Why Workplace Wellbeing Is Failing
As many of you may know, my background is in HR. I was a HR Manager at an IT company for 10 years. Whilst I loved that job, the working with people bit anyway, there was a lot not to like. Towards the end of my time there, the business was sold and went from being a family run business to something run by suits in London. My word, did the atmosphere change after that. Those people were mercenary. We suddenly went from a place that knew everyone and cared about those individuals to just numbers on a spreadsheet.
I’ll never forget one of my first interactions with them when I was told that we needed to get rid of people, but that redundancy was bad optics, so I had to invent ways to get rid of those people. I didn’t. I went off sick rather than do that.
What’s this all got to do with mental wellbeing, I hear you asking.
Well, this story isn’t unusual. I see lots of clients with pretty poor excuses for employers or managers. Of course, there are some brilliant leaders out there too, and they know exactly who they are. They understand that when people feel valued, listened to and supported, they perform better and stay longer.
Sadly, there are still too many organisations where the culture is very different. It’s true that people are often promoted to their level of incompetence. These same businesses are running Wellbeing Wednesdays or putting on events for Mental Health Awareness Week, but honestly, it’s as deep as a puddle. They are simply paying lip service to the issue. Promoting wellbeing without any real intention to change the culture or support people from the top down isn’t wellbeing. It’s delusional.
Did you know that in the UK, the average mental health related absence lasts around 20 days? Stress, anxiety and depression cost the UK economy an estimated £51 billion every year.
The irony is that many of those absences could be prevented. Most people don’t expect a perfect job. They simply want to feel respected, trusted, listened to and treated fairly.
The biggest threat to an employee’s mental health is rarely the free fruit bowl, the mindfulness app or the motivational speaker that visits once a year. More often than not, it’s the person they report to every day.
If you’re a leader, ask yourself one question.
Would your team describe you as someone who protects their wellbeing or someone they have to recover from?
Because real wellbeing isn’t created by a campaign. It’s created by culture. And culture starts at the top.
