Are you looking to improve your overall wellness at work? Mental and physical wellness in the workplace isn’t a common topic, but since we spend so much of our time at work, it only makes sense that we’d need to take specific consideration to how that will impact our health–and what we can do about it.
Whether you’re looking to improve your mental health in the workplace, strengthen the connections & culture, or trend to physical obstacles work presents to your health, we’ve written quite a bit on the subject! Here are 14 blogs to help you prioritize wellness in your workplace:
Wellness Practices for the Workplace:
Tending to Mental & Physical Wellness in the Workplace
“Finding ways to tend to your physical health in the office isn’t as disruptive as it sounds! You don’t need to transform your entire office into a wellness center, you just need to take a few minutes to consider what gets in the way of you leaving the office feeling physically well. And when you’re able to do that, you’re able to take small steps throughout the day to tend to yourself, so nothing gets to a point where it’s too hard to deal with. This in turn, can free up both physical and mental energy, and allow you to be more productive and engaged in your day!”
4 Simple Ways to Practice Mindfulness at Work
“Our minds often fly off in a hundred different directions when we’re stressed about something. Which means, if you’re working on one thing and get an email that there’s something else you’ll need to do, unrelated to what you’re working on now, it can be tempting to just get it taken care of right away. But this takes away from the focus and momentum you have for what you’re already working on. When something like this comes up, look at your post-it and ask if it needs to be taking up space in this moment, or if it can wait until you’re done.”
4 Ways to Use Your Phone for Workplace Wellness
“It’s true, being on top of your work and keeping track of every healthy habit you want to maintain is a lot to ask of a person! You can share some of this mental load by using your phone as a support. Use a reminder app, a calendar app with a reminder function, or recurring alarms–anything that will allow you to set repeating reminders or alarms for those days you’re at work and won’t pause to think about self-care until you’re back home. Think about how you feel at the end of a workday. Do you have a headache? Are you grouchy? Hungry? Which needs aren’t being met throughout the day? Then set reminders based on those things.”
The Importance of Workplace Boundaries
“Establishing and communicating boundaries in the workplace can help prevent burnout before it starts, or help you right your course again when you’ve become too overloaded. While it is uncomfortable for many of us (work is a place we tend to feel helpful and productive, so saying that your plate is full or that you need support can be new and frightening while we learn to do it), being clear about your own boundaries in the workplace opens up the environment for your colleagues to respond in kind, which can help to foster a sense of communication and support amongst all colleagues.”
Strengthen Your Team Culture:
How to Set Boundaries With Coworkers
“If you’re feeling burnt out, resentful of your job, overwhelmed, unsupported, or otherwise frustrated with your coworkers, it might be time to think about setting some work boundaries. What specifically is not working for you? What are your limits when it comes to work-life balance? Is there a specific coworker who makes you feel uncomfortable? Are you being given more work than you can reasonably handle? Once you narrow down the specifics of what isn’t working, you’ll have a blueprint for where you need to implement some boundaries.”
Improving Workplace Communication
“One person might be better at communicating with written communication like email or text. Other people might need to talk things through, with a voice memo or a voxer, or even a loom video. If you’re able to make accommodations for people’s preferred communication style, you will be able to meet them where they are and communicate more effectively.”
Fostering a Culture of Connection in a Remote World
“While working remotely, it’s important to think about the nature of the work you’re doing–and what the needs of that work are. If you’re trying to get something done on your own and just have a quick question, sure, shoot over an email or drop a message in the Slack channel. But if you’re working on something more complex, something more creative or challenging, it will probably be more productive (and enjoyable) to work on that with someone else.”
5 Ways to Support Staff Mental Health
“In the workplace, if you want vulnerability to be valued and practiced, you have to model it for your employees first. Make it clear that you value vulnerability and see it as something to be embraced rather than avoided. Mental health is a vulnerable subject, and the signal that it’s not taboo in the workplace has to come from you. When you initiate the conversations, check-ins, offerings of support, etc. it helps to show your staff that embracing vulnerability is a priority in your workplace.”
Encouraging a Culture of Self Care in the Workplace
“We know that it’s actually better for both employee health as well as happiness, job satisfaction, and work productivity, for vacation days to be used and used regularly. You may think just offering the vacation time is enough to get people to use it. But Americans have a very anti-vacation culture. So even when we have the option to take time off, we often feel too guilty or too much shame to use it. By encouraging employees to take time off you can create that culture that allows employees to make choices to care for themselves!”
Manage Mental Obstacles:
6 Signs You’re Dealing With Impostor Syndrome
“Do you feel like you’re only in your position because of timing or good luck? Maybe you don’t feel qualified to lead a project and feel like you were only asked to do so because your schedule worked out or some other coincidence. When these feelings of inadequacy come up, remind yourself of the tangible success you’ve had in the past. Keep a file on your devices where you save screenshots of positive feedback + anything else that reminds you that you are capable of doing what you do, and doing it well.”
How to Start Separating Your Self-Worth from Your Job
“It can be really powerful to reclaim rest for yourself, just for the enjoyment of resting. You don’t have to rest because rest makes people more productive at work (although if that’s what motivates you, it’s fine to feel that way!), you can just rest because you’re a human and you deserve rest. You don’t have to monetize every skill you have. Remember that you can find worth in things outside of their monetary value. You can enjoy things just for the sake of enjoying them.”
7 Tips to Manage Stress at Work
“Before stress gets out of control, take some time to face it head on. Try journaling about your stress. What’s causing you stress? How is it making you feel? Give yourself space first just to vent (or vent to a friend) before you try to problem solve. Does it feel like the end of the world? Say that! Once you get it out you can start to focus on the reality of the situation, instead of the emotional reaction to the situation.”
Adjusting Workplace Expectations in Times of High Stress
“We all need to slow down a little. Pushing ourselves as hard as we can for as long as we can is a one way track to burnout. And these days that track is hyper-speed. When your plate is full, consider putting an autoresponder on your email to let people know that you might be a little slower getting back to them. Maybe provide a window of when they can expect a reply! This empowers you to both step away from your inbox so you aren’t overwhelmed by a hundred new emails as you’re trying to get your work done, and also shows respect for your colleagues because it doesn’t just leave them wondering if you got their message or if you’re planning on responding.”
How to Be Mindful About Working from Home
“Be careful not to over-correct. Remember isolation is a downside of working from home. If you’ve gone your entire professional life working in a social environment, not having that can feel draining–yes even the absence of something can drain your energy! Remind yourself there was time to be social and connected with others in your office life, so there should be time for that in your home-office life. Whether that’s having casual meetings with your team just to chat and touch base, or taking a break midday to go have a meal with your roommates, just make sure your need for privacy isn’t exacerbating any isolation you may be feeling as a result of working from home.”
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