Implementing a Health and Wellbeing Policy For the Work Place

Whether you work for a large or small company, implementing a health and wellbeing policy for the workplace is a great idea in order to get your staff feeling healthier and happier at work. In turn, this will also make them more productive, reduce the number of sick days, reduce turnover, and increase profits. It’s not always easy to devise a health and wellbeing program in your workplace but thankfully we can find many examples of these on government websites. One such example of a health and wellbeing policy template can be found here:
http://healthierworkplacewa.com.au/media/3739/generic-health-and-wellbeing-policy-template.pdf

Applying a health and wellbeing program has not received a great deal of attention, so in this article we will give you some helpful hints and tips that ensure your policy will be long lasting and successful.

Promote your program

The first step in implementing the program is to promote your program. Raise awareness of some of the health issues that are related to what you’re specifically trying to target, such as diabetes and obesity with diet or cardiovascular disease by promoting exercise. In order to have a successful program you have to start a buzz in the workplace that gets people seeing the program in a positive light – you may have heard this as creating a burning platform. The key is to get your management and some key players within your organisation on board. This can be as simple as having health posters around the office, or having a program launch with some inspiring speakers to come along and promote the health benefits.

Manage your program

Putting your plan in action is one of the most fun and exciting stages, however, to make sure it stays on a ‘can do’ basis it is important to make sure everyone is on the same page and that ongoing activities are coordinated efficiently. It is important to have ongoing contact with the staff members that are involved, this can be done by holding meetings monthly, fortnightly or whatever is most convenient. This will help you to assess any issues with the program and any modifications that could be made to make it easier for employees to be healthy.

Evaluate and make improvements

Evaluating the program is a necessity in order to help identify the things that are working well and things that weren’t received too well by employees and can be reduced or excluded in future. On top of this, it is useful to have an idea of what worked well so that you don’t make any unnecessary changes that may deteriorate the quality of the program, such as with exercise or food. A great tool for this is to have informal chats on lunch breaks or when bumping into participating staff in the office. It is important to ask yourself (and anyone else helping to evaluate) did everything go to plan? Did it make a noticeable impact? Were the outcomes as desirable as expected?

The workplace is a great environment in which to promote and improve health and wellbeing. Implementing a health and wellbeing policy in your workplace will help your staff to be happier and healthier and will also improve your organisation as a whole. That sounds like a policy worth investing in to me!

Office laughing and why we should

Feeling a little bit low? Try laughing more! The term "laughter is the best medicine" is often touted a lot, but upon looking into the benefits of how it can help you feel better and get you back on track during times of stress it is definitely worth taking seriously. Several research claims cover how laughing is beneficial to your physical health, including improved blood flow, immune response, endorphin levels and sleep quality; but what about mental health?

Here are 3 ways that laughter can benefit your wellbeing: 

1. Laughter dissipates distressing emotions

Rather than expressing negative emotions such as fear, anger and sadness, people often store their negative emotions. But laughter is a perfect way to let those negative emotions go. In short, laughter is very much cathartic. An example of this is when you are feeling stressed or upset; you watch a funny movie so you can laugh away negative emotions. After you watch the movie, you realise you are no longer pent up with negative emotions.

2. Humour changes perspective

Laughing helps you see events in a more realistic and less threatening light.  A humorous perspective creates psychological distance and this can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed. More and more mental health professionals are suggesting ‘laugh therapy’ which teaches people to laugh openly at things that are not usually funny and to cope with difficult situations by employing humour. (Just don't laugh openly at a client's issues!)

3. Laughing helps learning and creativity 

Daniel Goleman, psychologist, noted that laughter seems to help people think more broadly and associate more freely.  Listening to jokes or even working out a new punch line for a pun activates different areas of the brain and keeps the brain on its toes. In short, you tend to be more innovative and flexible.

Now that you know that laughter works wonders on your mind, how do you bring more laughter in your personal life or workplace? 

Here are 3 simple ways to make a head start on developing a healthier mind: 

1. Create opportunities to laugh. 

This is easier than it seems, and just requires a little kick and reminder when you're going through stressful times. Host a game night with friends or work colleagues. Share a good joke or funny story with others. Visit a comedy club for your next team outing. Attend a “laughter yoga” class, or ever better – run one in the workplace! Play with a pet. Check out the humour section of the bookstore. Make watching funny cat videos a daily habit. 

