Wellness Vs. Wellbeing – What’s the need of the hour in 2021?

We hear the words burn out, stress, longer workdays, extended screen time, multiple platforms and anxiety. But what does this all mean? As an HR Professional what can you do about it? And most importantly where - do you start?

There are a few pointers I’ve penned down, which might be helpful for professionals to navigate this uncertain time.

1.      The words wellness and wellbeing are used interchangeably, however, do we know the difference? wellness has a lot to do with physical wellness, whereas wellbeing takes a more holistic or ‘whole’ approach including the mental, physical, financials etc.

2.      If we focus on wellbeing, which is more holistic who is accountable for this? is it one person or many people? Wellbeing is not just about one person or one wellbeing policy. I strongly support the view that wellbeing starts with the leadership, then the organization and of course the individual too. All three need to integrate in order to achieve true and authentic wellbeing. From a leadership perspective, what is the culture you drive towards? – do you set meetings outside of work hours? do you expect people to reply you after work hours? do you give your team the psychological safety to come to you if they have a problem? and if they can’t actually deliver what’s needed/keep to deadlines/ or if something is going on in their personal lives, does your team open up to you? If you are a leader these are the questions you should ask yourself.

 In an organizational context, do your processes and policies support employee wellbeing? Does the organization demand a 10-hour workday or is it 8 hours? Do you encourage people to take their leave? do you provide counselling facilities? Most importantly is employee wellbeing a role in your organization?

As an individual you too have a role to play. Practice self-discipline, and communicate during tough times, it may it be with your supervisor or even counsellor – take the time to clearly voice out your needs. -. Many of us forget to book some time on our calendar just for ourselves. We are so focused on the daily grind and with getting things done that we often never set apart the time for ourselves.

3.      What does wellbeing entail? It entails physical, mental, emotional, financial, social etc.

4.      Many organizations feel wellbeing can be addressed by sporadic programs or interventions. However, this won’t deliver a long-term solution, it must be a strategy and most importantly you need to have a champion to drive it. A strategy would be to get in some experts to set up the foundation which you can build within the organization.

5.      The world of work has changed. It no more requires you to come into office. It’s about getting the work done irrespective of location. However, this adds in a layer of complexity and can blur the lines of work and life. However, is work-life balance still applicable? Is it work-life integration and then how does that affect wellbeing?

Here are some of my thoughts on how organizations and individuals can take the first steps towards creating an environment that fosters wellbeing:

Organizations

-         Pulse check on wellbeing (survey)

-         Highlight the importance of wellbeing to the leadership/management and further stress on how it links to employee productivity

-         Look for experts in the field of wellbeing who can advice/help the organization to build a sustainable strategy

-         Until a strategy is in place, it’s good to check with employees what they think wellbeing encapsulates (which can be done via a pulse survey), and then educate employees on wellbeing, and the steps they can take as individuals initially.

Individuals

-         Set time apart in your calendar for yourself - this can be your exercise time, time for journaling, or for you to do anything for yourself such as self-care

-         Demarcate your calendar in terms of your work time and personal time. It might be your individual choice to see if there are time slots that integrate both. i.e: would you attend a meeting or listen to a webinar whilst on your treadmill?

-         Learn to pause this is something you learn with coaching, even if you hear something, take 3 deep breaths, pause and respond - it definitely helps you gather your thoughts!

-         Mindfulness, mediation, gratitude, exercise, nutrition; there are multiple apps that can help you along these lines.

If you would like to know more about wellbeing please feel free to contact me, I can certainly try to help or put you in touch with some experts on the Topic. Also don’t forget to leave your thoughts on the comments section – I would love to hear them.