Wellness: Responding To A Change World

By Rania Sabry

"Curses can turn into blessings, though not always will
the timing be so convenient!"
Although this period has been stressful for everyone.
It has also given many of us the time to reflect on our lives, relationships, goals, and make new plans for the future.
Many have learned how to be more thankful and empathetic – In other words, putting aside that many have lost loved ones, this period seems to be a blessing in disguise for many.
Happiness lies in self love and self care.
The challenge lies in building the capability
to break all the barriers within yourself
that prevent you from seeking the love you deserve.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kayan for Publishing
• Release date: Apr 3, 2024
• ISBN: 9789778201055

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

How would you react if you were told that there are tremendous opportunities for your spiritual rebirth and awakening?! What would you say if this will not be forced upon you or precipitated by unavoidable events, rather it comes from an inner yearning and a natural propensity to seek the depths?

In the corporate world, it seems that the time has come to take good care of peoples’ desires of spiritual, mental, and physical health. We have been overthinking about how to make people professional, high performers, knowledgeable, educated, and secured. Yet we are still sticking to Maslow’s laws of needs when it comes to people’s happiness and needs.

The need to shine and not to accept second place in anything is the current trend that shows in everything and creates peer pressure. Accordingly, levels of frustration elevate when we understand that we are not one of those preferred calibers. People need to realize that not everyone is supposed to be the best, and companies need to foster differences and appreciate and accept high performance and achieving objectives, rather than continuously seek to have everyone a shining star. You can also see it in the current performance management systems that are prevailing the market, you know about those models that honor stars and keep the rest wondering when they will be one, the objectives that are not considering the current market needs versus the competition. Everyone should be up to a challenge that is reasonable rather than unrealistic. We need to admit that we are not making it easy for our people to succeed the way it should be, nor giving them the passion or fulfilling the needs that they strive for in their lives while spending more than half of their time at work.

To begin with the needs, successful managers and leaders are supposed to be keen on making people’s lives better. They are considerate of people-development and welfare, and they do have great ideas in mind to make it happen, although they put business benefits and people benefits together on an 80/20 balance - if you can call this a balance! It’s their responsibility to make the business succeed, yet focusing on business success, and business needs, automatically demolishes the people-benefit, with no intention from the bosses to do so, and with so much passion for having success on both spectra.

However, if you don’t have a system in place to take care of the people, you’ll always have a focus on the business, or you will be considered a people pleaser boss, and that will be held against you. The more technical experts you have, the higher the success rate. The higher the cost of the specialized training and expertise, the more companies invest in retention and abiding contracts for the investment in their development. That’s where it’s essential for people development experts to resonate with the business success measurement in general, and work on that other spectrum to put a focus on people’s benefit.

When I started researching the topic of wellness, it attracted my attention that there are thousands of models and implementation plans available, used in various reputable companies of the Fortune 500, and distinguished universities. Yet, they are not accurately measured. They improve performance – from readings and analysis of performance measurement mechanisms - yet the measurement of the wellness itself is not available. We have to admit that the people are happy with what they’re provided and feel valued for being taken care of in such a unique way, and companies publicize what they do to gain a reputation as a good employer who takes care of their employees; it gives them an opportunity to brag as well.

But we need to ask some questions here;

- Is that’s what it takes?

- Can we do more?

- Can we do better?

- On a scale from one to 10, are we good?

- Where is the scale?

- What are the criteria?

Another thing that attracted my attention is the learning and knowledge transfer methods for the wellness topic are SIMPLY NOT THERE. Specialized training, certification, and implementation parties are not available as they should be! So if you need to know about the subject, you don’t have subject matter experts who can transfer the knowledge - except few training bodies which will give you a crash course to hit the ground running, or stumble with implementation as it will never suffice an ambitious plan for making people well.

I spent many years studying the subject of wellness and reading about it in different publications, comparing practices and gathering ideas and thoughts of companies and governments that implemented a form of wellness programs/initiatives and their relations to employees and clients. My objective was not to write a book about wellness; it was to help me with my current consultancy work and introduce a new idea to the market. The objective was to develop an Organizational Wellness Program that was ready to be introduced to the market. And that’s where I was stuck with the real surprise!

Companies do not want to be entrepreneurs in the wellness implementation to their people, and when I say companies, I mean local, international, and multinational companies, labor-intensive businesses with over 15,000 employees, country representation offices of 40 employees. For a cost or even pro-bono, THEY DON’T HAVE TIME OR DON’T WANT TO EXERT THE EFFORT. And believe me, it was not a matter of misunderstanding how the program runs or non-impressiveness with the program. There was everything they needed to know on the overview; they called it compelling, brilliant, great value proposition and one of a kind. They even asked for a tailor-made solution rather than implementing the whole program, and when we explained that the program was a fully-fledge program, and that they would miss a lot if they choose a chapter or more rather than implement the whole thing, they were convinced, or so it appeared.

What was their biggest fear? That will remain the million-dollar question! And that was the main inspiration behind naming the book Wellness: is it worth it?

I kept thinking of the effort exerted, the studying and reading to put things together that shouldn’t go in vain. So, after over year of facing rejection, I realized this should be introduced one way or another. I had the idea of the book - with the help of a couple of friends who inspired me after writing their books and getting noticed locally. I truly believe the concept and model should go global. It’s the new thinking process of people after introducing happiness as an ultimate objective to our world. Everyone now is seeking happiness, either through meditation, yoga, gym, or traveling the world. Getting rid of toxic associations, getting into a good relationships, women’s rights movement, inclusion and engagement, etc.

