Thriving at work

Making wellbeing work

Wellbeing at work is both one of the most important and least well understood topics in the workplace. Whether it’s over-simplified solutions, token gestures towards physical employee wellbeing, or wholesale adoption of fads, organisations can end up spending a great deal with little to no return.

Worse still, some interventions can actually have a negative impact on employee wellbeing, when they’re inaccessible, based on pseudo-science, or are offered without any consideration for the organisational context and actual employee needs.

To put it another, simpler way: why are you offering yoga classes when the root cause of absence is poor manager behaviour? Why are you organising another ‘step count challenge’ while your employees are dealing with unsustainable workloads?

Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing a series of podcast episodes, YouTube videos and blog posts focused on workplace wellbeing and how to improve it. Some of this will provide valuable insights for organisational decision-makers, while some will give individual employees another perspective on what they can do to boost their own wellbeing.

Where’s the evidence?

While workplace wellbeing is on the agenda for more and more organisations in the UK, how it’s addressed varies widely – both in quality and quantity.

Myths, fads and fashions abound, and it’s easy to invest time and money in wellbeing interventions that have at best absolutely no impact. The missing ingredient? Scientific evidence. Bringing an evidence-based mindset to workplace wellbeing means organisations can invest in the initiatives that actually work.

Are you responsible for wellbeing in your organisation? Do want to invest your limited budget in things that actually work? Have you been tasked with “doing something” about wellbeing this year?

Join us for a workshop all about bringing the evidence to bear on workplace wellbeing interventions. On October 24th, Dr. Richard MacKinnon and Dr. Rachael Skews will be facilitating a session on what it means to be evidence-based, how to avoid key pitfalls when it comes to wellbeing programmes, and how to create a roadmap for your own wellbeing initiatives.

Reserve your place

Wellbeing training

New course: Thriving with Psychological Flexibility

In addition to our existing wellbeing courses, we’re delighted to launch a new, wellbeing-focused course for 2024. ‘Thriving with Psychological Flexibility’ covers the key skills that contribute to enhanced psychological flexibility and teaches delegates how to apply them to boost their own wellbeing. The course is designed on a blended learning model, comprising self-directed e-learning, combined with a series of interactive webinars.

Delegates will learn how to think of their wellbeing in a more joined-up and holistic way. They’ll identify the improvements they want to make, and they’ll learn how to use the skills that boost our psychological flexibility to take the necessary steps to get there.

Find out more!

Our approach to wellbeing

We work with an inclusive and joined-up perspective on wellbeing. Firstly, workplace wellbeing isn’t just the absence of illness or injury. That, frankly, is the bare minimum organisations should be getting right. Rather, workplace wellbeing includes support for physical, psychological and social wellbeing.

As scientists, we emphasise putting the scientific evidence to work, creating solutions and interventions that actually have a positive impact. Decades of quality research have highlighted the factors that support human thriving at work. And while some – like effective job design – might not be trendy, they’re the key foundations of good work.

We’re all about getting the essentials right.

Our goal is to help people better understand wellbeing at work, be inspired to do something about it, and improve as many people’s experience of work as possible.

Key components of Wellbeing

Psychological Wellbeing

Employees’ psychological wellbeing is not simply the absence of diagnosable mental health conditions. Our psychological wellbeing at work is impacted by our opportunities to use our skills and feel an appropriate level of challenge in our work, to deal with a manageable workload, to receive actionable and timely feedback from colleagues, to understand the contribution we’re making and our connection with the bigger picture of our organisation. We need to see the value in our work and be able to bring our values to life in simple ways.

Our psychological wellbeing is supported when we learn how to effectively deal with the inevitable setbacks and challenges that come with work. When we’re able to balance the responsibilities of our various professional and personal roles and manage the boundaries between them in an intentional and sustainable way.

Social wellbeing

Humans are inherently social beings. We look to connect with those around us, and when our desired level of connection is absent, we experience loneliness and all its toxic consequences. Over time, loneliness not only impacts our psychological wellbeing, it also negatively affects our immune system.

Employees’ social wellbeing is improved by cultivating psychological safety in the workplace, encouraging and facilitating authentic connection and conversation, and making time for people to collaborate and support each other. How can we connect as humans when our interaction is simple a series of end-to-end online meetings? When chatting over the coffee machine is actively discouraged? When individuals’ needs for connection and conversation with their colleagues are ignored?

Physical Wellbeing

Frequently neglected when it comes to workplace wellbeing, a focus on our physical selves is integral to any wellbeing initiative. This isn’t about competing to win a race or participate in an endurance sport! Our psychological wellbeing is boosted by our physical wellbeing, and of course the inverse is true.

The bottom line is that work shouldn’t make us sick. Employees need to know how to take effective breaks from work, how to use their technology in healthy ways, how to invest in their sleep and recovery, and build movement into their work routines. This is especially important for employees working in shifts, in sedentary roles, or in highly pressurised environments.

Wellbeing Resources

Thriving at Work videos

Thriving at Work blog posts