Article Summary
- How to create proactive cultures over reactive programs – lasting wellbeing, not quick fixes.
- Achieve wellness by working toward meaningful, shared goals.
- Fostering positive leadership to inspire a balanced work-life culture from the top down.
- Building trust so employees feel safe and supported.
- Utilising initiatives such as wellbeing committees to engage employees and shape a responsive wellbeing strategy.
‘You can’t put a clean fish back in a dirty tank.’ An odd expression it may seem, particularly in relation to workplace wellbeing. Yet this is exactly what many organisations are currently doing – unwittingly and with the best of intentions – with those suffering from physical or mental ill health, and needing time off or employer interventions to recover.
Certainly EAPs (employee assistance programmes), occupational health, workplace mindfulness sessions and so on all have their place. But if interventions are solely solutions-focused and reactive, we can become stuck in something of a vicious cycle. We risk supporting people back to good health only for them to become resubmerged in the toxic or stressful conditions which made them ill in the first place.
The fish analogy is so powerful perhaps, because it makes clear the critical importance of the conditions or environment a worker is surrounded by – of culture. At Investors in People (IIP), we have developed a Wellbeing Standard and We Invest in Wellbeing framework, including a maturity model for organisations, designed to help organisations of all sizes and sectors to develop, implement and sustain a culture of health and wellbeing.
The specific levers each organisation will need to pull to achieve such a culture will vary. But the most profound interventions will be structural ones. Those that ensure the very work people do day in, day out is good, rewarding and purposeful – and that they have enough time to do it in.
Here are seven key ways to achieve a culture that prioritises wellbeing and good work:
#1
Collaborate to reach a common goal
Studies show working towards a meaningful goal leads to better mental health and cognitive functioning, and even wards against heart attacks, strokes, and dementia. Individuals with a strong sense of purpose tend to be more physically active and participate more in preventative health services. A study in 2013 found such individuals were also better at stress management and enjoyed better sleep.
Collaborating positively with others also supports good mental health, according to charity Mind. One key reason cited: the impact this can have on keeping workloads manageable, with team members able to support each other on challenges and share tasks more evenly.
Employers should be mindful, however, of ‘over collaboration.’ We have seen the rising prominence of ‘Zoom fatigue’ – occurring when remote workers schedule back-to-back meetings, just because they can. In a small pilot study in 2021, Microsoft WorkLab used wearable brain-sensing devices to discover that such scheduling makes it harder to pay attention and enjoy work, because of the exhausting impact of video meetings, where it is much harder for our brains to identify and process nonverbal social cues
#2
Have inspirational and trusted leaders
Leaders play a critical role in setting the tone in any organisation. Efforts to encourage staff to strike a healthy work/life balance, for example, will likely be ineffective if bosses are very visibly putting in long hours and sending emails at all hours of the day.
Multiple studies have suggested the power of ‘positive leadership’ – an umbrella term encompassing various styles and theories including servant, ethical, responsible, authentic, and transformational leadership. Positive leadership involves encouraging innovation, communicating a clear vision, acting as role model and – most importantly – showing care and kindness. Such practices have a positive impact on quality of work and productivity, but also employee wellbeing.
At a time when the Edelman Trust Barometer shows faith in business’s efficacy, honesty and principles has fallen in the UK over the past year, it is vital leaders also inspire trust. A recent CIPD report defines this as an employee’s willingness to give someone the benefit of the doubt. It identifies factors such as leaders involving people in decisions, and fairness and conflict management, as vital.
#3
Create an open-minded culture
The term psychological safety was coined by academic Amy Edmondson in a 1999 journal article, and of course remains prominent today. But this concept and trust should not be conflated, the above CIPD study suggested, defining psychological safety as: the extent to which someone believes others will give them the benefit of the doubt when they take risks.
Creating a culture where people feel safe to experiment is not only good for business, but also for people’s wellbeing. Research shows the two things have a reciprocal, circular relationship, with each enhancing the other.
Studies show, for example, the positive impact creativity (a key outcome of feeling safe to innovate and express ideas) can have. In turn, promoting good mental health, and combating the stigma that keeps people from seeking care, for example, will enhance people’s sense of psychological safety, a Mckinsey briefing highlights. And there are huge downsides to not ensuring psychological safety, including stress and burnout, research shows.
We invest in wellbeing
3-YEAR WELLBEING ACCREDITATION
#4
Be positive about change
Research shows that change typically has a significant, negative psychological effect on the UK working population at present. Over 30 per cent of approximately 100,000 people surveyed by wellbeing specialists Robertson Cooper, for example, said change was a source of pressure that ‘troubles’ them at work. It also ranked consistently among the top three causes of stress over a five year period.
