Wellbeing at Work

About this course.

Wellbeing at work means how people feel and function across the whole of their working life, and it has three connected dimensions: physical wellbeing (your body, health, fitness, energy, sleep and freedom from harm), mental wellbeing (your mood, stress levels, sense of purpose and ability to cope), and social wellbeing (your relationships, sense of belonging, connection and respect at work). These dimensions are not separate boxes; they feed into one another constantly. A person in chronic pain sleeps badly and feels flat; a worker who is isolated and unsupported struggles to cope with pressure; a crew that treats each other well tends to be both happier and safer. Wellbeing is the overall picture, not any single part of it.

It helps to be clear about what wellbeing is not. It is not simply the absence of illness or injury, though avoiding harm is part of it. It is not about being happy or relaxed all the time — everyone has hard days, and feeling stress, worry, grief or frustration is a normal human response to difficult circumstances, not a failure of wellbeing. Nor is it a matter of fruit bowls, wellness posters and the occasional morning tea. Those things are not harmful, but treating them as the whole of wellbeing misses the point: real wellbeing depends far more on how work is designed and managed, how people are treated, and whether they feel supported and respected, than on token gestures. A workplace with impossible schedules, no support and a bullying culture will not fix its wellbeing with a poster.