Thought leaders say wellness in the workplace starts with taking a step back in order to move forward meaningfully.Getty
Whether you’re lucky enough to love what you do, it’s likely that work has felt like a lot of, well, work lately.
According to a recent study by Future Forum, a research consortium focused on building a way of working that is flexible, inclusive and connected, which surveyed more than 10,000 workers across countries including the U.S., the U.K., Japan and France, 42 per cent of that global desk-based work force reported experiencing burnout.
Defined by the World Health Organization as a syndrome that results from chronic workplace stress, burnout is characterized by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativity or cynicism related to one’s job and/or a reduced professional efficacy.
With burnout among employees on the rise, companies are grappling to address wellness in the workplace on a larger scale.
Thought leaders working closely with organizations on this say it starts with taking a step back in order to move forward meaningfully.
Employee wellness needs have changed
“We have to reimagine what wellness [in the workplace] looks like. We can’t afford to not think outside the box now, because the retention issues will continue to be there, and the recruitment issues will continue to grow,” says Nicole Franklin, a registered social worker and psychotherapist and the founder of Live Free Counselling & Consulting Services.
“Especially for the next generation coming up, we have to put every option on the table around folks’ wellness, or they won’t last in some of these roles.”
Indeed, Future Forum’s latest data revealed that age affected the experience of burnout with 48 per cent of people under 30 years old having reported feeling burned out compared to 40 per cent of those age 30 and older.
Based in the Greater Toronto Area, Franklin is also the founder of Black Therapist Collective. Her team of health care professionals are dedicated to curating inclusive, accessible and decolonized wellness spaces for all while addressing existing barriers within mental health care, and with a focus on supporting Black, Indigenous and people of colour through embodied healing.
Diversity, equity and inclusion can be a wellness initiative, too
“One thing that we’re doing differently is the idea that DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) pieces can’t be an aside to workplace wellness,” she says, “They have to be integrated into all aspects of it.”
Examining wellness initiatives in a broader context is also central to Dr. Sarah Saska’s work at Feminuity, a Toronto-based DEI strategy firm that helps companies build diverse teams and ethical systems along with inclusive products and workplace cultures with a progressive wellness approach.
“The biggest thing that we’re helping companies do is to largely interrogate their existing definition of wellness in the workplace, and to shift from the idea of wellness as being about self-care and just another yoga class or mindfulness program,” says Dr. Saska.
Mental health support is in higher demand than ever before?
Spurred by the impact of the pandemic, there’s a deep need to recognize that for most employees the world and everything around them has drastically changed.
“Pre-pandemic, a lot of folks were operating in a state of autopilot for a long time,” says Sara Smith, a registered psychotherapist. “Being forced to slow down allowed them to take inventory of their well-being.”
For many who experienced heightened anxiety or symptoms of depression during lockdown it’s likely the condition previously existed but went unnoticed or unfelt given the pace of pre-COVID life.
“People became more mindful of how their mental health was being affected by their workspace and it caused a lot of conversations,” she says.
For employers, assuming people can function in the same way as they could pre-pandemic while relying on traditional wellness offerings is a blind spot.
“We’re helping organizations shift to thinking about wellness from a systemic perspective. Asking: what are the systems and what are the different parts of those systems that are impacting people?” Dr. Saska says. “If we actually addressed them, perhaps we wouldn’t need all the self-care initiatives on top. For us, it’s really about shifting from that individualized, or that neo-liberal frame, to more of the collective, systems-based approach to wellness in the workplace.”
So, what does an effective workplace wellness initiative look like now? For starters, in this era of hybrid workplace models, it needs to be flexible.
Flexibility is a key pillar of workplace wellness in 2023
In fact, something like the four-day workweek could be framed as a wellness initiative.
“One of the best metrics for people’s ‘happiness’ in the workplace is a sense of ownership of time through the vehicle of flexibility,” Dr. Saska says, acknowledging that this largely pertains to the knowledge-based economy made up of people who work from a computer.