But while change can be challenging to most people on a purely neurological level (our brains are hardwired to enjoy a sense of the familiar), it can also be good for our wellbeing. In a briefing authored by organisation development experts Roffey Park, change is described as a potentially: ‘exciting process that encourages innovation, develops skills, and leads to better business opportunities.’ It adds: ‘We tend to enjoy change that we can consciously control’.
Which gives a clear idea of how change can be implemented to boost rather than harm wellbeing. Organisations should involve staff in any change, increasing engagement, ownership and participation, and providing a clear direction around why the change is necessary and the desired result.
#5
Encourage office-based employees to get out of their chairs and speak to colleagues
There is much evidence that regular exercise in the working day improves both employee performance and wellbeing. Breaking up sedentary time has been shown to help prevent thyroid issues, cardio-vascular diseases and diabetes. University of Warwick research, for example, finds workers who have a desk-bound job have bigger waists and an increased risk of heart disease.
Regular social contact is also good for us. Studies show people who have strong social connections tend to have lower rates of depression and anxiety and are more resilient to stress. Organisations must be particularly mindful of this where staff are working remotely. Recent research finds that on days home working staff spend more time in virtual meetings, they experience a greater sense of ‘flow’ – a “peak state of intrinsic motivation” – which leads to better focus and reduced mental fatigue.
#6
Set up a wellbeing committee
A wellness committee can help lead communication efforts; model the adoption of wellness initiatives; develop a feedback loop among employees, people managers and senior leadership; and provide insight on new opportunities.
A culture of wellbeing will mean different things to different organisations, so it is vital employees are involved in the co-creation of any wellbeing strategy. They and the employer will then be able to ensure jointly that its focus is relevant to what employees need to stay well. And this will ensure recognition of employees’ personal responsibility around their own wellbeing.
#7
Encourage development
Creating learning cultures where employees feel supported to develop themselves within their current roles, and for the future, is not only good for organisational performance but also people’s wellbeing. Recent research found 96 per cent of the 564 organisations surveyed saw a link between L&D activity and wellbeing, with more than a third (36 per cent) an immediate boost as a result of short-term skills development. More than a third (39 per cent) also saw better stress and mental health management as a result of short-term skills development.
As with any initiative, however, there is a risk of this creating extra pressure. Research from 2022 found that just under half (47 per cent) of the 3,000 employees and L&D decision makers surveyed across the globe said that they don’t have time to engage in learning at work. In response to this perennial complaint, some businesses have even gone as far as to allocate a certain percentage of the working week to learning.
Sources
Purpose in life is associated with physical activity measured by accelerometer, University of Colorado Denver 2014
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359105314542822
Purpose in life and use of preventive health care services, University of Michigan 2013
https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1414826111
How to promote wellbeing and tackle the causes of work-related mental health problems, Mind
https://www.mind.org.uk/media-a/4662/resource3_howtopromotewellbeingfinal.pdf
Wellbeing, Healthy Habits: Collaboration 2019, Mental Health at Work (an online resource hub curated by mental health charity Mind)
Research Proves Your Brain Needs Breaks 2021, Microsoft WorkLabs
www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/brain-research
Positive Leadership: Strategies for Extraordinary Performance 2021, Kim Cameron, William Russell Kelly Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan
Berrett-Koehler Publishers
2024 Edelman Trust Barometer
www.edelman.com/trust/2024/trust-barometer
Trust and psychological safety: An evidence review 2024, CIPD
www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/evidence-reviews/trust-psychological-safety/
Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams 1999, Amy Edmondson, Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2307/2666999
Being Creative Makes You Happier: The Positive Effect of Creativity on Subjective Well-Being 2021
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8305859/
McKinsey Quarterly Five Fifty: Is it safe?
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/five-fifty-is-it-safe
Embedding wellbeing and resilience to support change, Robertson Cooper
https://www.robertsoncooper.com/resources/embedding-wellbeing-and-resilience-to-support-change/
The Psychology of Change, Roffey Park
https://www.roffeypark.com/articles/the-psychology-of-change/
Time spent in sedentary posture is associated with waist circumference and cardiovascular risk 2017, William Tigbe, Warwick Medical School
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Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: A systematic review 2020
Getting into flow during virtual meetings: How virtual meetings can benefit employee functioning in the work- and home domain 2024, Trinity Business School, The University of Queensland, University of Wuppertal, South East Technological University Waterford
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L&D’s role in employee wellbeing: A 2023 survey, The Open University and Trianingzone
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