Health and wellbeing is becoming an ever-growing subject in the corporate world, as businesses recognise the connection between a happy, healthy workforce and productivity and retention.
You only need to refer to the latest ONS figures showing that 15.8 million working days were lost in 2016 due to stress, depression and anxiety, to see the vital importance of providing the right work-life balance.
In 2017, the AOP made health and wellbeing our central theme and we carried out a series of initiatives to help improve workplace environments in the optical profession. These included our survey on the topic and the launch of our free-phone helpline, the Peer Support Line.
In our health and wellbeing survey, we uncovered several factors that contribute to workplace stress for optometrists. Our results also revealed many optometrists feel undervalued as health professionals, both within the workplace and outside it. While the issues raised were seen across a broad range of employers, they were most prevalent in the larger groups.
In response, we have been working with several employers, including Boots, Specsavers and Vision Express, to produce a best-practice guide, creating healthy, low-stress workplaces for optometrists – advice and workbook. In the guide, launched this month, we outline five key factors that contribute to a healthy workplace, highlighting best practice examples from our collaborations with employers.
Of course, wellbeing schemes come in many guises from company health check points to free, healthy breakfasts or weekly yoga sessions. However, one of the stand out themes we have taken from this work is that introducing a wellbeing scheme does not have to cost the earth.