Organisational and Employee Wellbeing

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Lets get one thing straight, workplace wellbeing is not a new thing. It has been studied since the late 1600's. Italian Physician, Bernadini Ramazzini (1633-1714) wrote about the effects of work exposure on employees and the possibilities of taking preventative measures (Gainer, 2008).

By 1810, Robert Marcus Owen, a Welsh social reformer proposed a 10 hour work day to protect the wellbeing of employees, then in 1817, proposed an 8 hour work work day. (this is where we get the 3 x 8's. 8 hours work, 8 hours play and 8 hours sleep (Donnachie, 2000)).

This was not generally accepted and workplace wellbeing was an afterthought until the introduction of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP's) in 1950's which primarily focused on Mental Health and Alcoholism. 

It wasn't until the 1970's and 1980's that true workplace wellbeing was introduced, on the understanding of saving costs of employee lost days of work.

Over the last 10 years or so, workplace wellbeing had come to the forefront. However, its true rise came after COVID 19 in 2019. 

EAP apps are now more interactive, however, still are under the ownership of the organisation, and to what access they have, I have yet to receive and answer. However, with laws in place about it being unlawful, to dismiss a person from work on the grounds of mental health, I would say these apps can provide a measure of services but not the human connection and emotion.

With the Wellbeing industry sat at a burgeoning rate and only increasing, lets remove the stigma of mental health and look at how organisations can offer support and increase not only resilience but flourishing within the company. Many can offer statistics and even put programs in place, however not many can use specific tools from Positive Psychology, NLP, CBT and Mindfulness to support individuals and organisations, as well as looking at an organisations job function, management system and other attributes that can improve workplace wellbeing.