Why a 6 year old has a better wellbeing strategy than your entire workforce

3 min read

Every morning my children bounce out of bed full of energy and excitement ready for the day ahead, where as many of us “grown-ups”  feel the need almost to be dragged out kicking and screaming reaching for the first cup of coffee before we can even hold a conversation.

It got me thinking, What do little kids have that us grown-ups don’t?  Well, they went to bed at 7.30 p.m. last night, they spent the day with all their friends at school, they had regular breaks in their day for fun and running around outside, they sat and had lunch with all their friends, they had loads of fun playing in the garden with a Super Soaker after school and they had their “5 a day” fruit and veggies (that I lovingly packed).  

And that led to this thought: How many of us actually manage to make time for all those wellbeing bits in our days?

Imagine if every one of your employees jumped out of bed in the morning ready to kickstart their working day every day, just like a 6 year old.

Now I’m not suggesting that we all go and buy each employee a Super Soaker (although that does sound like fun!) And I’m not imagining that we’re all going to be tucked up tight in bed by 7.30pm each evening. We’re adults, not 6 year olds.

And as adults, we’re all human; whether we’re leaders or managers, accountants or construction workers, full time or part time we all have different needs and passions, personal goals and aspirations, different pressures and pulls in our lives. What one person may find a stress and strain another may find a walk in the park, what one person may find enjoyable and relaxing another may not understand. Most importantly what makes each one of us happy is likely to be completely different.  

That is what makes wellbeing as a one size fits all solution so complicated, and hard to untangle. That's why, like we’ve said before, many employers shy away from introducing wellbeing tactics into their workplace because it seems complicated.

Wellbeing is defined as “the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy” and I would challenge any employer, manager or leader that doesn’t feel that workplace wellbeing should sit as a key element of your employee engagement.

That still leaves us with the question; if wellbeing is so different for each of us how do we begin to shape our wellbeing programme. Here at Reward Gateway, we love Simon Sinek’s book “Start with Why,” and that’s a great place to start when debating how to begin structuring your wellbeing strategy.

Why do you want to put your wellbeing programme in place?  

What is its purpose?

What do you want to achieve by implementing it? (OK, those last two weren’t a why but I did start with one!)

Whether you have a wellness programme in place or are about to launch one, these three questions will really help you evaluate either your current program or help you plan for your future wellbeing strategy. It will give you the opportunity to really ascertain the purpose of your strategy and this is a time to be honest. A time to evaluate whether some of the basic needs of your employees are being fulfilled.

Your wellbeing strategy really has the power to give your employees the energy and enthusiasm of a 6 year old if you think it through carefully enough.

Remember...

• Your employees are “Human,” and they all have different needs.
• They all probably know what they need to do to improve their own wellbeing. Your job is to think through how can you help to facilitate that through the work environment.
• Don’t forget about the different aspects of wellbeing: Mental, physical and financial.
• Keep it simple; wellbeing does not need to be complicated.

We’ll explore more about evaluating your company’s current state of wellbeing in my next post.