Occupational Wellness Training Helps Employees Set Healthy Boundaries at Work
2023-06-23 | Blog
One of the challenges for employees, whether they are onsite, hybrid or fully remote, is finding a balance between work and home life. Without balance and boundaries, work-related stress and burnout continue to rise, hurting employee engagement, motivation and performance.
Occupational wellness is one of the dimensions of a healthy work environment that recognizes and fosters a sense of professional and personal accomplishment and satisfaction. Happy employees tend to be more productive and creative — factors that contribute to a positive work culture and business success.
What is occupational wellness?
Occupational wellness is the ability of individuals to achieve a balance between work and personal time, effectively manage workplace stress and build positive relationships with coworkers and leaders.
While the term occupational wellness may not be a familiar one, it is part of a whole-person approach to health and wellness that addresses an individual’s emotional, physical, environmental, financial, intellectual, social and spiritual wellbeing.
A lack of occupational wellness, that is, being unhappy or unfilled at work, or not being able to disconnect from work while at home, can result in higher rates of stress and burnout, absenteeism and turnover. The good news is that there are actionable steps that help employees establish boundaries between their work and personal lives and maximize strengths, skills and abilities that improve communication and collaboration.
To attract, retain and develop talent, organizations should proactively address occupational wellness, with leaders setting an example for maintaining healthy work-life integration. Maggie Smith, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Traliant
Insights & Actions
Here are 8 proactive steps to promote occupational wellness and address employee burnout and turnover:
- Set clear expectations for individual and team responsibilities.
- Show respect for employees’ personal time. This includes not scheduling meetings or sending emails after hours or on weekends.
- Encourage employees to take time off and use all their vacation days.
- Offer flexible working hours. The traditional 9-to-5 no longer works for many employees. Acknowledging that many employees have responsibilities and stressors outside of work shows empathy and a willingness to help them be productive and successful.
- Continuously promote and encourage employees to participate in the organization’s health and wellness benefits, training, activities and resources.
- Recognize the accomplishments of individuals and teams, acknowledge and reward fresh ideas and perspectives and empower employees to make decisions.
- Set up a mentoring program to bring team members closer together and foster personal and professional growth.
- Conduct surveys throughout the year to surface employees’ health and wellness concerns, priorities and suggestions. Share the survey results and respond to feedback so employees know they are being heard.