A happy workforce is a successful one – the importance of supporting workplace wellbeing

The key to increasing an organisation’s performance and productivity levels is the wellbeing of its greatest asset – its employees. This is why supporting a workplace wellbeing programme and encouraging a work-life balance is highly recommended.

The relentless pace of 21st Century digital transformation and the new 24/7 always-on mentality adopted by most organisations and their employees has contributed significantly to increased stress levels, reduced holidays and the rise of absences related to mental health. Each of which negatively affects individuals, both at home and work, impacting their productivity, health and family stability.

In fact, with long work hours and constant multitasking negatively impacting an individual’s ability to address these problems until they’ve escalated, today’s health-conscious society is calling for mental health to be treated the same as physical health, especially in the workplace.

The new Learning & Development organisation is at the heart of driving the wellbeing strategy within modern organisations, throughout all stages of career development, with research showing that directly addressing the wellbeing of your workforce via the implementation of a workplace wellbeing programme can boost performance, improve engagement, reduce absence levels and retain talent.

The end of 2017 saw almost half of all UK businesses implement a wellbeing strategy, including a number of high profile organisations such as HSBC and Barclays whose ‘This is Me’ campaign, designed to normalise mental health in the workplace, has been rolled out across the capital.

These programmes are typically implemented by top-level management, which can be extremely effective, although research suggests that results improve when individuals take active responsibility for their own wellbeing.

To ensure the organisation is inspiring employees to do this, you might consider creating a wellbeing team to champion strategies, including the use of eLearning, encouraging a natural and inclusive approach across the organisation.

MicroLearn is passionate about helping to promote positive working cultures which is why we created our Workplace Wellbeing range, in collaboration with the Learning Architect, Liggy Webb. Liggy is a global best-selling author and behavioural specialist, with a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the field of mental wellbeing.

This suite of bite-sized resources helps organisations mitigate the risks of poor mental health, stress and sickness by highlighting the warning signs and presenting a range of techniques learners can use to improve their own lifestyles. This includes courses on Mental Health, Healthy Living, Resilience, Everyday Energy, Value & Purpose, Relationship Building, Relaxation and Life Balance.

Promoting workplace wellbeing by offering increased education and support will benefit organisations in the long-term as individuals develop healthier behaviours, both in and out of the office, leading to increased levels of happiness, inspiration and motivation which positively impact the overall performance of the organisation.

For more information on how we can help support your organisation’s workplace wellbeing requirements, or to discover more about other ranges in the MicroLearn catalogue, enquire about Go1 Premium today!

About the Author:

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett is the Group Commercial Director at Microlearn.

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