WORKPLACE WELLNESS SHOULD BE TOP OF YOUR AGENDA
Long before the issues presented by the current Covid-19 crisis, workplace wellness was an area that was overlooked and under-rated by the vast majority of insurance organisations. Whilst some paid it lip-service, others ignored it totally. It has take a pandemic and seismic shift in the way we work to bring employee wellness onto the agenda of many businesses. It was always top of our agenda.
An engaged workforce culture is essential for business success
The importance of employee health and well-being has risen sharply up the public policy agenda over the past ten years, encouraging a broader and more sophisticated understanding of what the concept means in UK organisations. Historically, measures to safeguard the well-being of employees focused on the much narrower management of ‘health and safety’ and steps to reduce the risk of injury and ill-health associated with work. Covid-19 has demonstrated in very clear terms why employee health is now top of the agenda of every forward-thinking business.
Covid-19
Covid-19 has bought new challenges to an already problematic situation.
- How the increased levels of loneliness caused by unexpected social isolation can exacerbate existing mental health issues with your employees, as well as contributing to a depressed mood. Such issues may not have been noticeable before.
- How the loss of full income and the resulting financial insecurity are very likely to increase stress levels and contribute to relationship difficulties inside and outside of the workplace.
- How uncertainty and heightened anxiety will be experienced by most people, and is normal and to be expected. The challenge is how to empower your employees to become comfortable with uncertainty by learning specialist techniques.
How We Help
We offer a comprehensive range of wellbeing aids and solutions including:
- Identify: We identify changes in motivation and mood of your team by implementing regular check-ins and setting up times for frank conversations that lead to increased engagement and act as a support gateway.
- Communicate: To keep staff up-to-date with employee wellbeing benefits currently in place, we provide informative webinars, to an Employee Assistance Program, to health support utilising private medical insurance.
- Inform: Mental wellbeing and resilience can be strengthened through increased practical knowledge. We help you arrange regular wellbeing webinars focusing on sleep hygiene, exercise, relaxation, and maintaining social connections in the digital world.
Methods
Whilst one size will not fit all, we aim to empower your staff with skills including:
- Be mindful of internal dialogue: This is an exceptional time and adjustment takes time, so be kind to yourself and celebrate “wins”.
- Establish boundaries: Our brains respond well to a daily schedule. Make sure to both start and end the day with definitive structure.
- Practice breathing techniques regularly to reduce hyper-vigilance and stress to help feel re-energised.
- Connect: Check-in with colleagues outside of formal meetings as the mental health benefits of feeling connected are significant.
- Physical activity: Exercise can reduce anxiety and stress and elevate mood levels. Where possible, exercise outdoors and pay attention to surroundings.
MEDITATION FOR EVERYONE
Meditation still has an undeserved reputation as being religious or spiritual. It can be, but it absolutely does not have to be. It is something that everyone can benefit from, and it is gaining more and more mainstream followers including the NHS, as a scientifically proven way to help deal with a range of modern-day issues. As with many things, simply buying an App or a book does not give enough insight and knowledge to really get the best results and create long-term habits. Even before COVID-19, we have been working with a number of businesses using meditation as one tool to help their employees to deal with the stresses and strains of modern life. Now as we start 2021, we are still in the grip of a pandemic which some had said would be long gone by now. The truth is that the pandemic will be seriously affecting our lives for many months to come, and even after that nothing will quite be the same again. One of the many sad results of this is increased mental-health issues for many people who feel isolated by remote working, and worried about their income and the health of themselves and their families. Meditation is an effective and available way to really make a difference, so speak to us about how we can help you as an individual and your business.