Who Owns Wellbeing?
Who has responsibility for wellbeing and how does that impact wellbeing at work?
It has been a busy couple of weeks here for me at The Wellbeing Exchange. I attended the fantastic Safety and Health Expo from SHP at the Excel conference center in London last week and have been working on some exciting client projects. I find it so rewarding to help clients get to the root of their wellbeing challenges, design solutions and make plans for improvements. Many of the conversations I have had over the last few weeks in a number of different contexts - at the conference, with organisations, and with coaching clients - have been about the ownership of wellbeing. And that is the focus of today’s newsletter.
Photo: Dr Judith Grant at The Wellbeing Exchange smiling in front of a colourful wall. Credit: Fabula Images
Who owns Wellbeing?
What is seemingly a simple question does not have an easy answer. In terms of our personal wellbeing, each of us owns our own don’t we? Whilst we may not be able to control our genes or our life circumstances, we are all responsible for our individual behaviours. We have free will to choose what we eat, if we exercise, if we work through our lunch break, if we take our medication or if we make time for our hobbies. Or do we? If we are considering wellbeing as measured by the well researched single-item measure (used by the Office of National Statistics in the UK’s National Wellbeing Dashboard and in many other contexts nationally and globally) ‘how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?’ then maybe it is not so clear cut. Your life satisfaction, and by proxy your subjective wellbeing, may be influenced by a huge range of different drivers. Whether we have caring responsibilities, the environment in which we live, our financial wellbeing, our job security, whether we are satisfied with our job or career, our boss, whether we experience discrimination in day to day life, our physical or mental health, and even our disposition and outlook on life will all impact our satisfaction with life, along with many other factors. How we feel is so often influenced by external factors.
But we still own our choices right? Well, again it is not that clear cut. If you live in an area where the local high street is no longer thriving and the only food shop has closed down to make way for an out of town supermarket, you might live in a food desert. This kind of obesogenic environment makes accessing fresh, healthy foods challenging, especially if you don’t have a car, public transport is challenging and perhaps it is not so easy for you to go out. You may only have take-away food shops and a corner shop that sells convenience foods, limiting your choice. Your ability to make healthy choices is compromised. Likewise if you don’t feel safe going for a walk or run in the evening, or you have caring commitments, or work shifts, getting exercise is not as easy as just making a choice. The same goes for many other health behaviours. If you are constantly being nudged to buy certain foods because you keep seeing adverts for them or the children are nagging you to buy the latest soft drink because of an Instagram craze, it takes a lot of resolve to say no. That’s not to say I am absolving people from owning their own health and choices, but highlighting that decisions are not always easy. We can’t always control what impacts us but we can try and control how we react.
Wellbeing at Work
So that brings me on to workplace wellbeing, because if responsibility for wellbeing is complicated at an individual level outside of work, multiply that by the number of your employees and surely it becomes an even more complex question?!
A question I am often asked is if an organisation really should have to take responsibility for an employee’s wellbeing. Surely if the organisation has an Employee Assistance Programme in place and some health perks such as reduced cost gym membership and a fruity Friday that is enough?! Wellbeing is a personal matter and none of an employers business, right?! To which I so often reply, ‘wrong’. The perks I mentioned above are all fantastic interventions as part of a strategic approach to wellbeing but alone don’t constitute an effective approach to wellbeing at work. Whether an employee is ill due to factors outside of work, or ill due to factors inside work, they are still ill in work (or off work)! We bring our entire selves to work, no matter whether we feel we can be our true selves or not, and therefore as much as we may try and leave the argument we had with our partner before work this morning at home, or the financial pressure we are under with the rising cost of living, these challenges may weigh on our minds. If we don’t feel we can be true to ourselves at work and try to mask how we are feeling it uses even more energy, impacting our wellbeing.
Just giving employees perks in an effort to boost wellbeing doesn’t necessarily mean that they will use them or change their behaviours. Very often the people who engage with these perks are people who would have gone to the gym anyway or who just really enjoy fruit! I am being flippant to make the point but it is important to actually ask employees what they would value to boost their wellbeing. It may be that a Flexible Working policy may really help them manage their work and home lives better, or it may be that getting someone to fix the printer in the office on the 2nd floor which keeps breaking down, or improve the cleanliness in the office toilets, would go a much bigger way to making a difference.
There are multiple drivers of health and wellbeing in a workplace, and therefore so many opportunities for workplaces to make a difference. While an employer will have no control over the frustrations an employee might be facing as they spend a good half an hour at 8am trying to get a GP appointment and failing, having to phone back again the next day for another excruciating half hour; the employer could consider providing an online GP service app that might help ease the challenge, or at least offer flexibility so the employee isn’t stressed about being late to work while making or attending an appointment. Delays in getting care for both mental and physical health services could be eased through private medical insurance, health cash plans, occupational health, vocational rehabilitation or other benefits/support in this area. There are a wealth of fantastic mental health apps out there that may benefit employees, as well as female health apps, sleep apps, and so on. These could all benefit employees. But these are all at the intervention and support side of the wellbeing equation. It is important to really understand the workforce, perhaps through surveys or focus groups, to implement interventions that will make the biggest difference.
