Heard of The Five Ways to Wellbeing? They are simple and proven actions you can introduce in your workplace to help staff find balance, build resilience, and boost their mental health and wellbeing:

• Connect: feeling close to and valued by others boosts wellbeing. Take a moment every day to connect with colleagues.
• Be Active: being physically active improves physical health and can improve mood and wellbeing, decreasing stress, depression, and anxiety. Go for a walk or run. Step outside.
• Take Notice: pay more attention to the present moment, thoughts, feelings, and the world around.
• Keep Learning: be curious. Try something new. Take on a new responsibility.
• Give: acts of kindness, small or large, can increase happiness and life satisfaction. Do something nice for a teammate. Thank someone. Volunteer.

It sounds simple but it’s often the simple things that fall through the cracks. Workplaces have a legal responsibility to manage risks to mental health and wellbeing just like they do any other health and safety risk.

Employers are recognising that wellbeing is an asset. An Australian study found employers who take effective action to create mentally healthy workplaces can expect a return on investment of $2.30 for every dollar spent. Workplaces that prioritise mental health have better engagement, reduced absenteeism, and higher productivity, while people have greater morale and higher job satisfaction.

Have you incorporated measures to support wellbeing into your business’ health and safety plan? A toolkit that makes it easy to support your people to build the Five Ways into their day-to-day lives can be found on the Mental Health Foundation’s website.