It’s been two weeks since the Health & Wellbeing @ work conference at the NEC in Birmingham and – get this – the money plant given to me by the lovely people at Hey Pots is miraculously still alive!
I know how important they are for wellbeing.
I’m not very green fingered (I once managed to kill a cactus), but I do like to have plants in and around the shoffice because I know how important they are for wellbeing.
As Hey Pots say: “Plants are an instant mood lifter, bring calm to busy minds and soothe souls; boosting happiness and wellbeing.” And researchers agree.
Colenberg and colleagues have written about the importance of the physical work environment. Unsurprisingly, layout, temperature, air quality and ergonomics all impact our health and happiness. Their 2021 study found that alongside calming colours, greenery – whether real or artificial – boosts people’s physical and mental wellbeing at work. Employees welcome the addition of plants to their work space and feel better around them.
It’s been claimed that having a dog in the office brings similar benefits. Funnily enough, the main attraction at the Health & Wellbeing conference was not the insightful keynote speeches, panel discussions and fireside chats on psychological safety, employee engagement, cancer awareness, neurodiversity or wider inclusion topics. Instead, attendees were queueing up for puppy therapy!
Organisers Paws in Work cite scientific studies which show that interacting with a pet can lead to decreased blood pressure and reduced levels of cortisol (the stress hormone). This explains why pet-friendly workplaces are on the increase and ‘bring your dog to work’ days have become more common.
It’s essential that these kinds of initiatives are just one part of a comprehensive wellbeing plan though. So many workplace wellbeing strategies fail because they’re piecemeal and not evidence-based. Fruit bowls, yoga classes and foosball tables won’t make a jot of difference unless we also tackle the root causes of poor mental health and wellbeing at work.
My advice is to find out what colleagues and line managers REALLY want and need – this could involve job crafting (allowing people to shape their role so it plays to their strengths has been proven to increase commitment, performance and creativity) or simple tweaks to job design (how tasks are structured) so they can take that extra day to look after their elderly parent or leave early to do the school run.
It’s critical your senior leaders role model the desired behaviours. The most powerful statement a senior executive I worked with ever made was walking out of meetings consistently at 4pm on the dot saying ‘Thank you, I’m leaving now as I finish at 4 to pick my daughter up from day care’. Boom.
Maybe that’s something you could try? If not, here are three other options for things you could do today to be kind to your colleagues and boost levels of wellbeing in your workplace.
BRONZE: Give Chad the Cheese Plant a little drink, or pop a pot plant by the printer
SILVER: Look into puppy therapy
GOLD: Talk to your team members / manager about job crafting and job design