The Workplace Wellbeing Formula

Wellbeing is a critical area of performance and productivity for organizations; improved wellbeing can lead to reduced sickness, increased trust and employee loyalty.

What is Wellbeing? The following has been written by Ian Hesketh, Wellbeing Lead for the UK College of Policing and Support and co-author of Wellbeing at Work

Wellbeing is a critical area of performance and productivity for organizations; improved wellbeing can lead to reduced sickness, increased trust and employee loyalty.

But defining wellbeing can be difficult. It includes feeling safe, comfortable, secure, happy and healthy, but there are also further psychological constructs known as Eudaimonic and Hedonic:

• Euadaimonic characteristics refer to the purposeful side of wellbeing. These are the positive ways in which we live and view life, sometimes referred to as ‘knowing yourself.’

• Hedonic is subjective wellbeing, including pleasure and happiness.

Phenomena such as presenteeism and leaveism give a far better understanding of how people feel about their work, especially in relation to how they draw meaning and purpose; critical tenets to wellbeing.

Presenteesim is the practice of being present at one's place of work for more hours than is required, especially as a manifestation of insecurity about one's job. The latest statistics from a survey of 1,078 organizations across the UK in reference to 3.2 million employees indicate that the average level of employee absence was 5.9 days per employee per year, or 2.6% of working time lost. Four fifths of respondents had observed presenteeism, with under a third taking any steps to discourage it.

In terms of leaveism, which is employees using annual leave to catch up on work, almost two thirds of respondents observed this over the previous twelve months.

The workplace wellbeing formula

Stress and anxiety are two of the biggest enemies of wellbeing. Around 23-30% of employees feel frustrated, stressed, anxious or annoyed numerous time a week, and 25% of employees frequently feel emotionally drained or exhausted after an average day’s work.

And while a little bit of stress can be good for you, prolonged periods of stress and anxiety can have a negative impact on your overall wellbeing.

However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving your wellbeing. Only you can determine what feels okay for you. But if you're unsure where to start, we've created a formula to get you started:

(Awareness - Denial) + Neuroscience + Mindfulness + (Resilience - Pressure)

Find out more about each step of the formula:

We all have good days and bad days at work, but recognizing the difference between a one-off bad day and prolonged experiences of stress and anxiety is essential for improving your wellbeing.

And yet, most of us are in denial. We insist that we’re not stressed (we’re just tired). Or even if we are stressed, we’ll be fine by tomorrow (this is known as minimization denial – when the fact is admitted, but downplayed).

The first step to achieving workplace wellbeing is to overcome your denial and becoming aware of your emotional and physical health.

Being honest with yourself and how you are feeling is essential for recognizing any stressors or negative aspects of work that are affecting your wellbeing.What’s more, it’s important to understand that you are not alone: suffered from work-related stress, depression or anxiety cases in 2016/17.

But why? At a time where we are becoming more concerned about both our own and others’ wellbeing at work, neuroscience – the study of the nervous system including the brain – can provide some insights.

The following has been written by Hilary Scarlett, neuroscience and leadership consultant and author of Neuroscience for Organizational Change.

Work has changed but our brains have not

Our brains and bodies have not changed that much since our ancestors were on the savannah.

Our bodies, both then and now, are designed to experience and react to surges of stress hormones (enabling us to run away from lions, or deal with a PR crisis) – but once the threat has gone away, the stress hormones should reduce.

The problem with 21st century work is that we have constant ‘threats’ which cause us to simulate stress – the commute, the constant emails and the inability to switch off – all of these triggers mean we constantly secrete high levels of the stress hormone, which neither our bodies or brains are equipped to deal with.

Work with, not against, your body

The good news is that we have more control over our bodies than we probably realize. By understanding our own brains a little better, we can understand the causes - and mitigate the effects - of stress.

Here are three things you can do to help calm the brain and boost your wellbeing when feeling stressed:

1. Sleep Awareness of the importance of sleep is finally increasing. For too many years, CEOs and celebrities have bragged about how little sleep they can get by on. However, research shows that sleep deprivation is the equivalent, cognitively, of being drunk at work. Ensuring you get enough quality sleep each night will make a huge difference to your wellbeing. And if you don't sleep well, a 20-minute power nap during the early afternoon is beneficial (which more enlightened employers now recognize).
   

2. Laugh Laughter is a great de-stressor to the brain and can actually boost IQ in the short term (Oswald et al). It might seem indulgent and not what you are meant to do at work, but having a laugh will reduce your stress and might boost your brainpower too.

3. Be kind Chancellor et al (2017) explored the impact of asking some employees to perform acts of kindness over the course of four weeks. Both the receivers and the givers of the kind acts reported improvements in their wellbeing in the short term and the long term. E.g. two months later receivers were happier and givers were less depressed and more satisfied with their work and lives, compared with a control group.

To thrive in the 21st-century workplace, we all need to understand our brains a little better and work with that knowledge.

Reference: The workplace Wellbeing Formula (koganpage.com)