What comes to mind when you hear the term wellness? A bean bag and some panpipe music seeping out of an iPod in the 'chillout room on the first floor? A well-meaning but slightly over-wrought Mental Health First Aider who is keen to create change but not quite sure where to start? Or maybe the personalised water bottle and protein bar that your HR Team left on your desk last World Mental Health Day?
Let’s be honest, well-being is just… well everywhere. But why does it matter? What does it really mean and how on earth is it actually going to make any difference to any of our lives and how we’re feeling?
Let alone our organisations.
As one client said to me recently, "The lines of wellness have become so blurred I'm not even sure what it is anymore. I feel like I've got wellness blindness. It’s become white noise.”
"The lines of wellness have become so blurred I'm not even sure what it is anymore. I feel like I've got wellness blindness. It’s become white noise.”
Wellness white noise has become a pervasive problem. It seems everyone has the ‘answer’ to inner peace or peak performance. Who knows if it’s a mindfulness app that’s needed? Or some kind of global engagement survey. Or a weekend retreat for leaders which will include a talk from a guru and a live llama experience. And that’s why this all just seems so bloody confusing.
Because here’s the thing, in a post-Covid world when we have experienced nothing short of trauma on a global scale, we need this stuff more than ever - so the market for a well-being solution has gone WILD.
Look, we all need some help right now.
PUSH has just conducted some research and it’s pretty damn clear that people need a bit more support.
Before the pandemic, nearly half of all employees (48%) said work was the most important thing to them. Today, that figure has plummeted with almost one in two UK employees (44%) saying the pandemic and working from home has made work “go down in my list of priorities”.
At the same time, work-related mental health challenges are on the rise. Research we previously conducted with our partner Mind found that 37% of UK employees are suffering from worse mental health than before the pandemic, and 73% of those cite work as at least partially responsible.
While ‘work’ has declined in its significance since the pandemic, ‘self-care’ has gone from being a fringe concern (24%) to the most important priority for employees today (56%).
So, if you’re an intelligent leader, you’re going to get that something is needed right now.
However, with everyone trying to promote their wares (we’re looking you at, influencers!) wellness has become an umbrella term for anything that ‘makes you feel better’.
Nicola Elliott, Co-Founder of Neom, and my guest on this month’s Safe Spaces agrees, “I feel really pissed off when you see all this ‘well-being whitewashing. Here's a new handbag which will help your mental health because you've organised yourself better - it's got pockets!’ I mean come on, that’s bollocks. As a business you need to feel a genuine responsibility to help people if you’re we're using the word ‘well-being’.”
"Here's a new handbag which will help your mental health because you've organised yourself better - it's got pockets!’ I mean come on, that’s bollocks."
It’s far from a one-size-fits-all scenario and it’s about time we each get a bit clearer on what our own individual or organisational challenges are so we can work out the right solutions for them.
Or, even bloody easier. Let’s get frank about the VERY SIMPLE things that we can all do that make ALL the difference.
Time for clarity: PUSH’s three steps to define your wellbeing gap
What has become clear is that so many companies simply don't know what to do for the best. And, if they don't have a specific definition of what ‘wellbeing’ means to them as an organisation or how it will benefit them, it begs the question - why are they doing it?
That’s why at PUSH we have devised a simple 3 step strategy to help you define and plug your ‘well-being gap’.
1. Define your well-being WHY
The first question that needs to be asked is, “Why do you want to be well?” Or, if you’re a leader, “Why do you want people to be well?”
Of course, the most linear answer is, "Why wouldn’t you?”
However, on a more corporate level, it might be that it will ensure your people are capable of the transformation your business is going through or the innovation you want to be able to achieve.
Okay, so you know why you’re doing it. What next?
2. HOW are you going to measure it?
What gets measured gets managed. Where are we now? You know your vision and where you want to get to, but next you need to come back to ‘the now’. By measuring the reality of where you are now against your ultimate goal, you’ll reveal the well-being gap.
Define your metrics and measure:
On a business level
Make sure you’re checking in on how you’re doing as a company. You could look at productivity levels. Do your employees feel good and is your business able to achieve all its goals?
And on an individual level.
Measuring wellness at an individual level. Define wellness questions you want to ask your employees regularly and then compare the results on a month-by-month basis.
3. WHAT is your well-being solution?
Co-create it. You understand your business and your people, we understand the world of human behaviour and how to co-create a programme that will bring out the very best in your business and your people.
Let’s see how this plays out in real life with three client scenarios:
You’ve got big financial targets but productivity is dropping. You know from an audit that your people are nervous about constant bad news and the cost of living crisis?
