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.

When 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 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 enough that they have a codependency. When we ignore the co-dependency, we won’t see the change we are expecting.

Don’t let low employee wellbeing have a limiting effect on inclusion

You may have provided your employees with the knowledge and skills to speak up when misconduct, such as bullying or harassment, occurs, but if your employees have a low sense of wellbeing, they are less likely to use their energy or risk their sense of safety to speak up. Research by Rongjun Yu on a stress induced deliberation-to-intuition model identified that, when we are stressed, we tend to make more habitual responses instead of goal-directed choices, which means we are more likely to apply decision biases.

When part of an employees’ identity means they are likely to experience blatant discrimination, relentless (often unintentional) micro-aggressions and pressure to ‘fit in’ day after day, a strong sense of wellbeing is important to helping them respond to your work environment and draw on their resilience while your other employees are still learning their new inclusive skillset.

When you set the expectation and permission for employees to look after their wellbeing as part of their job, being tired, hungry or stressed is no longer an excusable reason for disrespectful and antisocial behaviour.

It is about creating an environment of trust for people … where they feel included, able to learn, contribute and challenge without losing their sense of environmental safety.

Wellbeing is an inclusion and diversity issue

Many of your employees will experience an impact on their wellbeing during their career that will be significant enough to prevent them from participating fully at work. This might be in the form of absenteeism, presenteeism or early departure from the workplace.

When you look at research conducted by Statistics New Zealand, social disparities frequently show up for people who identify as LGBTQIA, disabled, Māori and Pasifika. Some of these poor outcomes are because of bias within our justice and health systems. Others are because of the relentless exclusion experiences these people find themselves navigating each day.

Considering the wellbeing of all staff is essential to enable them to contribute their best at work. The social disparities relating to health outcomes mean the inclusion lens is critical to designing an effective workplace wellbeing programme and vice versa.

When we are stressed, we tend to make more habitual responses instead of goal-directed choices, which means we are more likely to apply decision biases.

Workplace wellbeing is about the way we work

When I ask employees about their workplace wellbeing programme offering, it is usually focused on how to eat well, sleep well and be active. These things are important, and it’s great that employees have these resources available to them. This, to me, describes a workplace wellbeing approach of ‘how to stay well despite your workplace stress’.

We need workplace wellbeing programmes to think more about how they can work to reduce workplace stress.

Typical workplace stressors include:

• change management

• ambiguity (lack of clarity)

• management practices

• organisation culture

• physical work environment

• relationships at work (including lack of care, respect and dignity).

Benefits of reducing workplace stress:

• improved mental and physical health

• fewer injuries

• reduced sick leave, absences and staff turnover

• reduce cases of misconduct

• greater job satisfaction and employee engagement

• increased productivity.

Because this is an article and not a book, let’s look at an example of one workplace stressor and one benefit in more detail.

Improving relationships at work

When we include the expectation of showing respect and care for each other as part of workplace wellbeing, we increase self-esteem and a sense of integrity. When we are explicit about these expectations, and it is reflected in our interactions, we make it possible for employees to trust our policies and processes. They will feel safe asking their manager or peers for what they need to enable their ability to contribute, such as:

• support to prevent or manage bullying, harassment, discrimination and other destructive behaviours

• a flexible working arrangement

• clarification about their role

• help to address concerns about their workload.

It is about creating an environment of trust for people to work within where they feel included, able to learn, contribute and challenge without losing their sense of environmental safety. This is known as psychological safety.

Wellbeing and inclusion are two requirements for improving productivity

New Zealand’s business productivity is being held back by the low wellbeing and inclusion of employees and their families. As we improve the wellbeing and inclusion experiences of employees, through addressing workplace stressors, they will:

• see their capability flourish as their self-esteem increases

• gain the courage to look for opportunities where they previously saw none

• gain work–life balance

• experience social connectedness and belonging

• prevent and reduce discrimination, prejudice and harassment

• increase pro-social behaviour.

The outcome for your organisation is employees who are engaged and invested in doing the right thing without the distraction of fear and exhaustion.

Laurna Munro is an experienced facilitator who is passionate about enabling highperformance workplaces. She has a background as an inclusion and diversity programme management, organisational development advisor, senior ICT business analyst and career mentor. Laurna advocates for evidence-based change and, where the evidence is not apparent, encourages innovation through human-centred design practices.