 Mental Wealth & Wellbeing
If you only do one thing for your wellbeing this winter, take a lunchtime walk (without your phone...)
Dr Rangan Chattergee urges managers to encourage all their staff to take a 15 minute device-free outdoor walk at lunchtime - seeing grass and trees and chatting with someone else makes it even better...
Stress hormones build up in the body during the morning from whatever we may have been doing and from sitting still. Walking and nature allow these hormones to dissipate, so besides it being good for our personal health & wellbeing, we’ll come back refreshed, de-stressed and ready to have a creative and focused afternoon.
Swedish people know the value of regular breaks in the working day and a social coffee fika break is mandated by leaders in many organisations because it has a positive impact on workers’ wellbeing and productivity.
Other Scandinavian concepts that might serve us well this winter are the cosiness of Danish hygge (in a covid safe way) and experiencing the contented Goldilocks ‘sweet spot’ encompassed in Swedish notion of lagom where everything feels ‘just right’.
Mental Health at Work Report 2020 - 41% employees report experiencing poor mental health as a result of work and 30% of employees have told anyone about their mental health concerns (35% men and 26% women) - key findings. Besides the human costs, this has a knock-on effect to levels of productivity. And there are things that managers and colleagues can do:
- ensure people are properly skilled and resourced to do their work
- we are emotional beings – ask/listen; encourage social connections; offer positive feedback that recognises and values individuals and their work
- make open conversations about mental health part of your team/organisational culture
Look after your own mental wealth by untangling problems and reducing stress
Downloadable factsheets to share - we particularly like this one because it helps us step back, untangle what's worrying us so that we can recognise where we can take action to make things better for ourselves.
Sharing what works - using guidance on Personal Wellness Action Plans from the charity Mind, Sticky Fingers Pre-school has reframed what many call 'risk assessments' as 'care assessments'. They find that using this approach means that colleagues living with health conditions (generally and/or in the context around covid) feel more accepted, appreciated and cared for. This results in more open conversations, better relationships and positive pay-back for the organisation.
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Flexible working – it needs to be flexible to work well...
There’s no turning back on flexible or home working, but despite what has become the mantra in the press, one size doesn’t fit all. ‘Flexibility’ can refer to a mix of working times, patterns and locations and if it’s to work well, the following need challenges need to be worked through with your staff
- workload, trust, working patterns
- suitable working environments, tools and resources
- communications, joint working, isolation & loneliness
- some roles/tasks/people suit homeworking and others don’t
- manager skills (and time) to lead the team and manage tasks remotely, and to support individuals
- worklife balance and the blurring of boundaries between home and work
Toolkit - there’s a new Flexible Working Toolkit from Timewise and the Centre for Better Ageing - written with those 50+ in mind, it’s actually a good practice manual for all ages.
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What's happening in November
 New Things November - you never know until you try...
- make a list of things you want to do this month
- respond to a difficult situation in a new way
- give yourself a boost. Try a new way of being physically active
Stress - Stress Awareness Week 2 – 6th November
Being kind grows your own sense of wellbeing as well as that of other people - Kindness Day UK 13th November. Some ideas of what you could do that you can adapt to reflect current safe working arrangements.
Crafternoons – combining (virtual) team building, relaxing and fundraising with lots of crafting ideas from Mind@Work
Get cycling - Encourage yourself and your colleagues to be ready for December's Winter Wheelers from Love2Ride
Workplace Travel Network - the (Zoom) network meeting on 2nd December has a packed agenda including using the 5 Ways to Wellbeing (scroll down to 'Growing a Wellbeing Culture' for the link) to encourage less active colleagues to walk and cycle more as part of their daily lives.
Men's Health Mo-nth - grow a mo-ustache, take a mo-vement challenge or host a mo-ment. The Movember fundraising campaign highlights men’s health issues (mental health, prostate and testicular cancers and risk of suicide)
Alcohol and Mental Health: 16-22 November. As we move into winter and continue to control the spread of Covid-19 by physically distancing ourselves through lockdown from others, Alcohol Awareness Week 2020 links our mental health & wellbeing with drinking alcohol. Share Free Factsheets on many topics (including alcohol and fitness, parenting and sex as well as related health issues, stories of change, drinking quiz, sources of support and downloadable free resources to run your own internal campaign.
Training and Support
Access Southampton for local careers, job support, retraining and job search. To keep up to date, email The Zone and ask to join the mailing list. Check out other specialist services on the Wellbeing@Work pages
Peer to Peer Network for SME business owners Solent LEP has announced the launch of fully funded and facilitated Peer to Peer Networks to enhance the leadership capabilities, knowledge and confidence of local business owners and entrepreneurs and build a regional SME business community. Individual one-to-one support (coaching, mentoring, or advice) will also be provided either directly by the programme, or from other existing schemes.
Mental Health at Work – new Toolkit - Being Anti-Racist in the Workplace Thinking again about approaches to race, power, discrimination and related issues is a matter of justice and equality, certainly – but it’s also a matter of wellbeing, and of supporting those around us. Just having policies and practices that encourage diversity aren’t enough; and that not being racist, as individuals and organisations, isn’t enough either. There is now a need to be actively anti-racist.
Equalities – a call from the Prince’s Responsible Business Network to ensure that the way organisations respond to the current pressures is fair and equal for all demographics in the workforce. The succinct Covid-19 and Gender Equality At Work factsheet contains a useful mix of evidence, watch-points and links to toolkits.
Support staff with autism –new service and free training from Ambitious About Autism
Budgeting and money management – free seminars and support from Barclays in Southampton. You don’t have to be one of their customers and they are not promoting their own products.
Your thoughts and feedback please...
What do you like? What's useful? What else do you want to see?
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