 The wellbeing way to recovery
If you feel like you haven't got the time or headspace to even think about getting fit, focusing on what might happen if you don't might just be the incentive you need...
Being healthier and fitter helps us be happier and more mentally, emotionally and physically resilient to whatever life might throw at us
'What gets scheduled gets done' Michael Hyatt
The challenge is how to do this - how to move from wanting to be fitter into actually becoming fitter and healthier. Stephen Covey in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People talks about 'scheduling our priorities' rather than 'prioritising our schedule'. So if your health & fitness is important to you -
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plan when you will walk, stretch, cycle, run, meditate, work out - choosing a a regular time each day will help to make a daily 'shall I/shan't I?' decision into an automatic habit
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plan and organise yourself to get enough good quality sleep
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plan to eat a healthy diet - learn how to cook, find recipes, learn about nutrition, experiment, shop for the basic ingredients
And then organise time in your day to do what you have planned...
You might have seen it on TV, the Better Health campaign from the NHS helps to kickstart improving your health by eating well and moving more - buddying up can turn it into a fun social activity.
Change is much easier when the actions needed are very small. Tiny Habits shows how to do that in a way that makes us feel successful and motivated as the behaviours become habits.
As a team you can encourage and support each other - choosing healthier home/office snacks, step count challenges and shared (even if virtual) activities.
Become a recognised Wellbeing@Work Employer
 In the workplace, better health and wellbeing reduces sickness absence and increases productivity.
Health & wellbeing at work means supportive relationships, good job design, healthy people management, equalities and inclusion as well as the more obvious health & safety and wellbeing promotions and campaigns. In these new times of social distancing, homeworking and possible restructures peoples' emotional needs are still the same - we all need have a need to feel competent, have some control and autonomy and connect with others.
Now that we've moved from 'temporary' into new ways of being and working, it's a good time to rethink how working environment and practices that best look after the physical and mental health of your staff generally (as well as doing all you can to protect them from Covid 19).
This supportive Wellbeing@Work Employer scheme offers you a flexible structure to embed attention to wellbeing into the fabric of your organisation for the benefit of your organisation. Starting wherever you are, the Action Plan coaches you through committing to just 1 action in each of 3 areas-
- Culture
- Leadership
- Individual
Find out more online and start a conversation by emailing wellbeingatwork@southampton.gov.uk
And if you're having to make posts redundant
There's a difference between what you have to do (let people go) and how you go about doing it. The selection of posts, consultation and administration of the redundancy process clearly needs to be fair and follow the law - HR guidance and templates from XPertHR. But how you communicate and support the people leaving and people staying is what will be remembered and what will impact their wellbeing.
Be as thoughtful and kind and 'human' as you can, so that -
- although upset and worried about the future, the people whose roles are being made redundant leave with dignity, support and knowing their worth
- you retain the trust, loyalty and commitment of those staff staying as they see their colleagues and friends leave
- you can look back on how you managed the process and know that you did the best you could in difficult circumstances
- your company reputation is preserved with customers and for when you might want to recruit again
Information and links to support you and your staff
Workplace Travel Grants (of up to £5,000) enable organisations to be proactive in helping their staff to be more active as well as cutting costs and reducing congestion and emissions. The grant can be used towards, for example, new or upgraded cycle parking or electric vehicle charging points. Find out more here
Flexible Working - information, advice, guidance and links on the My Journey Workplaces pages
Safe Working - latest Health & Safety advice and Temporary Working from Home infographic
Stand more and move more to stay healthy – free resources from SMART Work
Domestic abuse and violence - new resources to support staff on the Wellbeing@Work webpages
Get on your bike - Cycle September encourages more of us to cycle more through logging rises and daily prizes.
Self-care isn't selfish, it's essential - keep focused on daily feel-good thoughts and actions with the Action for Happiness Self-Care September calendar
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