Resources to help you!
For those that are just getting started with their wellbeing and mental health planning, it can seem overwhelming. Where to start? How much time and money to invest? Who to partner with?
The good news is that if you are a small company with limited resources, employee wellbeing doesn’t have to cost a lot. There are lots of great free resources available to help organisations that are looking for wellbeing ideas and resources, such as:
Not to mention all our resources available via this section of our website!
Getting Started
A great place to start is by building a culture of empathy and psychological safety – one where people feel listened to, understood and treated as individuals.
We recommend a survey or pulse check as this will help you understand your employees better, how they’re currently feeling and identify what they want and need.
Once you have a survey and data from your people, it will provide a benchmark from which you can design and then measure the impact of a wellbeing programme going forward.
If you do conduct a survey, we recommend feeding back the data and your plan of action (including timings) as a result of the survey findings as soon as possible. Employees want to feel listened to and to know that something is going to happen as a result.
7 tips to help you create an environment of empathy and psychological safety, so your workforce feel balanced and resilient:
1. Lead by example!
Arguably the most important tip is for leaders to model the behaviour they are encouraging their team to adopt. If an employee sees their manager prioritising their wellbeing and mental health, they will inherently understand they have the permission and support to do the same.
If your leadership team is on the wellbeing journey, then great! Consider ways of communicating this as loudly as you can to the wider team. If they are not already on the wellbeing journey – a good place to start is to build the case for employee wellbeing (and it’s a convincing case!). Our Future Fit of Workplace Wellbeing insights paper provides a good starting point.
2. Upskill your managers!
Training your managers on mental health / resilience / work-life balance will help equip them to support themselves – and those within their teams – ensuring the burden of awareness, understanding and responsibility is shared. We have some great manager training resources (of course we do!).
3. Everyone is unique!
Wellbeing is nuanced and individual. “Wellbeing non-negotiables” might look like a yoga class, a HIIT class, walking the dog, 9 hours sleep a night, bath time with the children, catching up with friends, alone time or none of the above. The only way you will really understand what helps your people to find balance is to ask them. And studies tell us the more an employee is treated like an individual, the more engaged they will be in return. Consider asking the question to your team “What is your daily wellbeing non-negotiable?”. Encourage individuals to understand their own needs and in turn managers to support their people in prioritising these “non-negotiables”.
4. Wellbeing is for life, not just for pandemics!
Wellbeing days and weeks are a great place to start, but in order to sustain the momentum, consider what your ongoing wellbeing policy and strategy looks like – seek external expertise as and if required.
5. Little and often!
Your wellbeing programme might look like a suite of workshops, meditation classes and monthly smoothie drops, and/or it could simply be the little moments of connection, empathy and understanding which send “belonging cues” to your people. Whatever looks and feels right for your culture, aim to be consistent and authentic.
6. Create a wellbeing team!
Involve employees from across the organisation, ensuring that all departments are represented. This will empower your people to help you to help them, spreading the responsibility – great if you are a small team with limited time.
7. Be a part of the conversation!
Join our regular webcasts to learn more about the subjects that matter most to HR professionals and business leaders who want to optimise the mental health and wellbeing of their people in a time of constant change and disruption. Learn more at Walk the Talk webcast series.
POINT3 Wellbeing Agency Services
If you are looking for some help with getting started, POINT3 does have an agency service focused on employee wellbeing, that acts as an extension of your team. For more information, click here!