The value of wellbeing
Creating a workplace that supports wellbeing is great for you and your team, and it’s good for business.
Happier, healthier employees are able to:
- reach their full potential
- solve problems in creative, innovative ways
- work productively and reliably for longer.
A workplace that looks after wellbeing is also a more attractive place to work. That will help you keep staff for longer and give you an advantage when you need to recruit.
But wellbeing is more than just a good idea. You have obligations as an employer to provide a mentally safe workplace. That includes providing leave for your people to look after their mental health.
Mental wellbeing in the workplace
Transcript
Video transcript: Mental wellbeing in the workplace
[Audio/ Visual: Gentle music starts playing with blue introduction screen with white business.govt.nz logo in the centre of the screen. The word “presents” in smaller, thinner lettering is beneath the logo. These words disappear and are replaced with white text “Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace”. This disappears. Music continues to play throughout the entire video.]
[Visual: The screen changes to a shot of the presenter, seated in a lounge. In the bottom right is the business.govt.nz logo which remains there until the end of the video.]
Taking care of your employees’ wellbeing is not only the right thing to do, but can also have a positive impact on the success of your business. Looking after your team's mental health is a win-win, you continue to grow your brand while also promoting a healthy and safe work environment. In this video, we'll cover how the wellbeing of your team can affect productivity, what a healthy work environment looks like, as well as a free tool to help you prioritise wellbeing in your workplace.
First, let's talk about the link between wellbeing and productivity.
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Businesses that support wellbeing in their workforce generally have a happier and more positive team of people. They experience lower absenteeism, fewer workplace injuries, and record higher productivity and customer satisfaction.
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The opposite is also true.
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If members of your team are going through a difficult time and it's affecting them mentally, they are less likely to work efficiently, don't collaborate as well with colleagues and may use their sick leave to deal with feeling burnt out and stressed.
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This makes sense.
[Visual: As the presenter speaks, white text appears on the left side of screen with the words “Benefits of feeling good and functioning well”. Below this text, the words “Coping with challenges” appear. These are replaced by the words “Working together positively”. These are replaced by the words “Reaching goals”.]
If you and your team are feeling good and functioning well. You're more likely to cope better with any challenges that pop up at work, interact with each other positively, and reach your goals.
[Visual: The screen changes to show three people in an office, one of them handing the others handouts and pointing out things on them.]
As an employer, you must look after your people as part of your health and safety obligations. This includes managing workloads and stress levels, and setting realistic clear expectations of your team.
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Remember, this doesn't mean that you are responsible for making sure everyone is happy. But it does mean you should cultivate a mentally healthy work environment. So, what makes a work environment a healthy one?
[Visual: As the presenter speaks, white text appears on the left side of screen with the words “Healthy work environment. Below this text, the word “Inclusive” appears. This is replaced by the words “Lead by example”. These are replaced by the words “Trust and respect”. These are replaced by the word “Balance”. This is replaced by the word “Check-in”. This is replaced by the words “Positive environment”.]
There are a few factors, including being inclusive and having zero tolerance to discrimination, leading by example, having a culture of trust and respect, promoting a healthy work life balance, regular individual check-ins, and promoting a positive work environment.
[Visual: The screen changes to show two people in an office, sitting side by side at a table and having a conversation in front of a laptop. The screen changes again to show two people sitting in front of each other in a lounge, having a conversation.]
To promote a positive work environment, you need to ensure zero tolerance to any form of bullying or discrimination. You must take immediate action if any concerns are raised with you, no matter who it involves.
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It helps if you have an anti-discrimination, anti-bullying workplace policy in place. You can create a supportive positive workplace by leading by example. This means building trust and collaboration into your teamwork culture by being honest, transparent, and supporting your people. Regular check-ins with team members is an important part of this.
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Switching off from work can be tough, but striking a work-life balance is important for you and your team. Experts suggest a routine to start and end your workday with some timeout, so your brain can take a break from thinking about work. So, try to make time to recharge your batteries and encourage your employees to do the same.
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It's important to ensure that mental health is treated the same as physical health. This means allowing sick leave for mental wellbeing as well as for physical injuries or illness.
[Visual: The words “business.govt.nz/wellbeing” appear in white in the bottom left corner of the screen.]
