Amongst the many things we’ve all learnt in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the important role that middle managers play in overall workplace wellbeing and the ‘squeeze’ that this group faces in terms of managing the wellbeing of their teams and themselves, while simultaneously trying to ensure that deadlines and targets are met.
At an organisational level, those with high levels of resilience, innovation and collaboration have found themselves better able to respond to the disruption of COVID-19, while for others the pandemic has provided an opportunity to reflect on how a talent pool with these characteristics would have made it much easier and more effective to navigate through the crisis. Achieving increased operational resilience through wellbeing (not instead of it) has become a higher priority for many organisations who had previously underestimated the strategic importance of empowering the full potential of everyone in their workforce.
Today, it has never been clearer that a strategic focus on workplace wellbeing is essential to being in a position to effectively respond to the issues and challenges arising from the pandemic. This is the only way to ensure that talent pools are resilient and adaptable through this period of uncertainty. Many organisations are realising that workplace wellbeing can no longer be viewed as an employee ‘benefit’, an exercise in compliance, corporate social responsibility, or a way to boost employer branding. Rather, wellbeing needs to be approached as a crucial feature of organisational strategy. This shift requires a much more insightful, thorough, and integrated approach than is typically offered by many providers and consultants delivering solutions in this area. Luckily, WellWise was founded to address just this issue.
