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Workplace wellness
The Cayman Islands Journal, 7 November, 2012
In the wake of the 2012 National Healthcare Conference, Healthcare
20/20, Workplace Wellness has come to the fore for healthcare stakeholders
and employee groups in the Cayman Islands. It is the new concept in
town that everyone wants a piece of. But what is it?
What is workplace wellness?
It sounds like a no-brainer these two words put together, wellness
and workplace. But what exactly is wellness?
According to Generali Worldwide, wellness is described by some as
“a state of optimal wellbeing” and by others as a process of becoming
aware or enlightened about choices that lead us away from or toward
a balanced and fulfilling life.
All of these approaches agree on seven things – the seven dimensions
of Wellness. These are the physical, social/cultural, environmental,
occupational, spiritual, intellectual and emotional states where we
can be well or unwell.
How are wellness and the workplace related?
If we spend our years between the ages of 17 and 65 working nine to
five, five days a week, 48 weeks of the year (sick leave and vacation
taken out), we spend some 31 per cent of our waking life in the workplace.
This is 31 per cent of our prime! And how many of us really only work
only 9am to 5pm?
Wouldn’t you say that 31 per cent of your life is important? If you
aren’t well during that percentage of your life, how can you be well
in the balance?
Two biggest obstacles to wellness
What is in the way of your wellbeing? For the individual, it usually
comes down to two things – time and money. The money objection usually
comes in the form of “It’s expensive to join a gym,” or “but the microwaveable
lasagna is less expensive than the ingredients” or “I can’t afford
yoga classes.” As for the time objection, this is even more flexible.
“I can’t fit cooking in when I get home at 7pm and I’m exhausted”
or “I have kids, where do you expect me to find the time to work out?”
These two things are often heavily affected by your relationship with
your work. Interestingly enough, the biggest obstacles to wellness
for employers are also time and money. Is the return on the investment
worth the cost of a workplace wellness programme? How much time will
it take away from production/billable hours if we encourage our employees
to get involved in their own wellness?
Looking at it from another angle
It is an old wisdom that your greatest asset is your health. It is
also said that a business is only as strong as the people who run
it. If an employer’s greatest asset is his employees and an employee’s
greatest asset is his wellness, then doesn’t it follow that an employer’s
greatest asset is the wellbeing of his employees?
And what do wise employers do with our assets? They consider them
a priority, they work to make sure that they are well maintained and
that their value does not depreciate, they invest in them to make
them more valuable. If businesses are able to do this with assets
that are not living things, how much more rewarding would the returns
be if we could invest in the wellbeing of the human beings, our greatest
assets?
Getting time and money out of the way
It doesn’t have to break the bank account to make wellness a priority.
It doesn’t take thousands of dollars or hundreds of hours to have
an impact on the wellness of your employees.
Here are a few inexpensive options that could have an impact on the
wellbeing of your employees. Occupational: Mentors/buddies, someone
who is assigned to your new hires to care and lead, guide and help
them adjust to a new working environment. Let your staff know you
care by assigning someone to care for them.
Spiritual: A quiet room for meditation, prayer or just simple quiet
time can make the world of a difference in the day of an employee.
They can transition out of the bustle of their day and into a cross
legged seat in a comfortable quiet room and get in touch with the
present.
Intellectual: Book clubs and culture groups encourage employees to
use parts of their brain currently ignored in the day to day functions
of their jobs. Getting together over a new work of art, poetry, play
can feed the creativity and innovation of your team while they enjoy
themselves.
Emotional: Mental health days. In parts of the UK and Canada these
are called “duvet” days. You get two a year for those days when you
just want to snuggle in that blanket all day.
Physical: A running club/walking club after work or before work. This
gets your staff out and in the fresh air together, changing the energy
and working their muscles.
Social/Cultural: A family beach day. We have seven miles of gorgeous
beach that is freely accessible. Get to know your staff and have them
get to know each other, have their children play together and their
spouses put faces to the names of the people they spend 31 per cent
of their waking life with.
Environmental: Ergonomic workstations and sufficient lighting in the
form of a desk lamp can keep your staff away from the chiropractor
and comfortable right at their desks at work. A little colour can
also go a long way.
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