– No problem, let’s help them to be a little more resilient to ongoing uncertainty so that they can remain calm under pressure.
You want to be fully remote but a lot of people are leaving. Exit interviews identify that people are feeling isolated and losing company spirit.
– Got it, let’s help the team form better relationships and be able to communicate with each other more easily wherever it is that they’re at.
It might be that you want to grow the business but your leadership team are mooting that the level below them are not up to the job.
– Fine, then it’s a conscious leadership programme that will help the team develop their direction, roles and responsibilities.
Gentle approach
PUSH is not here to dictate what well-being is and how it should look in your workplace. Instead, we talk about what is reasonable and what will genuinely help. It doesn’t have to be overcomplicated.
One approach we at PUSH have taken as a company, which has worked brilliantly, is bringing in well-being days. Each staff member is allotted four well-being days a year, on top of holidays and sick pay, and they can take those as and when they feel they need them.
That’s far more effective than having someone who is feeling out of sorts - whether physically or mentally - dragging themselves into the office and pushing themselves to the point where they become so unwell then have to have more time off (as well as becoming resentful of you and the business).
It’s not hard; it’s just being human and treating someone how you would like to be treated. It’s all about trust, which is something so sorely missing in our world of work. But don’t get me started on that.
It’s not hard; it’s just being human and treating someone how you would like to be treated.
Build Safe Spaces
Ultimately, you can have all the tech, training and brilliant content in the world but it’s actually about stripping everything back to being human, less plugging in and more genuine connection.
PUSH is on a mission to make work better, and a brilliant place to start is by creating more safe spaces. A safe space is more than just a physical space. It can happen at any time at any place between people It's about where and how people connect. It’s about asking the right questions and being comfortable sharing. And, as a consequence, feeling a little better.
Open, honest conversations start with open and honest people. Leaders need to ask themselves:
- How can I connect today?
- What can I ask?
- What can I share?
- How can I truly demonstrate that I care?
Amid all this wellness white noise the answer is, in fact, really simple. It’s about truly showing up, being human, demonstrating vulnerability, and caring about those around you. It’s about the beating heart of connection.
So, it’s clear. The time is now. We need to do this.
For more like this, subscribe to our newsletter
What comes to mind when you hear the term wellness? A bean bag and some panpipe music seeping out of an iPod in the 'chillout room on the first floor? A well-meaning but slightly over-wrought Mental Health First Aider who is keen to create change but not quite sure where to start? Or maybe the personalised water bottle and protein bar that your HR Team left on your desk last World Mental Health Day?
Let’s be honest, well-being is just… well everywhere. But why does it matter? What does it really mean and how on earth is it actually going to make any difference to any of our lives and how we’re feeling?
Let alone our organisations.
As one client said to me recently, "The lines of wellness have become so blurred I'm not even sure what it is anymore. I feel like I've got wellness blindness. It’s become white noise.”
"The lines of wellness have become so blurred I'm not even sure what it is anymore. I feel like I've got wellness blindness. It’s become white noise.”
Wellness white noise has become a pervasive problem. It seems everyone has the ‘answer’ to inner peace or peak performance. Who knows if it’s a mindfulness app that’s needed? Or some kind of global engagement survey. Or a weekend retreat for leaders which will include a talk from a guru and a live llama experience. And that’s why this all just seems so bloody confusing.
Because here’s the thing, in a post-Covid world when we have experienced nothing short of trauma on a global scale, we need this stuff more than ever - so the market for a well-being solution has gone WILD.
Look, we all need some help right now.
PUSH has just conducted some research and it’s pretty damn clear that people need a bit more support.
Before the pandemic, nearly half of all employees (48%) said work was the most important thing to them. Today, that figure has plummeted with almost one in two UK employees (44%) saying the pandemic and working from home has made work “go down in my list of priorities”.
At the same time, work-related mental health challenges are on the rise. Research we previously conducted with our partner Mind found that 37% of UK employees are suffering from worse mental health than before the pandemic, and 73% of those cite work as at least partially responsible.
While ‘work’ has declined in its significance since the pandemic, ‘self-care’ has gone from being a fringe concern (24%) to the most important priority for employees today (56%).
So, if you’re an intelligent leader, you’re going to get that something is needed right now.
However, with everyone trying to promote their wares (we’re looking you at, influencers!) wellness has become an umbrella term for anything that ‘makes you feel better’.
