De-stressing the Workplace and Striking the Right Balance

This summer, we’ve taken a step further to researching the wellness benefits at work and find effective techniques to de-stress, be mindful, and strike the right work-life balance. Excited to partner with WORKTECH’s Wellness 2017 Conference in London last Tuesday, September 5th, we came to realise just how workplace health and wellbeing is rising fast up the business agenda.

We teamed up with workplace experts who believe that mindfulness links the inner and the outer elements of workspace. Those small but powerful moments of tranquility in the office can be facilitated through a well thought-out design that encourages wellbeing and healthy working habits.

According to Aidan Walker, a keynote speaker at Wellness 17, designers need to draw on seven basic principles of mindful design, or the ‘Seven C’s: curiosity, compassion, creativity, craftsmanship, communication, collaboration, and critical intelligence. Walker suggests that we need to embrace the benefits of mindfulness as applied to productivity, remembering that it is not just another management tool but a new way of thinking, a new way of living and a new way of working. Mindful design is the way the ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ elements of workspace can mix and match to the benefit of all.

Other presentations that intrigued us and got us thinking fresh thoughts about employee wellbeing in the workplace were Tom Savigar’s from The Future Laboratory who explored the future of wellbeing; Bruce Daisley’s from Twitter who discussed surviving a working world under stress, and Ali Ganjavian’s from Studio Banana, inventor of the famous Ostrich Pillow, who shared ideas on feeling good. Additional contributions from Transport for London, Nuffield Health, Birkbeck College and the Bank of England’s Mental Health Network offered a powerful perspective on the growing importance of health and wellbeing under the chairmanship of workplace expert Despina Katsikakis.

Healthy living is encouraged at work because it has been shown to have a direct impact on productivity and creativity. Companies who encourage and bring wellbeing into the workplace do so to attract and retain talent, boost staff engagement and ultimately, to have a better performing workforce.

People today look in a job for more than just a paycheck. We all want meaning, fulfillment, and community—all of which influence our overall wellbeing. So if you are a company looking to improve your brand performance, no matter what industry you are in, provide your employees with the resources and benefits to improve their health and happiness.