Corporate wellbeing POOR MENTAL HEALTH HAS COST EMPLOYERS IN THE UK BETWEEN £33-42BN
You spend most of your week at work. Does it make you happy? Should it make you happy? Is a job just a job or is it an employer’s responsibility to have happy employees? WORDS BY LEVITHA BIJI, EMILY MILLER, AND TOM YOUNG
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odern life comes with a lot of pressures: work hard, pay your bills, resist the temptation to tell your boss where to stick that overtime request… That’s why it’s important to slow down sometimes and remember that there’s more to life than goal-chasing. March 20 is the UN’s International Day of Happiness, and we think it’s worth taking a moment to step back and evaluate whether your workplace is having a positive effect on your mental health. “Happiness is shorthand for a great experience,” says leading happiness expert and founder of Happiness Works, Nic Marks, when he spoke to Robert Half Talent Solutions. “It’s an emotional word we use to summarise
the quality of experiences in everyday work – essentially, whether we are feeling good and doing well.”
What happiness means at work
Typically, workplaces have tended to offer pension plans, annual leave, and maternity and paternity leave designed for recruitment and maintaining talent. This is standard practice, but research suggests that adding wellbeing programmes to a company’s repertoire can cause positive changes to happen in the employee’s attitudes towards their work. It might even make them feel happy to come to work. Employer-sponsored programmes designed to promote long-term health among employees is the basic
principle of corporate wellbeing. It might be known amongst colleagues as the company’s employee perks, or its wellbeing policy, or team building, or mental health first aid – really, it’s all of these things together, and more. The NHS states that investing in wellbeing in the workplace sends a powerful message about your values and ethics, and can help you attract a high-quality workforce. Having a wellbeing programme in place can be a rewarding experience for both parties. The team is more likely to feel valued and listened to, which will see them more focused on the organisation’s values and goals and more likely to give their full potential while working. Poor mental health has cost
