With World Wellbeing Week here, it’s a subject close to our hearts as a business with mental fitness firmly at the heart of our culture.
Our One Million Better Workdays initiative is unique to Ford & Stanley and is designed to create better workdays – not just for ourselves of course, but our candidates and clients – and is practiced, measured and intertwined with everything we do.
But why does wellbeing matter so much to corporate businesses?
Organisations are realising more and more that promoting wellbeing can help prevent stress and create positive working environments where individuals and companies can thrive – something which has certainly come to the fore since the pandemic.
However, as we know, COVID alone isn’t responsible for the impact on mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. Take the rail industry, an area we have long-established ties with and specific expertise in. Strikes, rising cases of abuse and the cost of living have also collectively played their part. This has created the catalyst for change in the workplace, with the need for the rail industry to now place more focus on the individual as a whole.
Worryingly, the stats are also there to back this up. A recent Samaritans study revealed a staggering two thirds (66%) of rail staff said they had experienced a change in their mental health, which had impacted their ability to carry out their work, with many not going to their organisation to seek help, some feeling as though they couldn’t.
The wider picture also lays bare how workplace stress is taking its toll on mental health:
- 61% of employees have experienced mental health issues due to work
- 30% of managers say their organisation don’t have the range of workplace services to support employee wellbeing
- Poor mental health costs employers up to £42 billion a year
However, this isn’t all bad news. This creates a golden opportunity for the sector to lead the charge in the pursuit of better health and wellbeing by setting the precedent and becoming ‘best in class’ for driving positive change in the workplace. And according to Public Health England, better wellbeing at work is said to have an overall ROI of £2.37 for every £1 invested in a programme.
How do they do this?
Businesses must focus on leadership development by providing specialised training for employees and by strengthening their senior leadership’s management skills in order to create stronger leaders to create a thriving culture, people and teams – which in turn leads to strong business outcomes.
That’s why we’re not ‘just’ a recruitment company. Alongside our Recruitment Services, we provide Leadership Training, Performance Coaching, Employment Coaching and Mental Fitness Support, all through a single point of relationship management.
Wellbeing has never been so important to our lives and livelihoods; now is the time for businesses to invest in its staff.
#worldwellbeingweek
