Wellbeing at work is a team effort

To be successful, organisations will need diverse wellbeing programmes that meet the needs of their diverse workforces. Photo / Getty Images

Do you groan when an email arrives exhorting you to join the workplace yoga class, fun run or mindfulness session? Wellbeing programmes are becoming commonplace as employers realise the benefits of workforce productivity and retention, but a study in the US has found that fewer than two in five employees participate.

The stats make the benefits clear: 62 per cent of employees report productivity increases and 56 per cent have fewer sick days, according to a study by United Healthcare in the United States. And there are personal benefits too — two-thirds of employees reduced body weight, 80 per cent said mindfulness had a positive impact on their health and wellbeing and 30 per cent said a disease was detected from investigations made through a wellbeing programme.

So why aren't wellbeing programmes more popular? Jacqui Maguire, clinical psychologist and managing director of Umbrella, says individuals need to feel motivated to participate in wellbeing programmes.

She says this could be achieved through a wellbeing assessment, where every individual is provided with accurate data on their wellbeing: what they're doing well alongside areas of improvement. She says leadership modelling and an embedded wellbeing organisational culture also help increase engagement, as this shows wellbeing is "at the core of how we operate".

However, Maguire receives consistent feedback from organisations that people find it difficult to participate in wellbeing workshops or events due to their high work volumes and feeling "too busy and overwhelmed".

"If we are to create truly successful wellbeing programmes, leaders need to proactively enable the time and space for people to engage in the offerings," she says.

She says many organisations place well-meaning emphasis and financial resource into "low-hanging fruit", such as gym memberships and healthy snacks.

"While these niceties may be appreciated by staff, research highlights that significant impact on wellbeing results from organisational factors such as clear communication, workload management, leadership support and increased autonomy."

A truly successful wellbeing strategy requires targeted intervention for individuals, the team, leaders and the organisation.

"To be successful and achieve return on investment benefits, wellbeing needs to become part of their 'Business as Usual' operating mode. We want leaders to be regularly checking in on their staff's wellbeing but leaders need access and ability to implement effective wellbeing interventions in response to the information they gather, such as flexi-working, secondments to new projects and coaching."

In Sweden, every Friday for an hour, employees of fashion and sportswear company Bjorn Borg attend a mandatory exercise class. The company introduced the initiative to help improve employees' performance, give them more energy for their working day and help them process data better.

But David Ballard of the American Psychological Association says, "Although companies may have good intentions in mandating participation in wellness activities, those efforts can backfire if not executed properly — disrupting trust, heightening tensions and allowing cynicism to grow in the workplace."

Maguire believes wellbeing at work programmes should be integral to an organisation but, "to be truly successful, organisations will require a diverse programme that meets the needs of their diverse workforce.

"Take 'connection', for example — a core pillar of Mason Durie's Te Whare Tapa Whā model of mental health, around which many organisations base their wellbeing programmes. Organisations need to support people to connect in diverse ways, such as in sports teams, cultural clubs, shared lunches, lunchtime speakers, family get-togethers, 'get to know your peers' and 'speed dating' events."

Maguire says while organisations can encourage participation with reward systems, in her experience, leadership behavioural modelling can have the largest influence.

"For example, while my organisation might have a flexi-hour working policy, it isn't until I see the chief executive come into work late on Tuesdays because they have piano [lessons] that I gain behavioural permission to work flexibly too. I suggest organisations create robust wellbeing strategies that are built on a foundation of data. We know the needs, strengths, challenges and opportunities of our people and we can create a wellbeing programme to reflect them."