Invest (at least your time) in wellbeing initiatives – it’s a win,win!
It’s well proven that a happier, healthier and more engaged workforce is good not just for those employees wellbeing, but for your business too – a true win,win scenario. You will lose far less days to sick leave, and spend much less on recruitment, training and the management of a constantly changing workforce. In addition, your employees will become your best brand ambassadors, thereby improving the top line, as well as the bottom.
There are various reports and surveys which attempt to quantify the return on investment in workplace wellbeing but, even without investing heavily in financial terms, there are many simple and practical steps you can take within your business to implement some initiatives that will make a difference over time. This is a topic I could write a whole book on (maybe one day!), but here are just a few ideas to think about…
1. Starting a new job can be very stressful, so have a look at how you bring new staff into the business at the outset. Only 12% of employees think that their employers do a good job of onboarding them (Gallup State of the Workplace Study 2017). Could you invite new starts to a social get together in the weeks leading up to their start date? Even a chat over lunch will make them less anxious about starting with you. Could you provide them with some sort of ‘welcome pack’ to make them feel part of the team as quickly as possible? Could you ask someone to be their ‘buddy’, that they can ask for simple help and assistance when they start, e.g how on earth does that coffee machine work?!
2. A survey in the US (State of the American Workplace) found that close work friendships boosted employee satisfaction by 50% and people that have a ‘best friend’ at work are seven times more likely to be fully engaged in their jobs. That sounds good on all fronts, doesn’t it? Think about whether you could offer more by way of social interactions for your employees, from lunches, drinks after work, barbecues, teambuilding days, to Corporate Social Responsibility volunteering opportunities, encouraging friendship amongst your employees.
3. Some employers are fortunate to have deep pockets, or access to investment cash for wellbeing, allowing them to invest in a gym in the office, subsidise gym memberships, or have personal trainers or dieticians come in to the office regularly. However, you really don’t need to go to that extent to encourage your employees to spend a bit more time moving and exercising regularly during their working day, thereby improving their wellness. How about encouraging walking meetings: a brisk 10 – 15 minutes round the block to chat through something you would normally do while sitting slumped in a meeting room to do. You will likely arrive back in the office refreshed, or at least a little more awake, and ready for the next task. Top tip – an initiative like this requires a top-down adoption, i.e. the leaders and managers of the business need to embrace it and start doing it regularly, to help instil into more junior staff that it is acceptable, and in fact is to be encouraged!
4. Could you invest a small sum in having a specialist come in to talk to staff about mental health wellbeing, such as how to spot when things ‘aren’t quite right’, where to turn for support or advice, and some practical hints and tips or coping strategies. You could go one step further and train a mental health first aider within your organisation, which will help to make this an ongoing initiative, benefitting all within your organisation, and helping to reduce time lost to sick leave.
5. Finally, make seasonal events (e.g Easter, Halloween, Christmas) fun! Think about giving out Advent Calendars or Easter Eggs to all staff – not a huge investment, but definitely a morale booster – or having a dress down/up(!) day for Halloween. This can encourage interaction amongst employees, lift spirits in the office, and at the same time be used to generate some money for a charity of your choice.
I hope there are some ideas here that you might be able to implement in your organisation, even with minimal investment. I think you will see an improvement in morale, health and wellbeing in the longer term, and a reduction in sick leave and staff turnover. With proper commitment to employee wellbeing, and a strategic approach to it, you will also see financial improvement to the top and bottom lines too. As I say, a win,win.
Gregor Angus, Senior Business Development Manager
The Cashroom Ltd
addressing. According to research 66% of solicitors feel high levels of stress in their jobs, and each year in the UK, 70 million workdays are lost to mental illness.
Almost half of all the calls received (48%) were made by legal professionals with less than five years’ qualified experience. The Junior Lawyers Division’s resilience and well-being survey also found a huge number of younger legal professionals struggling with work related mental health issues. This research clearly shows that the well-being of people in the legal sector spans all knowledge ranges and doesn’t discriminate between the newly qualified and the more experienced lawyer.
I recently ran Manchester marathon. I wasn’t fast, and I wasn’t last – 3hr 31 min to be precise – but sometimes the time is irrelevant . I ran a marathon in 2014 (Edinburgh) and have run the distance a few more times at the end of Ironman triathlons (pre-– children!), but this time around was a little different. I haven’t slept much in the last few months (see earlier reference to children!), and had a busy few months at work and at home, so training was ‘minimalistic’ to say the least. However, aside from a ‘moment’ a few weeks before race day, I knew that I could get round alright. It wouldn’t be a PB, but I would complete the distance. And that’s when I realised that something had changed in the last few years – my perspective. Being able to run a marathon on minimal training was now my ‘new normal’, and I think there is a lesson in that: what you perceive as your ‘normal’ can vastly change over time, and your limits are almost certainly not where you think they are.
You don’t need to go in all guns blazing, signing up to climb Mount Everest next week, but decide what it is you want to achieve, and start taking small, incremental but consistent steps towards it, building momentum as you go. Those daily, weekly or monthly steps towards the goal, over time, are what make the difference. Once you have that consistent practice, what once seemed like a pie in the sky idea will come clearly into view, and be more than achievable. And once achieved, your perspective will have changed, in a positive way, forever. Even if your goal was to start a new business, and it wasn’t ultimately successful, going through the process, and making that your ‘new normal’, will change your outlook, and help you believe that it is not beyond your capabilities should a better opportunity arise in the future.
So, while I would encourage you all to run a marathon – I truly believe anyone can do it with the right preparation and dedication to training – your goal may be something quite different to that. The same principles apply though: identify what it is you want to achieve, commit to it, then train for it in a deliberate and consistent way. Very philosophical I know, but life is short, so set about doing the things you have always wanted to do. And remember, nothing changes if nothing changes.
extremely busy and sometime stressful work we all have commitments and strains to deal with in our personal life too. It is vital for all of us to take a step back when needed and deal with our own health. And even if we do not have any existing mental health problems, ensure that we are all looking after our mental health as we do our physical health.
At The Cashroom we have a confidential phone line available to staff which goes to trained mental health professionals that they can call 24 hours a day (you wouldn’t let yourself or even a colleague treat your cancer would you?).The Mindful Employer creates a safe place for staff to call and also has a lot of useful information on its website for staff. We also encourage all staff to look after their mental wellbeing by allowing time during the working day for staff to complete a daily mile outside in the fresh air and we have fresh fruit delivered weekly. We also have our mental health charter displayed in the office for staff to see.