A recent survey of New Zealand workplaces revealed more than a third have no workplace well-being plan in place. Yet it is necessary, now more than ever, for organizations to understand what a healthy work environment looks like and to provide it for their employees.
The 2015 Health and Safety at Work Act requires workplaces to look after the physical and mental health and well-being of their staff. This means looking at work through a health and safety lens and understanding the risks that affect people’s well-being at work.
For many organizations, the legislation took them into new and unknown territory. Our experience working with organizations was that, understandably, many efforts initially focused on managing stress and mental illness only after they occurred.
However, the evidence clearly points to the importance of having a proactive strategy to prevent psychological harm from occurring in the first place—having the fence at the top of the cliff as well as the ambulance at the bottom.
Recommendations for a well-being plan
A recent World Health Organization (WHO) report on mental health listed three key recommendations to prevent mental ill health at work:
1. Organizational interventions to identify, remove or mitigate psychosocial risks
2. Mental health training for managers to identify and support healthy work practices and healthy workers
3. Interventions for employees to increase their personal coping capacity
There are a few tips organizations should keep in mind when implementing these recommendations. Involving employees in the design of any well-being plan will likely increase buy-in and improve uptake of any interventions. Employers also need to consider both work and non-work factors.
Some organizations may blanch at the thought of a workplace helping with aspects of employees’ private lives. But to do so may be a crucial component in contributing towards their well-being.
In addition to reducing risks, a good well-being plan promotes positive aspects of a workplace. These are the things that make employees want to be there, such as a great office environment, a culture of appreciation, and “fringe benefits” that come with the job.
Psychological well-being in the workplace may still be relatively new territory for many organizations and it’s tempting to pluck the low-hanging fruit by simply providing some extra tools to workers. A comprehensive well-being plan that addresses psychosocial factors will help expand interventions and prove the old adage that prevention is better than cure. The Conversation