Louise Aston
Wellbeing Campaign Director, Business in the Community (BITC)
Wellbeing at work isn’t just made up of one aspect. There are many — ranging from environmental factors, commute, working arrangements and whether they feel valued in their team.
No one-size-fits-all approach works for wellbeing because everyone has different needs. Business in the Community’s (BITC) recent report, ‘Your Job Can Be Good For You’ advocates a strategic, integrated and personalised approach to achieving sustainable mental health and wellbeing.
Pillars of wellbeing
The report looks at ways of working through multiple intersectional lenses from across the responsible business agenda. These include wellbeing, equity, inclusion and the environment.
The report also promotes ways of working that incorporate five pillars of wellbeing: mental, physical, financial, social health and environmental.
Although the term ‘intersectionality’ is becoming more popular in workplace discussions, businesses have traditionally siloed individual components of wellbeing without taking an integrated approach that considers the whole person. A holistic and personalised approach will maximise both wellbeing and business performance.
Job co-creation in some form can be applied
to nearly every role at every level.
Variety at work
Ways of working will differ across sectors and roles. Job co-creation in some form can be applied to nearly every role at every level. Less structured senior roles may have more flexibility, making it easier to shape wellbeing around individuals. More structured roles, such as within contact centres or key workers, may have more traditional, rigid ways of working. At the very least, they should have a choice of shift patterns.
Line managers must be given the trust, autonomy and discretion to come up with flexible working suitable for individuals. This should be managed at a local level, based on what makes sense for the individual and the business.
Recommended guidelines
BITC has developed a series of recommendations for employers that feature in the report which will enable everyone to thrive at work:
- Tackle inequalities to achieve an inclusive and equitable wellbeing strategy.
- Harness organisational purpose and values to attract and retain the best talent.
- Recognise and balance business and employee needs by providing flexibility in how, where and when people work.
- Innovate, integrate and pilot new approaches.
- Value the wellbeing benefits of the natural environment as a key strand of your strategy.
- Enable employees to switch off outside their agreed working hours.
These are just the starting point. The way organisations attract and retain talent has changed since the pandemic. Employers are now adapting to employee expectations and centring their recruitment marketing on factors such as health and wellbeing, diversity, inclusion and the environment.