Nicola Elliott, Co-Founder of Neom, and my guest on this month’s Safe Spaces agrees, “I feel really pissed off when you see all this ‘well-being whitewashing. Here's a new handbag which will help your mental health because you've organised yourself better - it's got pockets!’ I mean come on, that’s bollocks. As a business you need to feel a genuine responsibility to help people if you’re we're using the word ‘well-being’.”
"Here's a new handbag which will help your mental health because you've organised yourself better - it's got pockets!’ I mean come on, that’s bollocks."
It’s far from a one-size-fits-all scenario and it’s about time we each get a bit clearer on what our own individual or organisational challenges are so we can work out the right solutions for them.
Or, even bloody easier. Let’s get frank about the VERY SIMPLE things that we can all do that make ALL the difference.
Time for clarity: PUSH’s three steps to define your wellbeing gap
What has become clear is that so many companies simply don't know what to do for the best. And, if they don't have a specific definition of what ‘wellbeing’ means to them as an organisation or how it will benefit them, it begs the question - why are they doing it?
That’s why at PUSH we have devised a simple 3 step strategy to help you define and plug your ‘well-being gap’.
1. Define your well-being WHY
The first question that needs to be asked is, “Why do you want to be well?” Or, if you’re a leader, “Why do you want people to be well?”
Of course, the most linear answer is, "Why wouldn’t you?”
However, on a more corporate level, it might be that it will ensure your people are capable of the transformation your business is going through or the innovation you want to be able to achieve.
Okay, so you know why you’re doing it. What next?
2. HOW are you going to measure it?
What gets measured gets managed. Where are we now? You know your vision and where you want to get to, but next you need to come back to ‘the now’. By measuring the reality of where you are now against your ultimate goal, you’ll reveal the well-being gap.
Define your metrics and measure:
On a business level
Make sure you’re checking in on how you’re doing as a company. You could look at productivity levels. Do your employees feel good and is your business able to achieve all its goals?
And on an individual level.
Measuring wellness at an individual level. Define wellness questions you want to ask your employees regularly and then compare the results on a month-by-month basis.
3. WHAT is your well-being solution?
Co-create it. You understand your business and your people, we understand the world of human behaviour and how to co-create a programme that will bring out the very best in your business and your people.
Let’s see how this plays out in real life with three client scenarios:
You’ve got big financial targets but productivity is dropping. You know from an audit that your people are nervous about constant bad news and the cost of living crisis?
– No problem, let’s help them to be a little more resilient to ongoing uncertainty so that they can remain calm under pressure.
You want to be fully remote but a lot of people are leaving. Exit interviews identify that people are feeling isolated and losing company spirit.
– Got it, let’s help the team form better relationships and be able to communicate with each other more easily wherever it is that they’re at.
It might be that you want to grow the business but your leadership team are mooting that the level below them are not up to the job.
– Fine, then it’s a conscious leadership programme that will help the team develop their direction, roles and responsibilities.
Gentle approach
PUSH is not here to dictate what well-being is and how it should look in your workplace. Instead, we talk about what is reasonable and what will genuinely help. It doesn’t have to be overcomplicated.
One approach we at PUSH have taken as a company, which has worked brilliantly, is bringing in well-being days. Each staff member is allotted four well-being days a year, on top of holidays and sick pay, and they can take those as and when they feel they need them.
That’s far more effective than having someone who is feeling out of sorts - whether physically or mentally - dragging themselves into the office and pushing themselves to the point where they become so unwell then have to have more time off (as well as becoming resentful of you and the business).
It’s not hard; it’s just being human and treating someone how you would like to be treated. It’s all about trust, which is something so sorely missing in our world of work. But don’t get me started on that.
It’s not hard; it’s just being human and treating someone how you would like to be treated.
Build Safe Spaces
Ultimately, you can have all the tech, training and brilliant content in the world but it’s actually about stripping everything back to being human, less plugging in and more genuine connection.
PUSH is on a mission to make work better, and a brilliant place to start is by creating more safe spaces. A safe space is more than just a physical space. It can happen at any time at any place between people It's about where and how people connect. It’s about asking the right questions and being comfortable sharing. And, as a consequence, feeling a little better.
Open, honest conversations start with open and honest people. Leaders need to ask themselves:
- How can I connect today?
- What can I ask?
- What can I share?
- How can I truly demonstrate that I care?
Amid all this wellness white noise the answer is, in fact, really simple. It’s about truly showing up, being human, demonstrating vulnerability, and caring about those around you. It’s about the beating heart of connection.
So, it’s clear. The time is now. We need to do this.
For more like this, subscribe to our newsletter
