As you probably know, today is ‘Blue Monday’ – the most depressing day of the year. Fortunately, the British Council for Offices have provided guidelines for businesses to ensure that their company is supporting a culture of wellbeing – enabling their employees to be as happy as possible. Here they are:
Care
Nine out of ten employees feel a greater sense of wellbeing if they believe their job has meaning. As a result, organisations must communicate the impact that that individuals are having on customers and colleagues, in order to encourage a sense of value and care. 88% of workers questioned in the research wanted to feel more valued at work and clear communication around each individual’s contribution can go some way to improving this.
Control
BCO research found that 87% of workers feel their wellbeing diminishes if they don’t have some control over their day-to-day activities – people want the flexibility to mix collaboration with colleagues with quiet moments of concentration to help them get ‘in the zone’. Nine out of ten workers claim that working ‘in the zone’ helps them perform better as well as feel better. However, currently over three quarters of people feel they are hampered by a noisy open-plan environment, for example. Therefore by offering employees some flexibility around the elements of how and where they work, they can help instil a sense of control.
Collaboration
Nine out of ten employees believe that support from colleagues enhances their wellbeing and makes them more productive. But building a collaborative environment as remote working grows means companies need to embrace connectivity to ensure that employees have the tools to work, discuss and innovate together no matter where they are.
Charles Staples is an editorial assistant at HRreview.
