Health and Safety

Returning to the office: Considering your approach as an employer

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Managing Principal Karen Luu has developed a series of questions for employers to guide their approach in supporting hesitant employees back into the workplace.

Download your copy here: Returning to the office – Considering your approach as an employer

If you have any questions, please contact our team who are happy to provide tailored advice for your business and workforce.

Managing Omicron in the workplace

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Organisations are being forced to revisit their return-to-the-office plans due to the surge in COVID-19 cases amid the Omicron variant.

Managing Principal Karen Luu has developed the following resources to assist employers:

If you have any questions, please contact our team who are happy to provide tailored advice for your business and workforce.

Engaging with employees around well-being

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As COVID-lockdowns continue across Australia, we are seeing heightened urgency from employers looking to engage with their employees around well-being in a more meaningful way.

In response, Principal Consultant Karen Luu has drafted a set of practical questions for organisations looking to build capability in their supervisors, when checking in with team members.

Download our one-page reference guide

If you have any questions, please contact our team who are happy to provide tailored advice for your business and workforce.

CEO and Leaders’ Well-Being: 2021 Pulse Survey Report

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In July 2021, the Found Consulting team surveyed our network of CEOs, Senior Managers and HR Professionals to determine what well-being success means to them.

We received an overwhelming response to the survey, allowing us to summarise a number of key themes and recommendations based on our findings.

> Download our CEO and Leaders’ Well-Being: 2021 Pulse Survey Report

Key insights

1. Focus on the well-being of your team

An overwhelming majority of the leaders surveyed believe the key to well-being success stems from the health and happiness of their team.  If a team is cohesive, communicate regularly, are happy and healthy (both physically and mentally) and can achieve a work/life balance, they will be motivated and productive, resulting in low absenteeism and turnover.

The leaders of the organisations surveyed believe this is achieved by creating a better work/life balance through increased flexibility, and ensuring their employees’ safety and well-being is their number one priority.

Recommendations:

  • Invest in resilience training to assist employees to cope in times of stress.
  • Initiate yoga and meditation classes to help employees develop a relaxed and calm mindset, and achieve a good nights’ sleep.
  • Establish other appropriate preventative and support treatment supports.

2. Improve communication

The big takeaway from the COVID crisis for a large number of the participants surveyed is that it has led to an overall improvement and increase in communication between leaders and their teams, particularly when staff are working remotely.  For employees, this has resulted in a greater sense of empowerment and trust from their managers to get their work done.

Communication has also extended to more genuine and open conversations that don’t just focus on work tasks but on how individuals are managing on a personal level.  This has required leaders to be more innovative about how they stay in touch with their team and keep them engaged, and required them to improve their skills around active listening, empathy and compassion.

And while some Managers have commented that the COVID has made them more fatigued as a result of the extra work placed on them to get through the crisis and stay connected with their teams, 47% of respondents cited only somewhat of an increase in their stress levels.

Recommendations:

  • Create more opportunities for staff to interact with one another either face to face or virtually. This could include fun activities like virtual drinks night on a Friday, trivia afternoons etc.
  • Invest in training programs for managers to further develop their communication, listening and empathy skills.
  • Continue to maintain open and regular communication even when everyone is back in a face-to-face environment, and get to know your team on a more personal level.

3. Prioritise regular exercise

It was encouraging to see from the survey that high numbers of respondents (69%) have been exercising regularly as part of their wellness strategy, with a further 50% taking time out for themselves.  And while many leaders are actively doing something to look after their own well-being, they also recognise that they could be doing more and that this is something they need to prioritise.

Almost half of the organisations surveyed have utilised or invested in an EAP program or service to assist employees with the mental toll of the crisis, with many leaders recognising the need to develop a specific work well-being program for their organisation.

Recommendations:

  • Introduce exercise programs into your workplace.
  • Consider developing a comprehensive and structured well-being program for your organisation.
  • Introduce a paid well-being day for leaders to allow them the opportunity to reflect and recharge.
  • Conduct regular training and webinars specific to well-being.

