Feature


Health in the Workplace


Developing a culture of health and wellbeing


By Kathy Scott (pictured), director at Hands On At Work T


he working environment has changed so much over the past 10 or 20 years and with that change so has the relationship and expectations of both employers and their employees.


Employers are naturally mindful of their financial ‘bottom line’ and how


to keep the business going in uncertain and difficult times and employees demand more of a say in their working conditions. Striking a balance is not easy but creating an engaged, healthy and motivated workforce will go a long way towards creating a positive working environment. What exactly do we mean when we talk about health and wellbeing in


the workplace? Is it putting on a couple of wellbeing days in a year or providing some activities at lunchtime? Both are good but to be successful, health and wellbeing needs to be embedded in the culture of the business with everyone on board. It’s a positive move which will improve employee engagement and motivation.


To truly reap the health benefits, consider the following:


1. What do you want to achieve from a health and wellbeing policy? Are there particular issues to address such as sickness absence rates, staff turnover, disengagement or do you just want to make improvements generally to the working environment?


2. Create the post of Wellbeing Champion or ask for volunteers to form a Wellbeing Committee so that staff have a point of contact. The committee can plan meetings and create schedules to monitor how matters are progressing and feed back information. Accountability will keep matters on track.


68 CHAMBERLINK October 2019


3. Involve employees in the process by creating a survey for everyone to complete and ask searching questions as to how they perceive the culture to be currently, i.e. do they feel comfortable talking to colleagues or Managers about health issues, workloads or other team members. Do they feel guilty about taking a break? There is no point putting in place activities, for example, if people feel they need to slip out to take part without being noticed. Ask for their ideas.


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