The most important aspect an employer should start with is not damaging an employee’s health and wellbeing in the first place. There is a moral argument to this of course but there is also a legislative requirement. All UK employers have a legal responsibility to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees through the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and the many supporting regulations, codes of practice and guidance. This includes a duty to manage not only physical health risks, such as exposure to dust, noise, chemicals etc., but also mental health risks as well. The Health and Safety Executive has guidance on managing stress at work through their Management Standards Indicator Tool but many other wellbeing measures and methods are available. There are responsibilities through the Working Time Regulations 1998, Equality Act 2010 and many other specific laws that should be considered.
I audit clients on their approach to health and wellbeing and look at how they approach the management of psychosocial risks in the workplace, as well as how they approach support and other health and wellbeing related factors. How do they manage change? Do employees know what is expected of them at work? Do employees have the resources and support they need to do their jobs effectively? How much autonomy do employees have over their day to day work? Do employees feel they can speak up - whether with ideas, or concerns, or admit they have made a mistake - without fear of negative consequences (aka Psychological Safety)? Is there a culture of wellbeing in the organisations and do senior leaders walk the walk as well as talk the talk? Do managers know how to hold a good ‘wellbeing conversation’? The list goes on. In fact I use a pretty big spreadsheet when carrying out audits! This ensures that the organisation is able to step back and look at where they are doing well, where improvements might be needed and really consider meaningful action on their risks and opportunities.
But who owns wellbeing it in the workplace?
Many of you may have started reading this article thinking I was going to tell you where I think wellbeing should sit in an organisational chart. Should it sit with Human Resources and their expertise in people management? What about with Health and Safety team and their expertise in risk management? How about Occupational Health and their extensive medical knowledge? Employee Reward with their experience of rewards and benefits? How about Sustainability as part of the holistic strategy on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) factors? Or the Inclusion and Diversity team who work to ensure employees can bring their whole selves to work? Or should it be a standalone wellbeing department with a Chief Wellbeing Officer at the helm?
I think it really depends on the organisation as to who ‘owns’ wellbeing. Every business is different and where wellbeing ‘sits’ needs to be logical in the context of operational requirements. Every department I mentioned above, if the organisation has them, has a role to play. Those organisations truly doing wellbeing well are those who collaborate across departments and pool their skills for maximum impact. That might be through a shared strategy and individual departmental responsibilities or goals. It could be through governance through a Health and Wellbeing Steering Group or with a Board sponsor at the helm. Given the extensive and varied drivers of health and wellbeing it makes sense for the support and management to be across departments.
Managing wellbeing.
A quick mention for line managers, who I will focus on in a future newsletter. The phrase we ‘leave bad managers, and not jobs’ is relevant here. Managers probably have one of the most significant roles to play in the workplace in the wellbeing of their teams. This comes naturally to some leaders but not to all, so training and development to improve manager confidence in supporting employee wellbeing is critical. Just as giving the manager time for reflection and self-development such as coaching, so that they can explore the impact of their behaviours on themselves and others is important. So often managers are pulled in all directions by their specific role requirements, demands from above and a need to support their employees, and it can be overwhelming. Giving managers appropriate time, support and development can go a long way to improving their impact on the wellbeing of their employees.
So who owns wellbeing?
Ultimately we all do, and it is everyone’s responsibility! The key is identifying the areas we can control and focusing on those. If there are 100 ways an organisation could address wellbeing at work, suggesting they work on all 100 of them could be somewhat overwhelming. Clearly the starting point needs to be the moral and legislative areas, but then comes the exciting part. There are so many opportunities to make a difference, so many levers to adjust to make meaningful change. If the workplace wellbeing approach is measured and monitored, well-governed and based on both quantitative and qualitative feedback and data from the organisation there is a significant opportunity to influence both wellbeing and the bottom line. My previous newsletter focused on the economics of wellbeing so I won’t repeat the business case here, but the research on the benefits of investment are compelling.
At an individual level while there are many things we can’t control, there are always some things that we can, and I encourage you to start there. If you really can’t take a half hour walk at lunch time go for 15. Can’t trust yourself to hit the work biscuit tin at 3pm? Take a snack and eat that instead. Want to get more active but hate gyms - try a couch-to-5k programme. Kids take up all your time in the evening so can’t get to an exercise class? Get them active too. Whatever the issue, considering objectively whether it is a genuine blocker or an excuse is always helpful. We are all different and will have different goals or activity preferences to improve our wellbeing. I recommend my coaching clients set a couple of small and specific goals to start off with, short term goals that align to their values or long term goals, and focus on those. The satisfaction that comes with little wins, makes the journey to the bigger goal much more rewarding. Focusing on what we can control also saves on the frustration and distress of focusing on what we can’t. And ultimately, for me, being kind to ourselves and others is a very good way to own wellbeing.
Photo: Dr Judith Grant at The Wellbeing Exchange sat in a café with a coffee, taking a break from work and having a wellbeing moment. Credit: Fabula Images