A regular and exclusive series addressing some of the major challenges facing SMEs today. Icehouse Insights also highlights some of the possible solutions you can weave into your business to solve common issues.
Workplace wellbeing and resilience initiatives are regarded as key business strategies for today’s progressive organisations in helping employees – and employers – cope with and address the daily challenges faced in our jobs.
Why? Many initiatives have been proven to reduce employee stress, create a more relaxed workplace, increase productivity and improve worker engagement according to The Southern Cross Healthy Futures research study.
If you’re keen to create a workplace environment that values the importance of a happy, harmonious and productive organisation, this latest edition of Icehouse Insights has some pointers.
Need convincing? Did you know ‘45% of people in Australia will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime with the resulting absenteeism and presenteeism resulting in around 12 million days of reduced productivity for businesses each year,’ says CEO magazine.
Meanwhile, severe mental illness costs the US more than US$190 billion in lost earnings every year, with depression alone estimated to result in over 200 million lost workdays annually, based on research by the Harvard Business School.
What is wellbeing and resilience?
Defining wellbeing and resilience is often too small and simple. You probably have your own definitions. The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand suggest ‘Mental wellbeing is feeling good, functioning well and feeling connected.’
To many, ‘resilience’ is tenacity, toughness, grit, fortitude – anything that indicates a positive response to a challenge in any aspect of your life, or ‘the capacity to absorb stress, recover critical functionality, and thrive in altered circumstances.’ (HBR).
They’re not the same, but they do feed off each other to create a positive and identical end result. The most successful owners and leaders use resilience to adapt and then thrive, by making smart businesses decisions in response to crisis situations to make their organisation stronger...
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