Many people use the terms well-being and wellness interchangeably, but my concern is that this is likley to cause confusion. Wellness has a close relationship with health, as does well-being, of course. However, I believe it is important to distinguish between health and well-being (while not forgetting that they influence each other in significant ways). It is quite possible to be in good health but with very poor well-being (for example, a perfectly healthy person who is deeply distressed for whatever reason) and for people to be ill and yet have a high level of well-being (for example, someone who has a chronic health condition but who is very happy being looked after by loving family members).

To understand the complexity of human experience (both in the workplace and beyond it) we need to understand both health and well-being - and the similarities and differences between them.

I have had many discussions with people in different settings about the costs of workplace well-being. How much does it cost an organisation to support their staff appropriately? Is it realistic to expect organisations to spend money on such measures when the economy is in such a poor state? These are the sort of questions a lot of people seem to be wrestling with.

For me, there are two sets of issues. First, there are many things that support well-being in the workplace that do not cost anything - for example, showing appreciation of staff. Second, even where there is a cost involved, the chances are that it will turn out to be a wise investment - that is, not a drain on resources, but a sensible use of funds that will be repaid with considerable interest over time. For example, when you consider the costs involved in replacing a mamber of staff, then well-being initiatives that cut down on staff turnover can be  a great contribution to making the books balance, and can have so many other benefits for everyone concerned into the bargain (increased morale, for example).

But, of course, what it really boils down to is not: Can we afford workplace well-being?, but rather: Can we not afford to have workplace well-being in place? Just think about how much damage it does when staff feel unsupported, undervalued and badly treated. The human, financial and reputational costs for an organisation that eschews workplace well-being are likely to be astronomical.

For more information about staff issues in the workplace, see www.humansolutions.org.uk 

I have recently been involved in developing some new education and training DVDs about stress. This has reminded me about how it was my interest in stress (and related workplace problems) that spawned my interest in well-being, specifically in the workplace but also more broadly. In one of the DVDs I make the point that stress isn't necessarily a sign of a 'weak' indidvidual. The reality is much more complex than that, of course. Stress is telling us that there is something wrong somewhere, something that needs to be changed. And, while stress is the order of the day, as it seems to be in so many organisations these days, then well-being is unlikely to feature to any great extent. Of course, well-being isn't simply the absence of stress, but the presence of stress is clearly an obstacle to achieving well-being.

It was good to see that Well-being Zone was featured in the latest issue of the quarterly journal of the Royal Society for the Arts. The more people who know about what the community has to offer, the better it will be for everyone. However, it was a pity that the news item appeared under the heading of 'Pursuit of Happiness'. Of course, happiness is part of well-being but to equate the two is to oversimplify some very complex issues. But, this fits in with what this community is about, to explore the complexities of well-being and to support one another in taking forward efforts to make well-being in all its forms a reality above and beyond the rhetoric we hear so often these days about well-being.

Catherine Bennett writing in The Observer is critical of simplistic approaches to well-being, claiming that you cannot measure happiness. Of course, it is a significant mistake to equate well-being with happiness - the relationship between the two is very complex - but she is right to have doubts about the value of simplistic, uncritical notions of well-being. So, well-being as a concept is not a problem; it is the tendency to oversimplify it that is the real cause of concern. But, that is the case with a wide range of important concepts (equality / empowerment / dignity) which are also often oversimplified. I very much hope that Well-being Zone can be an important focal point for developing our understanding of these important issues.

At this time of year many people will be looking forward to a break from work, but of course there are also additional pressures to contend with for so many, both at work and at home, pressures that can be really testing, especially in terms of work-life balance. So, it will not be  a Merry Christmas for everyone who celebrates Christmas. For example, many people with mental health problems feel decidedly worse at this time of year. We should therefore be careful not to assume that this is a happy time all round. We still have to be vigilant about well-being issues.

It has been gratifying to receive a lot of positive feedback about the book I co-edited, Promoting Workplace Well-being which has recently been published by Palgrave Macmillan. Unfortunately it is only available in hardback, so not likely to be an individual purchase for many people, but we are hoping it will be bought by libraries and other interested organisations, so that the important messages of the book's contributors can be heard. Workplace well-being is such an important topic these days, with so many workplace pressures spoiling so many people's lives. The more research, study and discussion there is around these issues, the better.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recently published a report on 'Preventing Mental Wellbeing through Productive and Healthy Working Conditions'. While I welcome the report and its emphasis on the role of good employment practices in preventing stress and promoting mental well-being, I think it is very significant that we still need to keep plugging this message. Despite the weight of evidence to support this report's conclusions, I fear that a high proportion of organisations will continue to pay little or no attention to the importance of well-being at work. How can we make the changes that are needed for well-being to be taken seriously?

The report is at http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/PH22Guidance.pdf 

My job as a trainer, consultant and conference speaker involves meeting a large number of people. I have lots of interesting discussions and certain themes tend to recur. One of them is: what is happening to the world of work? So many people seem to be complaining of work overload and a lack of work-life balance. Organisations’ expectations of their employees seem to have gone from high to very high if not actually too high in so many cases. Conflict, tension and even bullying seem far more common than they used to be.

 

No doubt this is due to the interaction of various complex factors rather than one simple casue, but I would be interested to know what other people’s perceptions are. Please click on the 'Comment' button below and share your views.

Some people have asked me to say more about what is meant by an online community. I have already done this on our sister site, Social Work Focus so if you are interested in knowing more about this, click ‘Social Work Focus’ on the top menu and then when you arrive at the Social Work Focus site click ‘Blogs’ on the top menu there.