As a smaller business, it may feel like there’s not much more you can do to improve your worker’s wellbeing, especially in comparison to large organisations that have entire teams and large-scale budgets for HR and wellbeing.

We’re here to tell you that promoting wellbeing doesn’t have to be flashy, expensive or overly complicated. There are a number of simple initiatives you can implement to get the ball rolling in your workplace - the most important thing is to take the first step.

Review what you already do

Before trying anything new, look at what you already do to support the mental health and wellbeing of your workers. It may be more than you think! Do you:

  • Offer flexible working arrangements. SuperFriend's  Indicators of a Thriving Workplace research findings show that following the pandemic, the choice to work remotely has become more important for employee satisfaction with the average preference to work 2.2 days from home per week
  • Have regular, non-work related, check-in meetings with your workers to see how they’re going and talk about their lives
  • Provide opportunities to learn, grow and share knowledge
  • Have a space where workers can take a break, relax and enjoy each other’s company
  • Celebrate not only your worker’s successes, but the little things such as birthdays, work anniversaries, buying a new home, other exciting events in their lives, or
  • Support your workers when they’re going through rough times and try to reassign some of their work so they have less pressures on them?

If you’re doing some of these, great! How can you expand on them or do something differently? If you’re not doing these (or anything similar), it’s time to pick one. They’re a fantastic place to start.

Ask your workers what they want

Sometimes the most simple solution is the best one - ask your workers what they think will support their wellbeing at work. You may get some great ideas, plus it’s important for your workers to be heard and feel that they’re contributing to their workplace. Wellbeing is not just about providing counselling service numbers in times of need. It’s also the actions and activities organisations do that lead to inclusion, connection and trust amongst all workers.

You could have a face to face conversation, or create an anonymous survey if your workers feel more comfortable providing feedback without it being linked back to them. Once you have the results, acknowledge and discuss their feedback in an open and honest manner that doesn’t single out anyone, but shows your workers know their thoughts and concerns are being taken seriously. Apply one small change to show you have listened. Your workers will feel valued.

Learn from the experts

Holding a lunch and learn is such a simple way to increase worker knowledge and capability when it comes to worker wellbeing. There are many webinars available to workplaces on a variety of mental health and wellbeing topics. Comcare provides a number of free webinars presented by workplace health and safety experts and guest speakers to help promote and enable safe and healthy work.

To spark the mental health conversation and guide conversations about mental health at work, TED Talks has over 3,000 talks on mental health. Some great talks to get you started are:

Lead by example

Be open and upfront with your workers by normalising conversations about mental health. Communicate with your workers that your workplace is an environment where everyone is valued, regardless if they have a mental health condition or not. Welcome discussions about mental health either openly or in private, depending on the comfort level of your workers and keeping with their cultural, religious and other values.

Utilise free resources

Download any of our free resources for businesses and individuals to help promote and prioritise mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

This module only takes 15 minutes and gives you and your workers insight into personal mental health and wellbeing. You’ll also create an action plan to remind you to take care of yourself each day, as well as during times of crisis or when you feel you need some extra support.

Making self-care a priority can be hard, so this booklet is chock full of easy and simple ideas of how to inject care and wellbeing into your every day.

The Indicators of a Thriving Workplace Report contains insights from over 10,000 Australian workers about their mental health and the state of their workplace’s mental health. It also includes practical ideas and solutions to help your organisation on its wellbeing journey.

 

What’s the first thing your organisation going to do to improve employee wellbeing?