Ahead of Workplace Wellbeing Day, which takes place on Friday, April 12, business performance coach Shane Cradock (pictured) makes the case for a genuine commitment to employee wellness/wellbeing

“I couldn’t care less about workplace wellness -- people get paid to do a job. Let them look after themselves on their own time.” This was a comment made by an extremely driven, successful entrepreneur who had asked to meet me. I respected his hard-hitting comment because it was honest, but on another level I felt he was missing the point, and could be damaging his business in the process.

Too many times, I’ve seen organisations pay lip service to wellness/wellbeing strategies, while in reality it can just be a surface-level approach more focused on recognition for ‘wellness’ than making a genuine difference to employees.

I believe Workplace Wellbeing Day is, for many, an unoriginal, box-ticking exercise by HR to be seen to be doing the right thing.

In reality, wellness has not yet reached a level where it has become an essential part of a company’s long-term business strategy. This needs to change, as when done in the right way, wellness becomes the foundation to a company’s future success.

Declining Productivity

Despite transformative technological changes to our working lives over the past few decades, there is a troubling trend of declining productivity. In 2018, the OECD noted most firms in Ireland had experienced declining levels of productivity among employees.

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Several factors have caused this decline, including mental wellbeing and our attitude towards it.

Irish society has become very progressive in increasing awareness around mental health but the workplace remains an area where we continue to struggle with its impact, and the costs can be excessive for companies.

According to the ESRI and WHO, stress, anxiety and depression account for 50% of work-related illnesses in Ireland. It’s estimated that Irish companies lose 11 million days on average every year through workplace-related illnesses, costing the economy €1.5bn and putting a huge strain on a company.

The challenge in prioritising wellness is that many don’t realise the benefits until it’s too late. I probably wouldn’t have learned to prioritise it myself, if I hadn’t experienced a personal breakdown in my mid-20s.

Through this experience, I learned first-hand the danger of not looking after yourself, and the benefits of prioritising and creating wellbeing on a personal level. I prioritised wellbeing and my mental health, and experienced improved clarity, creativity, resilience, confidence and productivity as a result.

Prioritising Wellness

If CEOs and business leaders want to get the best out of themselves, I would recommend they develop a long-term strategy for themselves within the workplace. After all, if a leader isn’t prioritising wellness, how can the rest of the organisation?

I believe we need to re-think the overall purpose and objectives of organisations. Many people would say the only purpose of stepping back and analysing these is to generate more profit, but I disagree. While I appreciate working capital needs to be healthy, I also think this answer is becoming outdated and short-sighted.

A true competitive advantage in today’s world will be achieved by companies willing to invest in their employees’ wellbeing on a daily basis, and not just for 24 hours. Unfortunately, many CEOs and business leaders are too busy to see that.

While Workplace Wellbeing Day is a very worthwhile event, let’s use it for more than just a short-lived marketing exercise and instead commit to it as a long-term learning curve.

+ Shane Cradock is a leadership and performance coach and advisor based in Co. Wicklow