Magazine January 2019

How to improve
the wellbeing
of your staff
January is the time when our thoughts
naturally turn from presents, snow and flying
reindeer, to where we are in our life and
what we want to achieve in the coming year.
Many of us try to shake off the indulgences
of the festive season and embark on a new,
and healthier regime for the months ahead.
So how can you help your staff improve their
own wellbeing?
There are 3 aspects of health that you might
consider important to focus on – physical,
mental and emotional wellbeing. Whilst
some of these are a deeply personal matter,
here are some ways that you
could help as their employer.
Physical wellbeing Mental wellbeing Emotional wellbeing
People who exercise regularly are not only fitter than
people who do not, but having increased physical
fitness also leads to improvements in mental and
psychological states too. Depending on your budget
and resources, you could consider offering:
• Private staff medical insurance so that they can
access healthcare when they need it in times of
illness
• Discounted gym membership – contact
your local gym to see if you can work
in partnership with them to
create a deal for your staff
Other ways that don’t cost much money could be
to set up a fitness club to either go running or offer
weekly exercise classes such as Pilates, keep-fit or
Tai Chi. You may have people in your setting willing to
do this, so why not ask?
Encouraging healthy eating
and good sleep patterns is
also important in tackling physical
fitness and obesity, so promote healthy
eating by putting up posters or perhaps
offering free fruit or other healthy treats
at break-time.
Stress can be the cause of many ailments so it is
worth tackling this within your organisation. Stress
is one of the major causes of physical illness,
depression and days lost at work, so ensure any
workload is spread evenly across staff members and
that you are actively encouraging a good work/life
balance.
Signs of stress within your teams include:
• Increased turnover
• A large number of ‘sick’ days from team
members
• A lack of laughter within the setting
• Falling productivity
• Poor staff/management relations
One way to check this would be to have a staff
questionnaire they can complete such as the
“Perceived Stress Scale” (PSS) which can be
downloaded here.
Meditation and mindfulness are
gaining popularity all the time
as people report benefits from
undertaking mindfulness or
meditative practice. There has
been a lot of research into this
area in recent years and some studies
have shown them beneficial in cases
including irritable bowel syndrome,
fibromyalgia, psoriasis, anxiety,
depression, and post-traumatic
stress disorder.
There is robust data
which shows that
mindfulness and
meditation can
help with depression,
having similar effects to other existing treatments
(anti-depressants or cognitive behavioural therapy).
You could engage a mindfulness coach to offer your
staff some training or meditation practice, with the
aim of improving people’s general wellbeing and
reducing stress.
Yoga is another option, similar to
mindfulness, and depending on the
type of yoga done, can have an
effect on the physical body as
well. There are several
different types of yoga
and
and some businesses
have found benefits from
offering a weekly yoga class
to staff. This is something that
could be done after work one day
a week for example, that could
benefit your staff by helping with
breathing techniques, reducing
stress and quieting the mind.
A person’s emotional wellbeing is linked to many
different aspects of their lives including their family,
financial, relationship and career situation. Clearly
you cannot influence all these aspects of a person’s
life. However, there are several areas where you can
have a positive impact. Consider:
• How good the communication is between the
management and other staff
• How valued your staff feel
• How supported they feel as part of a team
• The opportunities they have for advancement
within your establishment, and
• How empowered they feel – i.e. Is their voice
being heard and do they have opportunities to
make changes to their situation?
One way you could can empower staff is to create a
‘staff voice’ post box so that staff can anonymously
leave messages or suggestions for improvements
resulting in a more collective approach to changing
things for the better.
Another way to do this is through a mentoring
programme. You could have more experienced staff
linked with more junior staff for example and encourage
mentors to meet their mentees to talk through issues;
help them meet college or work targets; or simply as
a way to let staff know that there are other people ‘on
their side’ who are willing to listen.
To help promote staff feeling valued, you could offer:
• Staff training and development opportunities
• Seasonal parties such as Christmas or New Year
parties
• Staff perks or discount loyalty schemes such as
Perkbox
• Formal opportunities to recognise staff and say
‘thank you’
• Peer-to-peer recognition by offering an
“employee of the week or month” scheme
• Give members of staff responsibility and allow
them to lead others
• Professional employee recognition software
programmes that offer ways to track, monitor and
reward staff such as Quarrot, Kudos and Peoplecart
20 Parenta.com January 2019 21