A holistic approach to wellbeing at work

Do you want your team to thrive? Let’s create a healthy environment and take a holistic approach to wellbeing at work.

Why is a holistic approach important?
The WHO defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The majority of employees spends around 40% of their awake time at work. Being completely healthy helps us to navigate complex situations in today’s VUCA world (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity), it helps us to find calmness within the whirlwind of responsibilities and take better decisions. In today’s work environments, no matter what’s the core business, everything seems important AND urgent. There doesn’t seem to be enough time for anything, especially not the little things. This is where you can stand out as a company, if the wellbeing of your team has the same priority as your business goal.

How to start integrating wellbeing program(s)?
It’s not possible to change a complete lifestyle or company culture overnight, there will always be elements where you can keep improving. My recommendation is to take new measures in a sustainable way, step by step:

1. Awareness
   Being aware that you need to and you can improve the environment for your team, is the first step.
2. Status quo
   What is/are your current program(s) and initiative(s) to improve the physical, mental and social well-being of your team? How flexible are you with them and their needs? What support system(s) do you offer? How do you help them to improve their knowledge and competences? What are your financial, cultural and organizational resources (to improve in all these areas)? What program(s) are available and efficient for your company/team size?
3. Ask your team and listen
   Once you know, what you could offer, I highly recommend you to do a little survey. What is your team’s priority? What initiatives are most claimed? Send a multiple choice form where you offer the available options. It’s important that you only promise what you can keep, that you listen actively to their feedback, try your best to integrate it and communicate the results and measures you will take.
4. Prevention is key
   Too many companies start with (new) wellbeing initiatives, once they witness a rise in complaints or sick leaves, worse results in their employee survey, a wave of resignations or similar. Be proactive and think in advance if you want to save (especially financial!) resources.
5. Collaboration
   Exchange with other companies and experts in the field to learn about their program(s), gain new insights and perspectives. Through joint purchasing, strategic partnerships or sharing well-being programs/resources you can save costs.
6. Little, healthy habits
   The simplest things often result in a huge, positive impact on your nervous system and, as a consequence, on your concentration, creativity, productivity and overall wellbeing, eg. a few deep breaths, stretching your body and neck, looking out of the window (away from your screen/workspace), taking enough time for a lunch break, drinking enough water etc.
   While working on “bigger initiatives” mentioned in 1-5, you can start to integrate these little things right away. If you are a leader, be a role model for your team so they feel comfortable to prioritize self-care. If you need help, I’m happy to support you.
   
   To sum up: A holistic approach to wellbeing at work is key to support your employees in the best possible way. Through my work with different companies and teams, I confirmed that the overall well-being and culture improves when mindfulness is integrated into all business areas such as communication, meetings, leadership, task management, development (opportunities), flexibility, peer to peer relations, goal setting etc.
   This is why I will address one of these topics every week in order to support you to create a fulfilling, healthy and sustainable work environment in which your team feels well, motivated and satisfied.
   
   The next article will be around mindful meetings. If you want to receive the article directly to your inbox, subscribe: here.
   What other topics would you like me to include? Let me know in the comments section.