Private life or work life. Mental wellbeing is usually seen as a personal issue that few people speak openly about at work. A study by McKinsey reported only 30% feel comfortable in talking to their manager about mental wellbeing. Fast-forward to the Covid-19 pandemic and wellbeing is now at the top of many employers’ minds as stress and burnout impacts on performance and productivity. Creating an open culture where people are willing to raise concerns about workload, stress and wellbeing at work is the foundation of a wellbeing culture.
Wellbeing in high intensity business
Executive Insight is a healthcare consulting company with 50+ employees across EMEA. The consultants work in a fast-paced, rapidly changing and high intensity environment. The leadership team wanted to support their consultants to
- Develop skills to manage their personal wellbeing
- Create a culture where the team could discuss their wellbeing appropriately and openly
Wellbeing program
A wellbeing program was designed and delivered by Pipsy, with eight short (one hour) workshops. The topics included stress, burnout, psychological safety, work-life integration, habits and leading teams for wellbeing. The design included breakout groups with facilitated discussions, pre- and post-session activities supported by peer “buddies”. The program encouraged peer-to-peer and social learning, supporting people to find their own individual wellbeing practices.
Lockdown Wellbeing
The first workshops were held prior to the pandemic, but once the pandemic hit they became even more relevant as the team moved to work-from-home. Encouraging the consultants to continue or develop daily wellbeing practices was critical to supporting people during the lockdown. The workshops gave the consultants an opportunity to discuss with peers the challenges they were facing around virtual working, work-life boundaries and stress.
A wellbeing culture
Like all companies, Executive Insight has its own distinct culture. Now the culture includes a shared language and beliefs about wellbeing. Executive Insight’s see this as a change that will last beyond the pandemic as commented by Principal Consultant Wendy van der Lubbe:
“The wellbeing training brought previously unrecognized issues to light and gave our staff the language to express how they were feeling. This opened the way to a series of discussions that allowed management to initiate changes in how the company is managed and the way teams collaborate.”