Turning the world around you to be a better one that serves your purpose is becoming the real deal. We give organizations the tools to make this happen for people and earn respect while maintaining and improving performance, along with many more benefits to reap when understanding the concept of wellness while personifying it to each employee in the organization.

Before going any further, let’s first explore the meaning of wellness. Wellness is not the mere absence of disease. It is a proactive, preventive approach designed to achieve optimum levels of health, social, and emotional functioning. Wellness can also be defined as an active process through which you become aware of, and make choices toward, a more prosperous lifestyle. There is agreement on the definition of wellness, and identification of its impact on the mind, body, and soul.

Now let’s discuss the difference between welfare, wellbeing, and wellness.

Welfare is directly related to resources; in other words, financials. Be it in the form of salary, benefits, accessibility to luxurious medical health, and fringe benefits that are available through hard work and your level in the organization, which make you feel special and go for the luxuries in life - peer pressure demands.

Wellbeing (well being or well-being) is a mental state of happiness that comes after feeling valued and appreciated when realizing your full potential. It’s a neuroscience term that is attained through the condition of being contented, healthy, or successful, which is a direct result of welfare, back to resources and taking care of your needs.

Well-being at work exists when people are happy with what they do, how they are treated, how they get on with others. The well-being of employees depends on the quality of working life provided by their employers – the feelings of satisfaction and happiness arising from the work itself and the work environment.

Wellness is more of wants rather than needs; well-ness is one’s primary desires and ambitions. Be it a hobby, relationship, health targets, cognitive abilities improvement, or self-exploration. A state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal. An intended and deliberate choice that leads to wellness. Its personalized act that makes you feel well, even if you don’t attend to your welfare or wellbeing goals, you feel good. You choose wellness over other things in life; you get rid of pressure as you have enough personal well-being that makes you well. It doesn’t have to do with resources and possessions, and that will never prove a state of a healthy mind and body. Welfare is temporary as it relates to the needs, while wellness is a state that if you get to experience once, you know the way to contentment. Leaving that state would be an act of insanity or a mental illness, and you’re highly unlikely to want to go back after getting to the wellness high. It’s considered to be a state of infatuation with yourself that is highly addictive and healthy at the same time. So why would you ever want to leave?

Now let’s look at corporate wellness. Is a workplace health promotion activity and organizational act designed to support behavior that improves health? Known as ‘corporate wellbeing’, corporate wellness often comprises of activities such as health education, medical screenings, weight management programs, or on-site fitness programs or facilities.

These programs can be classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary health programs, depending on the goal of the specific program.

Primary prevention programs usually target a relatively healthy employee population and encourage them to more frequently engage in health behaviors that will promote ongoing good health.

Secondary prevention programs are targeted at reducing behavior that is considered a risk factor for poor health.

Tertiary health programs address existing health problems and aim to help control or reduce symptoms, or to help slow the progression of a disease or condition. Such programs might encourage employees to better adhere to specific medication or self-managed care guidelines.

The lifestyles of people in the workforce are essential for the sake of their own health and the sake of their employer’s profitability. Companies often subsidize these programs in the hope that they will save companies money in the long run by improving health, morale, and productivity.

Other examples of corporate wellness organizational policies include allowing flex-time for exercise, providing on-site kitchen and eating areas, offering healthy food options in vending machines, holding walk and talk meetings, and offering financial and other incentives for participation.

In recent years, corporate wellness has expanded from single health promotion interventions to create a more overall healthy environment, including, for example, standards of building and interior design to promote physical activity.

A wellness-oriented lifestyle encourages you to adopt habits and behaviors that promote better health and an improved quality of life. It is a positive approach to living - an approach that emphasizes the whole person.

Wellness programs aim to assist employees with a wide range of needs. Employees’ needs are not static; they vary from person to another and may change over time. Some requirements are shared by many employees, while others may be particular to one employee. The aim of the wellness program is to assist and support all employees, whether on an individual or group basis.

Corporate Wellness and wellness programs should be an integral part of the overall company strategy for a healthy workplace. There are laws governing the employee/employer relationship, and there are ethics and work cultures that call for having happy employees through implementing a successful and realistic Health and Wellness Program.

For health and safety programs, some specific laws and regulations must be taken into consideration. Corporate Wellness programs are different from traditional health and safety programs; there is no legislative mandate. However, the purpose of Corporate Wellness and wellness program is to offer a comprehensive health service - mental, physical, and psychological for all employees. Therefore, it is important to remember that employees are potentially exposed to a wide variety of health hazards or situations, in and out of the workplace, on a regular basis which can affect their general wellbeing.

The fact that your company wants to help you be a better person is a great retention tool, and it works both ways on a cost-benefit analysis for the return on investment to the company versus the value of the investment in the people.

HISTORY OF GLOBAL EFFORTS TO IMPROVE WORKER HEALTH

The origin and evolution of efforts to improve worker health, safety, and well-being are complex, as ideas about how best to achieve the World Health Organization’s (WHO) and International Labour Organization’s (ILO) goals for workers have evolved over time.

WHO and ILO joined forces very soon after WHO’s formation, in the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health, recognizing the importance of these issues. It is relatively recently, however, that health promotion has specifically been linked to the Corporate.

For several decades, health promotion activities and occupational health activities operated in two somewhat separate streams. In recent years the streams have converged, and the linkages have become stronger, both within WHO and between WHO and ILO.

A brief chronology and description of key events and declarations is as follows: