Supporting the physical health and wellbeing of employees leads to happier staff and greater productivity, along with lower absenteeism and greater staff retention.
Learn about the different factors that contribute to staff wellbeing, how to measure them, and what you can do to create a more resilient and engaged workforce.
Wellbeing at work is more than just the absence of illness or a problem. It’s about promoting physical health, to a point where people are thriving, physically fit and feeling resilient.
So what do organisations need to focus on to encourage healthier lifestyles? And how does this impact psychological health, and thus wellbeing?
What causes happiness for people? Some say that money makes you happy, but our data doesn’t support that. Happiness in the brain comes from the dopamine and serotonin pathways, but there’s more to it.
There seem to be specific personality traits that increase your chances of being happy, along with five things, outlined in the PERMA model of happiness that determine your level of happiness.
Workplace wellbeing is best represented by levels of engagement, which in turn can be looked at in terms of energy, flow and commitment (AKA vigour, dedication and absorption).
High engagement at work improves productivity, customer satisfaction and profits, while decreasing absenteeism, staff turnover and workplace accidents, amongst other things.
Can organisations recruit people who are more likely to be engaged?
There are genetic and learned traits that affect someone’s levels of engagement, and thus wellbeing, so businesses can use personality and values testing to identify candidates who are more likely to be engaged.
Can business leaders increase engagement at work?
Absolutely, and there are 10 key leadership behaviours that affect staff wellbeing, along with three different leadership models, and four characteristics that leaders need to display.
We surveyed two and half thousand people on their levels of engagement – and thus wellbeing – at work, and what we found is that there are some major differences based on industry sector, employee age and salary.
What are the characteristics of resilient people? What makes someone more likely to be able to cope with change and stress? And how does this tie into engagement?
We examine the marked differences in resilience across various industry sectors and income levels. And we also discuss six powerful techniques you can use in the workplace to increase resilience.
Workplace stress can be positive as well as negative, and both affect wellbeing.
So how can organisations manage stress for their employees to ensure they’re engaged and productive but not unhappy or overwhelmed?
And what is the relationship between control and stress for wellbeing?
Recognition at work is important for people’s wellbeing, and can also improve productivity. But where should that recognition come from, and in what form?
It’s also important to explore any potential drawbacks of recognition at work.