'How are you?' isn't enough when you’re a leader
Wellness initiatives have been gaining awareness in many offices, but the question remains, are we doing enough? With remote and hybrid work, the lines between work and home are further blurred, and wellness is taking an even bigger toll for many. In this issue of ‘Thrive in 5’, we dive into how employers can exercise workplace wellness, and ensure everyone benefits from it.
Where are we now?
Well-designed employee wellness programs don’t just reduce health risks of employees, they improve employee engagement and reduce attrition.
Today, it’s necessary to break hierarchical barriers and create genuine connections with people at work. Leaders must adopt practices that encourage open conversations about mental health and steps that avoid burnout.
What can you do?
The steps to an effective wellness program do not demand a huge budget but instead requires a holistic understanding of the solution.
Often, it’s important to first accept your own vulnerabilities before starting the conversation with your team members.
It's always good practice to co-opt your staff members to collaboratively think of how they would like to be engaged and brainstorm employee wellness programme ideas.
What’s next?
Managers must be empowered to be ambassadors of wellness. For that to happen, we need to shift the perspective of what a manager does; managing the mental well-being of the team is as important as 'getting the job done'.
Employee well-being is predicted to be the biggest factor that will influence the workplace of the future, so companies need to work with employees to find the right solutions and grow with healthy employees.
In carrying out a workplace wellness programme, we do everyone a favour. As leaders or managers, we must ourselves adopt healthy practices so that our teams can, too. What’s a better reward than happier people?
1. Read this useful Q&A to understand how employee well-being impacts productivity.
2. See this case-study on workplace wellness and its impact on productivity.