threats. Many of the thoughts that our mind gives us are predictions and worries about a future that hasn’t even happened. So the first step is to see thoughts as they are, rather than what they say they are.

Secondly, thoughts and emotions are neither bad nor good. Instead, it’s helpful to view our inner experiences as either being helpful or unhelpful, depending on the context. So if we can see a thought as unhelpful, as we’re trying to focus on something else in our immediate environment, it’s a bit easier to let it float off.

The emotions we experience in the middle of a crises are completely legitimate. The important thing is to acknowledge them and give them space. Not deny them or attempt to suppress them. When we struggle to somehow change our thoughts and emotions, we take our focus off what’s happening around us and get caught up in a battle we can’t win.

Unpleasant emotions don’t last forever. In fact, we can sit with an emotion and notice as it passes – without having to take the action it demands. In other words, we can feel a strong emotion, but act in a very different way. They’re strong indicators, but terrible signposts.

So here are a few suggestions on how to deal with the anxiety that we’ll all feel occasionally during this unprecedented global emergency:

• Practice labelling your inner experiences. Get specific and see them for what they are e.g. a pleasant emotion, an anxious prediction, a fond memory, a plan for the future, an assumption about someone else’s motivation, some self-criticism, and so on. This helps us see thoughts and emotions as temporary and not facts to act on.
• Writing about your strong emotions can help take away some of their impact. Consider maintaining a journal about your experiences. It’s doesn’t have to take you very long. A few lines about each day and how you felt about it.
• Practice checking in with yourself. Set an alarm on your smartphone for a few times a day and when it goes off, ask yourself: Where is my attention right now? What am I feeling? What could I do next that’s helpful to me in this situation?
• Be careful with your use of social media and the news. These can be a source of anxiety as well as information. Notice how you feel when you read updates and be intentional in your use of both.

Remember: anxious thoughts and feelings are entirely legitimate. It’s what you do with them that counts.

Richard MacKinnon is a Chartered Psychologist and Registered Coaching Psychologist based in London, with over 18 years experience as a practitioner. Richard’s coaching practice focuses on three broad areas: wellbeing, productivity and interpersonal effectiveness.

Read more blogs from Richard – Four mistakes to avoid when it comes to workplace wellbeing

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