If you want to learn more ways to promote mental wellbeing in your business, head to the link on the screen. To help you build and maintain a positive and healthy workplace, why not try our Workplace Policy Builder?
[Visual: The screen changes to show a screencast of the Workplace Policy Builder, showing some of its functions and zooming in to the ‘More information’ section.]
It will guide you through each step to creating your own wellbeing policy, plus tips to help you decide what to put in and what to leave out.
[Visual: The screen changes to show a person holding a tablet where text scrolls, showing information about health and wellbeing policies and mental wellbeing.]
Having a workplace wellbeing policy in place will show your commitment to the health and wellbeing of your team.
[Visual: The screen changes to show the presenter again. The words “wpb.business.govt.nz” appear in white in the bottom left corner of the screen.]
To use it visit wpb.business.govt.nz and click “Health and wellbeing policy”.
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Remember, a thriving team starts with a healthy mindset. Embracing wellbeing might just be the key to your business's success.
[Visual: In the top left corner of the screen, the words “Up next” appear in white. Below them, the words “Preventing burn out” are also in white. Below the text, there’s a video preview showing a sped-up video of people commuting at a train station. The video preview changes to show a close-up of a person looking worried and concerned.]
In our other wellbeing video, we talk about burnout, its effects and how to avoid it to keep yourself and your employees healthy and happy.
[Visual: The words “business.govt.nz/burnout” appear in white in the bottom left corner of the screen.]
To watch, visit business.govt.nz/burnout.
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[Visual: Blue outro screen appears with the business.govt.nz logo in the centre of the screen. This logo disappears and the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment logo appears on the left side, and the Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa, New Zealand Government logo appears on the right side.]
[Video ends]
Do you have a good health and wellbeing policy?
Good wellbeing policies are part of a solid foundation for employment relationships. They tell your workers what you expect from them, and what they can expect from you.
Having a wellbeing policy in place shows your current and future employees that their wellbeing is a priority for you.
What you can do to look after your employees
Many factors can affect our mental health, and the environment we work in nearly every day is one of them. A tough working environment can impact your employees’ wellbeing and personal lives. It can also impact your business.
There are a few things you can do as an employer or manager to support your staff. For example:
- check that workloads are manageable — find ways to relieve pressure during busy periods
- be trustworthy — make sure your team knows you will handle mental health challenges fairly
- discuss mental health challenges regularly — make it part of your work culture for your team to ask for help
- be patient and flexible — support people overcoming mental health challenges to re-build their capability.
You can make changes to your workplace to support employee wellbeing, too.
Focus on creating a culture of wellbeing and inclusivity that reinforces mentally healthy behaviours. Use your workplace wellbeing policy to get input and buy-in from your team.
Prevent burnout before it affects your team
Sometimes life just gets busy. But if you or your employees work at a high level of stress for too long, it can lead to emotional, physical or mental exhaustion — otherwise known as burnout.
Not preventing burnout in your team can cause long-term harm to them and could be bad for your business. It will hurt their ability to work and can lead to high staff turnover, which is costly and time-consuming.
That’s why it makes good business sense to prevent burnout in the first place.
Here’s how:
- know the causes — watch for high workloads, poor morale and other causes of instability in your workplace
- identify the symptoms — check in on employees who are regularly tired, unmotivated or grumpy
- address the challenges — make changes to fix the things that cause or worsen burnout
- provide continuous support — use your workplace wellbeing policy as the basis for ongoing mental health support.
Talk through workplace and personal challenges
When times are tough, or your business is navigating big changes, you may need to have difficult conversations with your employees.
Understand that their wellbeing may be particularly rocky during uncertain times.
When approaching these discussions:
- be open and honest — your employees will appreciate clarity and certainty, even if the news is difficult
- don’t sugarcoat things — be clear yet sensitive, and respect their need for privacy
- normalise wellbeing — the more you do to create a culture of wellbeing, the easier it becomes to have tough conversations.
Of course, many of life’s challenges are not work-related. But that doesn’t stop them affecting our wellbeing while we’re at work.
As an employer, small actions can make a big difference for people experiencing personal challenges. That could be as simple as asking if they need help or offering flexible work to make things more manageable.
What's next
Deciding to hire
Advertising and hiring
Leave and holidays
Ending employment
Having a fair workplace
Resolving employment challenges
Leadership and culture
Upskilling employees
Looking after yourself