Well-being: Promoting Mental Health at

WorkKatherine Winlaw

Well-being is a protective factor

Well-being is a protective factor for mental health, illness and mortality and is proving to have benefits in workplaces for organisational outcomes.

From reducing absenteeism to increasing productivity and creativity, wellbeing can make a difference to any organisation.

Funny thing is even though research proves positive and preventive programs can improve well-being and have a better return on investment for workplaces, they are not as widely used as employee counselling services or flu vaccinations!

WHO defines mental health as..

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”.

Well-being is not just the absence of disease, there are things that people actually need to do to be well. Those with higher levels of well-being focus on positive emotions, strengths, resilience and meaning to flourish.

Well-being at Work

Rising rates of workplace stress and decreasing levels of well-being along with the knowledge that stress can exacerbate disease, means employers need to take this issue seriously. The good news - studies suggest protective factors may moderate the effects of workplace stress on mental health.Positive mental health “can protect or buffer an individual from suffering adverse mental health outcomes as a result of workplace stress” (Page et al, 2014, p816).

Improving well-being..

Improving well-being depends on organisational and individual strategies, mainly because everyone experiences the impacts of stress differently.

This makes individual well-being interventions a critical facet of any organisation’s strategies. So far evidenced based programs for individuals tend to be either Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) or mindfulness/relaxation/meditation.

Well-being Programs

While reports indicate well-being programs are more sophisticated, the reality on the ground doesn’t measure up.

Of the preventative programs implemented, few have actually demonstrated positive well-being outcomes.

The good news is there are creative approaches to improving well-being at work. Just watch this space!

Katherine Winlaw

Katherine Winlaw is an experienced organisational development expert who specialises in varied corporate and HR development areas including change management, strategic workplace planning, employee psychological health and creative well-being strategies and more.