Wellbeing, wellness, good mental health;
These are all words we are familiar with and are hearing
more and more of in the workplace. But why is it so important? We ask Lee Irving
– Director of Wellbeing by See Events and psychotherapist.
What does wellbeing
mean?
The oxford
dictionary definition of wellbeing is ‘the state of being comfortable, healthy,
or happy’ but I feel it goes much further than that. First of all, I would like
to think of it as being comfortable, healthy and happy, I don’t see why we need to compromise. Wellbeing for me
is a holistic state of overall contentment, it isn’t just about psychological
health but incudes our physical and even spiritual health as well. If we can
get a good healthy balance in our mental, physical (which includes the right
diet and exercise) and spiritual realms then we are in a state of positive
wellbeing.
Why is wellbeing
fundamental to my business?
With over
half a million UK employees suffering and a total of 15.4 million working days
lost due to work related stress, anxiety and depression in 2017/18, poor
workplace mental health is becoming endemic. Stress is becoming the number one
health concern in the world today and it is not only psychologically damaging
(anxiety, depression) but is the cause of many physical illnesses including
heart disease and diabetes. Chronically stressed employees have a short shelf
life, eventually the stress will lead to an illness and they will need time off
to recover. If employees have been introduced to the concept of wellbeing and have
attended one of our workshops they will have the tools to manage their stress
by noticing when it is becoming a problem and then being able to do something
about it.
What are the benefits of
positive wellbeing?
Positive
wellbeing reduces stress and improves productivity and creativity in the
workplace. It also helps create a more open culture between employees because
when we feel relaxed and confident we are more likely to engage with others. A
stressed out employee finds it difficult to make decisions, finds memory recall
harder and can’t think rationally. There is a very good reason for this as it
is part of the physiological stress response but it can lead to poor decision
making, emotional thinking and tasks taking longer than necessary. An employee
with positive wellbeing thinks clearly and can weigh up the options, can ask
for the thoughts of colleagues and can manage work load more effectively.
What can I expect from one
of your wellbeing workshops?
An initial workshop would consist of an introduction to wellbeing followed by a short presentation on stress; what stress is, why we get stressed and what happens to
us physiologically when we are stressed. We then consider what we can do to
alleviate stress and raise our wellbeing which includes some quick and
effective calming techniques and then a walk out into nature to experience some
Shinrin Yoku – the Japanese art of Forest Bathing where we use some mindfulness
exercises, engage in some gentle exercise (nothing more than walking) and
reconnect with nature in various ways. We will monitor our stress levels
throughout the workshop so we can see the results as they occur. I am currently
working on follow up workshops which can focus more specifically on some of the main points of the initial workshop to enable organisations to continue to help their teams attain a healthy level of personal wellbeing.
