Managers Guide to Wellbeing

Being in work is good for people’s health and wellbeing and a healthy workforce is beneficial for employers too. By creating a positive, safe and healthy environment for our employees, we can increase morale, improve our employees’ work-life balance which, in turn, has a positive impact on the services we provide.
A persons overall wellbeing has many factors, such as eating healthily and exercising regularly; however the overall mental wellbeing of a person can be the most challenging to support.
When we think about the phrase ‘mental health’ or ‘mental wellbeing’, we often think about mental health problems. We think of symptoms like low mood and conditions such as depression or anxiety. In fact, everyone has mental health. You and your colleagues will have times when your mental health is good – and times when it is less good. Just like physical health.
Managers play a critical role in promoting the positive mental health of employees and can help to create a culture of wellbeing with the workplace. Strong leadership and management are key factors in ensuring good mental health and wellbeing for employees. For many people, the way they are treated by their line manager and the behaviour of all the leaders in the organisation makes an enormous difference to how they feel about themselves and their work.
It is therefore essential that managers become confident in supporting employees with their wellbeing. To assist this process, the information below and in the attached PDF has been developed to support managers.

Training
Managers do not need to be experts in mental health, but a general awareness of how to support staff, how to have open conversations and to be able to recognise the signs and symptoms can be beneficial.

Wellbeing Courses for Managers
The Management Essentials course, you will learn more about supporting your own and others wellbeing. It will particularly focus on the three cornerstones of prevention, early intervention and support. Key areas that will be explored are:
-measures to pro-actively help ourselves and others to be well at work – PREVENTION
-tools and supports to aid EARLY INTERVENTION when there is a concern around someone’s wellbeing
-how to SUPPORT ourselves and others to stay well
-the wide range of supports available to all employees through Healthy Working Lives
The course is delivered over 2 sessions and you will be encouraged to share examples from your own experiences and practice of managing and supporting wellbeing.

There are also a range of helpful resources and guidance on the other pages within this Support & Wellbeing section including a range of external organisations which may benefit you in your management role together with the wellbeing courses and sessions provided by Organisational Development.

Download the Managers Guide to Wellbeing document