At WorkLifeWell, we believe there is incredible value in knowledge sharing and learning from others, so we’ve rounded up some of the most prominent trends of the year so far from our clients across a breadth of industries. 

Whether you have a full-blown wellbeing strategy but aren’t resting on your laurels, or you’re still in the developing stages, we hope these ideas will help you on your journey to happier, healthier workplaces for all.

The five employee wellbeing trends of the moment

1. Help with Hybrid.  While it’s no longer a new working practice, bad habits are easy to fall into, and for some, it can amplify feelings of isolation and belonging - especially new starters. To address this, increased help with hybrid working is being offered on topics such as ‘Managing in Hybrid World’ and ‘Managing Energy for Productivity’ - covering tools and techniques for structuring days at home, managing flow, and workstation...

One of the outcomes of opening up the conversation around mental health is that there might be a lot more employees who want to come and talk to you! As a leader, HR professional or line manager, listening and supporting your employees is core. But how do you balance their needs with the rest of your responsibilities, provide the right support, and avoid feeling overwhelmed, drained or burnt-out yourself by the end of the day?

Taking care of your own mental health and ensuring you have strong support systems and networks around you is vital in enabling you to be there for others in the best way possible. 

We share some of our suggestions and those from our clients:

1.) Host dedicated drop-ins on a specific day and time of the week. They can be group sessions where employees benefit from the support and ideas of others, or one-to-one slots, but either way, ring-fencing time can help contain and focus your energy.   

2.) Upskill. If you’re often approached by...

Weary of hearing about Quiet Quitting? Us too. Instead of focusing on the negatives, let’s instead draw our attention to recognising when colleagues are languishing and how to help lift them up - benefiting them and the organisation in the process.

What is languishing? 

Languishing; to be weak or fail to improve. to exist in an unpleasant or unwanted situation, often for a long time. - Cambridge English Dictionary

It doesn’t sound like a place anyone wants to be, does it? 

Languishing sits at the crossroads of mental ill-health in one direction and flourishing in the other, and has a slow, draining and sapping effect on our workforce. 

Did you know that 40% of employees feel stagnant since the pandemic, and 1 out of 3 feel unmotivated? It’s hardly surprising, given how working environments have changed to create the perfect storm: reduced human face-to-face interaction and shared experiences, and lack of variety and change means many employees...

We brought HR and wellbeing leads together from across different sectors to share their wellbeing related challenges, and exchange ideas on how to combat the ever-increasing levels of stress and anxiety as we start to return to the office.

Here are some of the big questions we asked:

• What are your COVID Keeps?
• Have Chief Executives become the new heads of wellbeing?
• Has working remotely removed some of the accessibility barriers?
• Are colleagues at risk of burnout?
• Are we seeing more postural issues, social anxiety and experiencing mental health challenges?

The HR and Wellbeing leads around the (Zoom) table spanned a variety of sectors, from financial services, communications and supporting pharma companies to satisfy drug regulations. Whilst their businesses are very different, when it comes to employee wellbeing, there's a lot in common. 

Employee engagement

The greatest challenges related to keeping colleagues connected and motivated whilst working remotely. Despite...

 Covid has disrupted families, broken hearts and affected minds and with the latest statistics on mental health just emerging, what do we see? According to Eddie Hawthorne, the chief executive of Arnold Clarke (a large car retail group) “mental health concerns have hit the roof”. Combine this with the latest from the University of Glasgow who found that lockdown had a major escalation in suicidal thoughts, depression, loneliness and self-harm and one can see that as we tighten up restrictions again, the resilience of our mental health is once again being put under fire.

Over the past few months, mental health teams have reported that patients with existing mental health conditions have suffered from significant relapses in their conditions and most surprisingly, people with no known mental health issues have presented in acute crisis.  

There’s no definitive reason why some took lockdown like a beach holiday and others felt as though they were...

What do you think when we say the words, “mental health”.  Just pause for a second.  Did you think wellness or sickness?  Did you think of a depressed relative or an individual in quiet, zen-like calmness as they practice a mindful meditation class.  Unlike physical health, throughout history, society has become prejudicial to mental health and more importantly mental illness.  But, our past doesn’t have to be the deciding force in our future!  And thankfully, things are changing.

If we think of mental health more like working out at the gym, it helps move our focus towards training both our mental health and our mental fitness.  The buzz word in psychology for this is mental resilience.  So what type of mental sit-ups and press-ups can you do to train your mental health muscles?  Follow the WorkLifeWell Mental Health Workout with these easy daily steps.

Eat right - They say, you are what you eat, but what about...

For many of you, there will have been a time in your life where you felt anxious. From butterflies in the stomach, sweaty palms, a fast heart rate, increased breathing and a possible feeling of doom, you probably recognise some, if not all of these symptoms. 

Anxiety as a subject, however, is very complex with numerous categories, sub-classifications, diagnoses and experiences. It may surprise many of you that there is a difference between anxiety as a symptom versus an actual anxiety disorder. So what’s that difference?

Anxiety as a symptom is a normal reaction to stress. For some it can be quite motivating, while for others it can be disabling. On the other hand, an anxiety disorder tends to be more prolonged, out of context with the current stress, impairs many aspects of your life and can alter your ability to think straight.

So it is vital to continue with the discussion clarifying that this conversation is focused to the sensation of anxiety and not an anxiety...