 2. Try laughing at events instead of lamenting them. 

No one likes a grouch or sourpuss that takes everything too seriously and never laughs at anything.  Some situations in life are clearly sad and not meant for laughing but there are also situations that fall into a grey area, giving you the choice to laugh.  Look for the humour in a situation and uncover the irony and silliness of life. Slowly, you will find the humour in everyday events and you will generally develop a brighter perspective.

 3. Surround yourself with funny and playful people.  

This is probably the easiest way to find laughter. These people are walking reminders to lighten up your day. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious; stick with them in every chance you get and you will feel more energised and ready for new challenges. Incorporating more laughter into both your personal and professional life can have numerous benefits, so make an effort and start today! If you have any advice or examples of lightening up the environment around you during stressful times, we'd love to hear them!

Taking responsibility over satisfaction and happiness

The old saying "do as I say, not as I do" can ring true for many allied health professionals. Constantly having to take on the weight and pain in other people's lives can take its toll, and it's often difficult to point your expertise inward for help.

When your boss acknowledges your hard work, when a client gets great results because of your help, or when someone waves after you give way to them in peak hour traffic this can be enough to make our day! But when your hard work goes unnoticed, a client makes unfair complaints, or the driver you let in doesn't even bother to wave, we let it get to us and allow these external factors to influence our mood, satisfaction and overall happiness for longer than it should. We focus on the trivial things in our life and depend a little too much on what happens around us, what others do and don’t do to make us happy.

So how do we take responsibility for our own happiness and not let trivial external factors influence us too much? Let’s look at some potential solutions:

1.       Emotions and the Mind

Learn to accept your emotions, even the not so warm and fuzzy ones!  

It is argued by some health professionals that most of our problems come from an inability to adequately experience our emotions, especially so-called negative emotions, because we don’t allow ourselves permission to express them. How can this be resolved?

(a) Writing about negative emotions after having a bad day at work, using a process called cathartic writing can help. Research has shown that people who write about their deepest emotions are less depressed and more positive about life. However, make sure to check out some guidelines and examples before you begin. 

(b) Laugh. Take some time out to have a giggle! We have to remember that sometimes we take life way too seriously. Laugh at the little things but also don’t be afraid to get creative. Play a game of charades, google funny cat photos, spend some time talking about something funny that happened at work, or rent a comedy. Laughter really can be the best medicine!  

(c) For more pervasive problems like chronic road rage, seek assistance from a mental health professional before you break your horn. This will allow you to better understand your feelings and what strategies to put in place to assist the situation in the long term.

2.       The Body

Experts tell us time and time again how the mind and the body are connected. This means that if we do not look after our body, then this can have a negative effect on our happiness too. Here are some tips to keep your body (and mind!) in check:

(a) Get plenty of quality sleep – Yes, your parents were right when they told you that you’d wake up grumpy in the morning if you didn't get enough sleep. To improve your sleeping habits, try going to bed at the same time, develop a standard pre-sleep routine such as reading a book or taking a warm shower or bath, and avoid things like caffeinated drinks and chocolate before bed.

(b) Exercise. Physical activity can open the brains pleasure pathways, releasing endorphins, which make you feel great. And if running a marathon isn't your thing you could try meditation or stretching exercises like Yoga and Pilates. When at work, take a quick stroll around the office block or organised with a work friend to take a walk to the local café or cafeteria for a lunch catch up.

(c) Healthy Eating. We need good nutritious food for growth, healing and healthy functioning. Try to eat a balance diet of healthy, wholesome, fresh foods and skip on foods that are highly processed. Eating meat and fish, rich in protein, iron and Omega 3 fatty acids will give you that extra energy to get through the day. Not a big meat eater? Try eggs and vegetables like lima beans and lentils which provide a healthy alternative instead of grabbing a dim-sim or potato cake from the local café on your lunch break.

So now you have a few tools to get you started in finding your own happiness! Keep adding to your new happiness tool box and you might even be the next work-life balance guru!