But it’s not a one size fits all fix. While one employee’s four-day workweek could be a dream scenario, for another (like a parent who needs to drop kids off at school every morning) being forced to log on Monday to Thursday at 8 a.m. may be too restrictive for their lifestyle and become an added stressor.
Rather than rolling out a prescriptive model, the focus should be on providing people with the autonomy they need to achieve their work goals in a way that works for them and supports balancing other responsibilities.
“Companies that are still trying to really own people’s time and hold on to the past, that comes from a place of a lack of trust that people aren’t going to get their things done,” Dr. Saska says, “It’s an antiquated idea of leadership and organizational values.”
A sense of flexibility can also positively impact a more progressive take on health benefits.
Insurance providers and benefits programs really haven’t caught up with the needs of humans in 2023, says Dr. Saska.
For example, the scope of standard offerings is likely to lack support for trans or non-binary folks or include comprehensive coverage for fertility-related treatments.
Employee empowerment is also a potent wellness benefit
One solution to this could be a health spending account that allows employees to decide how to use it.
It can be the difference between offering employees a certain amount of money to pay for a gym membership exclusively versus allowing them to use those funds toward, say, new workout gear that supports their fitness journey.
“It’s more of a choose your own adventure [for employees], within those sorts of models. Having the flexibility to use things as they need to really does go a long way,” says Dr. Saska, “From the research that we see with our client base, people use those types of benefits or programs to the maximum. But they’re using them for a million different things.”
Make it easy for your employees to take advantage of wellness initiatives
There are many factors that can impact how a sense of well-being at work can be felt.
For Smith, boundaries play a big role in creating a healthy work environment. A successful approach encourages workers to set them, but it’s equally important for the workplace to then support them.
“Encouraging folks to take time to take breaks, to move their bodies, to get outside and to do things to support themselves, so that they can be present when they’re actually working, those types of invitations support wellness initiatives actually landing for folks,” says Smith.
Franklin identifies modelling from those in leadership roles as a vital piece of the puzzle here too.
“A lot of people are looking to their supervisor or manager for boundary setting, and if you’re sending an e-mail at 9 p.m. it’s really hard for employees to feel like they can shut down at 5 p.m.,” she says.
Make space for wellness in the office
Organizations can also consider making space for wellness at work, by creating opportunity for conversations or in a more literal manner.
Private wellness rooms furnished with sensory-driven details, like dimmable lighting and a comfortable place to rest, can be a helpful on-site tool.
“It’s a dedicated room in the office where someone can just go and take a couple of minutes to decompress,” says Franklin.
More broadly, there’s no limit to what a former boardroom or office can offer. An agency that recently transformed an office into a prayer room to support employees leading up to the Muslim holiday of Eid is one great, unconventional example, she says.
Consistency is key
Consistency, community and collective effort all count as well.
“Employees want employers to care about their work-life balance on a regular basis. Not just when it’s Mental Health Awareness Month or Bell Let’s Talk Day,” says Franklin,
“In order to do that, it’s going to take more than just the folks at the top being a part of that conversation, this work has to happen top down and bottom up.”
Franklin’s approach to wellness being for all also identifies the need for what she calls courageous conversations about systemic racism and violence for Black, Indigenous and People of Color in their workplace. “If those folks are not also feeling well and safe in your organization, nobody’s doing well,” she says.
Ask employees what they want
Using a thorough survey to gather feedback from employees is an ideal place to start and having them actively participate in the design of updated programs is key.
“Organizations spend a lot of money on wellness-related programs, policies and so forth. And what’s interesting is a lot of them go to waste,” says Dr. Saska. “A company could better use that money if they were simply to ask people what it is that they actually need, and then give more flexibility around how those resources are allocated.”
From there, achieving wellness in the workplace stems from making employees feel seen and heard.
“A lot of the employee wellness programs that are really working, and are really making people happy, are the ones that are thinking about the people first,” says Franklin.
“When companies start to reimagine their ability to have an impact on people’s well-being, that’s when things shift.”