Wellness has been added to almost every workplace’s strategic plan, employee initiatives and perks. It’s in job ads and position descriptions, and I get it – being well is a core human need.
But that responsibility has landed on workplaces with little consideration for the people actually asked to deliver it. The honest truth is that wellness, as we’re running it, isn’t really the answer to helping people be well at work.
Think about the meditation apps, yoga classes and wellbeing weeks – the very people organising them have had it all added to their workload, with no consideration of what that adds, displaces or does to their own wellbeing.
It’s a paradox in itself. We want you to help make everyone else well but you don’t have the time to be well yourself.
Wellbeing in the workplace shouldn’t be an add-on
It should be linked to the conditions we create and structures we build into the day. The more we treat wellness initiatives as something that treats a symptom (feeling tired, stressed, overwhelmed) the more we’ll keep needing more wellbeing weeks or apps or gym memberships.
That’s not the answer. The real answer is looking at how work itself and the conditions we create can build a sustainable culture – one that lets people perform well while still living well.
It’s not the workplace’s job to put on yoga. It’s the workplace’s responsibility to make sure the workload isn’t so relentless that people can’t be well in the first place.
Instead of asking “when should we run wellbeing week?” why don’t we ask “is the day already so busy that people can’t pause to breathe, go for a walk, or take ten minutes to rest?”
If the answer is yes, wellbeing week won’t fix anything. Building more flexibility into the day so people can look after themselves alongside doing great work will.
When we hand wellness activities to EAs or HR to organise
This can make it seem like a choice between people and performance – but it isn’t. These are people already managing schedules, tasks and endless to-do lists. Then a yoga class gets added and it’s one more thing to squeeze in.
No one stops to ask what’s coming off the list, where the time to organise it will come from or whether it’s actually helping the person organising it too.
Because we all know what happens next. The class has to be organised alongside everything else. On the day, instead of reaping any benefit, they’re setting up the room, meeting the instructor, making sure everything’s ready – and reminding staff to clear their schedules so they can attend.
We’ve built a wellbeing initiative for everyone else while adding to the workload of the person responsible for making it happen.
Organisations with a genuinely sustainable culture understand that people and performance aren’t in competition – and that wellness is only one part of the picture.
That’s where the message handed down to EAs and HR leaders has been badly misunderstood. And it’s what has to change so those people, along with everyone else they’re trying to take care of, can be well together.
amygreen.com.au
