How's your wellbeing?

Wellbeing covers six key areas of your work and home life. To properly assess your wellbeing, consider how you feel about each of the following:

 

We all have coughs, colds, aches and strains from time to time, but they can often affect us more than we know. Looking after your health, eating properly and getting enough exercise all help you to stay fit and focused.
 

Physical wellbeing also entails recognised physical disabilities and, in order to be able to work to our best, it is important that you feel able to talk about these so that reasonable adjustments can be made to support you at work.
 

When you feel positive about life, you are able to tackle trickier work tasks with greater ease. However, everyone has days when they feel a bit down and find it harder to cope. When things are not going well emotionally, you get anxious, work can get on top of you and normal pressure can turn into stress.

Crucially, emotional wellbeing also involves recognising, acknowledging and supporting mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. It is important to get wellbeing right in these areas, as being able to talk about how you feel and especially about mental illness can help you feel more confident in your role.
 

We spend the majority of our day at work and so a good working environment is important to us all.
 

This means not just having a pleasant and safe office to work in but also enjoying the company of our colleagues, manager, team and ourselves.

A good working environment means everyone should feel that they are given equal treatment, irrespective of sexual orientation, marital status, creed, colour, race, nationality, ethnicity, religious belief, political opinion, disability or age.

Be conscious of your colleagues and customers varying sensibilities; treating them always as you yourself expect to be treated. Feeling respected allows us to participate more openly and regularly, thus increasing the overall team efficiency.
 

Finances are one of the biggest causes of emotional stress, so feeling confident about them allows you to stop worrying and to start focusing more on your work. Employers often offer lots of benefits that can help you manage or save your money.

Research whether your employer offers discounts at certain shops, look into how you might be able to save from employer share schemes and perhaps most importantly, make provisions for your retirement (ensuring you investigate whether your company might be able to make extra financial contributions). Many companies also have free employee information lines and assistance programmes – these are confidential and can help point you in the right direction if you have financial worries, so reach out.
 

Everyone wants to try and reach their potential. If you enjoy your job and feel fulfilled then you are more likely to be engaged and give your best. Find out what learning and development opportunities your employer offers – many courses are now online and easy to access at home or at work.

At Hays, we value inquisitiveness – think about what interests you and then find out whether your employer might be able to help you fulfil them. A job is what you make of it – you can either do enough to get by or you can be inquisitive, expand your horizons, learn, develop and, subsequently, have fun working!
 

Finally, wellbeing is about getting that work-life balance right, and that means different things to different people.
 

All work and no play can lead to burn out, meaning you’re unable to perform properly. Good rest (physical wellbeing!) and making full use of your holiday entitlement will help you to feel refreshed, positive and competent. Many employers also support their people with flexible working policies that allow you to mix home and work life in a way that makes you appreciate both; maximizing productivity.

Many companies also encourage volunteering, charitable donations, support for local schools and environmental sustainability (i.e. recycling and energy saving initiatives). See what you can find out about the issues that are important to you.

So there we are – If you strike the right balance of the above wellbeing factors, you’ll be better able to cope with the day to day pressures of working life and, if you’re able to do that, then you’ll be able to focus at work better and perform to the best of your ability.

Next time someone asks “How are you?” I hope you will answer with more than just “fine”!