Employee wellbeing:
A one-off workshop or a systemic approach?
In light of this, it is clear that a systemic approach is needed. For employees to flourish sustainably, wellbeing needs to be integrated into the organisation’s strategy, values, and ways of working.
However, a one-off workshop can be very useful. It needs to be offered as a support rather than as a plaster (wellbeing washing is, unfortunately, a “thing”). The workshop objective needs to be specific, relevant and clear to both the organisation’s sponsor (often HR) and the workshop participants (employees). This requires listening to employees’ perspectives during the workshop’s design phase.
I delivered wellbeing workshops for an organisation in the care residence sector recently where this was done effectively. Wellbeing is already embedded in their organisational culture and the workshops were designed as a “support” rather than a “fix”.
The organisation had a specific expectation: Aware of the huge demand the pandemic had placed on their care teams, they wanted to equip their staff with ways to build their resilience. Empathy burnout can be particularly prevalent in the care sector.
In this case, the objective was to enable care team members to create their own* oxygen mask. The workshop was therefore designed to enable this by:
- building awareness of the physiological reactions to unexpected, unwanted or challenging experiences
- introducing psychological skills and daily habits to develop focus, manage emotions and energy levels
- guiding participants to create their own* “on-the-spot” coping strategies for stressful moments at work (such as when in a difficult conversation or workload overwhelm due to staff shortages)
If your organisation is interested in taking a more systemic approach to wellbeing OR you have a specific workshop in mind, do get in contact to discuss with me.