> Download our CEO and Leaders’ Well-Being: 2021 Pulse Survey Report

employee wellbeing

6 ideas to improve employee wellbeing

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By Everett Tran

What a year. COVID-19 saw most people struggle with their health, relationships, finances, career, social life and mental wellbeing – often as a mixed cluster. As we impatiently countdown the days to breakthrough to a new year, these existing sources of worry are not going to simply wash off any time soon.

For employers, it means the ramp up of support for employees throughout the pandemic will still be an ongoing need in 2021. If you’re wondering what initiatives are trending across workplace wellbeing, here are 6 popular ideas to consider for your organisation.

  1. Keeping social offerings alive

In a country that prides itself on social culture and events, 2020 has been particularly difficult for Australians. Even today as the pandemic seems to be under control, usual social activities like after work drinks, trivia nights at the pub, a kick at the park, and Saturday morning HIIT or PUMP classes have not been the same.

As we gradually return to the workplace, consider providing your employees a platform to meet and interact – virtually and/or in person to share common interests and hobbies. Think trivia clubs, gaming clubs (get onto ‘Among Us’ with your team), reading clubs, dog walking clubs, Sports fantasy leagues, even a dodgeball team! The possibilities are endless.

  1. Prioritise wellness offerings

Gym memberships, fruit boxes and yoga have been popular wellbeing offering for years. With a stronger appetite for additional activities to help employees prioritise their health, consider exploring new programs and initiatives. A client of ours started a monthly virtual briefing event, where a guest speaker is invited to share their insight on a wellbeing topic. It’s also important to ensure your senior team actively participate and show leadership on such initiatives.

  1. Support learning and growth

A heightened feeling of career uncertainty and the availability of time from a quieter social life means people looking to fill time productively and learn new skills. By supporting employees with their professional development needs, you will have workforce with stronger capabilities and keep motivated at work. It’s a win-win for all.

Remember, learning does not necessarily mean tertiary or expensive courses. Easy ways to support employees might include providing access to LinkedIn learning, in-house workshops and modules for specialised skills. It could also mean curated a list of recommended TED Talks, books, articles and podcasts. Is there a list your organisation and/or leadership team can curate together?

  1. Powering up financial literacy and resilience

Across the Australian economy, the enormous loss of jobs, long pauses in work (stand downs) and reduction in work hours impacted people financially and challenged the notion job security entirely. The thought of losing our income or to have it reduced significantly can cause dreadful anxiety if employees are not confident or diligent in managing their finances.

Supporting employees to strengthen their financial literacy and encourage financial planning action will help be more prepared to deal with financially challenging scenarios with greater confidence.

  1. Communicate genuinely and clearly

Another way to help ease the minds of a workforce worrying about job uncertainty is to rethink how and what is broadly communicated to all employees. Everyone wants to work in a highly transparent organisation where employees are trusted to receive and exchange information.

How does the organisation plan on surviving the pandemic, and beyond that what does the road to recovery and return to ‘normal work’ look like? Employees will benefit from knowing more about the current of state of play and the strategies that impact them moving forward.

  1. Equip people to always work safely

Most organisations have invested in office layouts, fittings and furniture to support safer workspaces and healthier work environments. As the option to work from home (in part or full) evolves into a permanent offering, there will be a need to ensure remote work locations and set-ups are also safe for employees.

A practical way to start is by conducting an ergonomic assessment for the work area in employees’ homes to identify and manage address hazards. An agreement to meet with your employees near or at their home every so often for work instead of at the office or virtually (we are all Zoom/Teams fatigued!), will provide you valuable insight into the effectiveness of their workspace and its impact on their health and wellbeing.

An investment into employee wellbeing is often misunderstood and treated as ‘nice to have’, when in fact it directly relates to employers’ legal obligation to provide a safe working environment. With that, employer support for wellbeing presents in many different forms, and what’s right for your organisation comes down to understanding the risks and balancing needs of your organisation and people.

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