STRATEGY

The key to a successful wellness strategy lies in empowering managers and promoting accountability with a focus on human outcomes. Human resources and wellness managers face the challenge of encouraging employees to take responsibility for their own well-being.

According to research conducted by Mindful Revolution Pty Ltd, many workers frequently experience negative emotions and fatigue. For instance, approximately 52% of workers always or often feel exhausted, 49% feel stressed, 43% feel overwhelmed, 34% feel irritable, 33% feel lonely, 32% feel depressed, and 27% feel angry.

Moreover, a significant number of employees (60%), managers (64%), and C-suite executives (75%) are seriously considering leaving their jobs for positions that provide better support for their well-being. These issues extend beyond workers to managers and executives who, in some cases, experience these sentiments as frequently as or even more frequently than employees.

Organizations often face economic pressures that further burden their workforce. Therefore, proactive wellness programs need to be successfully implemented and monitored. The human resources team at RMB Bank and ABSA, responsible for introducing Mark to the organization, received awards for their innovation and culture change efforts.

Mark works closely with these ambassadors, providing them with regular advice on strategy and content, while also cultivating new ambassadors. The initial proactive mental wellness programs have expanded to cover various topics and offerings. These initiatives include collecting more data on each organization, which enables Mark and his research team to create customized programs addressing specific issues as they are identified.

The winning strategy involves incorporating internal ambassadors in a co-facilitation model, thereby encouraging participation and enabling them to facilitate alongside Mark. By implementing tried and proven strategies, employees within the organization develop their skills and eventually collaborate with Mark and HR wellness to devise new methods for fostering accountability across different business units.

The concept of workforce well-being extends beyond the organization's current employees and prioritizes human sustainability, defined as the long-term collective well-being of individuals, organizations, the climate, and society.

Mark takes pride in witnessing his clients succeed in their planning and implementation efforts, including ambassadors becoming qualified and accredited teachers and facilitators in their own right.