WORKPLACE WELL-BEING LAUREN PARSONS
O
rganisations that want to survive and thrive in the modern world need to prioritise the well-being of their most valuable asset – their staff. With the high pressures and the constant demands our fast-paced world puts on people, companies that create a thriving wellness culture, will set themselves up to outperform others. The Health and Safety at Work Act, 2015, legally requires employers to take all practical measures to ensure both the physical and mental health and safety of their staff. Not only is it logical to keep your staff safe, and the obvious ethical choice, it also makes great business sense. There are huge financial benefits to be reaped from creating an environment where your people can perform at their peak. By taking a positive and proactive approach to well-being, rather than a ‘bottom of the cliff’ approach, you can create high-performing teams. Most of all, you’ll be positioned to attract and retain key talent and knowledge within your organisation, a critical success factor during the current talent shortage we’re experiencing.
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HUMAN RESOURCES
WINTER 2019
So what is well-being?
Collins Dictionary defines well-being as “the condition of being contented, healthy or successful” whereas the Oxford Dictionary says well-being is “a state of being comfortable, healthy and happy.” I much prefer the “and” conjunction used in the latter definition.
Focusing on well-being at work helps individuals, organisations and society as a whole The World Health Organisation says mental health is “a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”
What are the challenges?
In the modern workforce, an increasing number of roles require a great deal more thinking and mental capacity than ever before. We know that people that are mentally and emotionally fit and healthy are better able to perform their work.
A major British study revealed that 48 percent of workers have experienced a mental health problem in their current job. But only half of those who had experienced poor mental health at work had spoken to their employer about it. This suggests that 25 percent of workers are struggling in silence. Statistics New Zealand showed that out of every ten people, two ‘always’ or ‘often’ felt stressed at work. An international survey by Regus found 60 percent of New Zealand respondents were seeing more stress-related illnesses at work, such as headaches and panic attacks and 33 percent were having difficulty sleeping because of work worries. In 2012, 680,000 individual New Zealanders were prescribed sleeping pills. When you exclude children, that means around one in every five adults is resorting to medical intervention to assist their sleep, which begs the question – how many other New Zealanders are also having poor sleep? Quality sleep is essential to well-being and fundamental to your brain and body’s ability to function, so
