WELLBEING LAURNA MUNRO
Connecting wellbeing and inclusion Laurna Munro explores the connection between wellbeing and inclusion and how this will improve inclusion and diversity outcomes while increasing productivity.
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hen we make the connection between wellbeing and inclusion, we strengthen our story of why we need to change the way we work, we create more hooks to bring people on the journey of change, and improve inclusion and productivity outcomes.
Your employees can’t perform at their best if you are not looking out for their wellbeing
• ‘I am so busy; I don’t have time to look after myself.’ • ‘I have so much to do; if I just skip lunch, I can catch up.’ • ‘I have a cold, but the team are counting on me.’ • ‘I should do some exercise, but…’ • ‘I know I am tired, but I just need to push through.’ • ‘There is no way I’d bring that up with my manager.’ If you hear statements like this in your organisation, your employees 26
HUMAN RESOURCES
WINTER 2021
are putting the wellbeing of their loved ones, the people they work with and themselves at risk. When we are stressed, hungry, fearful, overworked or tired, we tend to make bad choices and resort to undesirable behaviours. We need to flip our thinking from ‘work is the priority, I’ll look after myself later’ to ‘wellbeing is part of my job’. The world we live in is becoming increasingly complex and, for many, the separation between work and personal life has become fuzzy. This rapid and unexpected change is taking a toll on our wellbeing. When people are well, they are more capable of drawing on the resources
they need to help them make good decisions in this complex world and have positive interactions.
Inclusion can drive wellbeing and wellbeing can drive inclusion
Wellbeing and inclusion are connected. When our wellbeing efforts consider the unique needs of employees and our inclusion efforts recognise wellbeing as an inclusion and diversity issue, you will start to see ways you can design expectations, solutions and offerings that are more meaningful to your employees. This does not mean they are the same, but the overlap is significant
