How to Shift the Dial on Workplace Wellbeing
There is a lot of airtime given to the importance of wellbeing at work. So we decided to speak to a global expert on why wellbeing at work matters – and how to go about it.
In the latest episode of We Are Human Leaders, our conversation Ryan Hopkins unpacks this and much more.
Ryan Hopkins is on a mission to engage 1 billion people in the betterment of wellbeing. He is a Deloitte Future of Wellbeing leader at one of the Big 4, a TEDx Speaker, host of the Audacious Goals Club and author of “52 Weeks of Wellbeing: a no nonsense guide to a fulfilling work life” coming in January 2024.
Ryan’s work has positively influenced the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. He shares his personal story of bulimia, depression, anxiety openly and has reached over 8 million on social media, recently being announced Global Emerging Wellbeing Leader of the Year.
In this upbeat, colorful conversation, we explore his passionate, data-driven approach and how he convinces leaders at all levels to start shifting the dial on workplace wellbeing.
The moral imperative – and the financial one
Ryan’s current focus is on helping companies and government organizations develop and implement wellbeing strategies that actually work. In his experience, “Most wellbeing initiatives actually worsen subjective wellbeing inside an organization.” Fruit bowls, lunchtime learnings, free pizza – the superficial answers make things worse. What does work? “A data-led approach to wellbeing.”
And the data he shares doesn’t lie, including a study Oxford University conducted with British Telecom.
“They found that a 1% increase in subjective happiness resulted in a 13% increase in sales for call center staff over two years. It's the financially sensible thing for an organization to do.” Referring to recent research conducted by Deloitte, Ryan notes that “61% of people who left their workplace last year or are planning to next year are doing so due to poor mental health or stress. The financial impact is huge. When we start to quantify and understand it, this generates the impetus from the C-suite to do things differently.”
You don’t have to make people happy. Just don’t make them less happy.
In Ryan’s view, rather than placing the onus on an organization to improve happiness (e.g. through pizza parties and meditation apps), it’s better to focus on the ways organizations can avoid worsening wellbeing. As Ryan outlines,
“When we flip that switch, we create a truly flexible future of work with a high sense of belonging, psychological safety, and the maximum amount of agency to do the work the way that we want.”
His focus on the power of data to define wellbeing strategies is clear. “I think the future of wellbeing will be quantifiable. It'll be changing the workplace to create the space that people need, creating work where we feel a sense of purpose that gives us energy.
“Wellbeing is not just a HR issue.”
Ryan is adamant that wellbeing should not be viewed just as something for HR to tackle. He explains that
“HR have inherited wellbeing because it's people-related. However the future of wellbeing will include other functions in the business because they have a bigger impact on employee experience than most of the things that HR can do.”
Ryan is optimistic about the future of wellbeing at work and has seen reason for optimism in many of the company’s with whom he has worked. “You can have a family, you can have sports, you can have a life outside of work and be an extremely successful professional. And I think that there are organizations that are going to choose that future.”
Intentionality matters
Ryan cautions that wellbeing will not simply manifest of its own volition in our work lives. He advocates teams and organizations setting boundaries, as well as individuals. “If you leave it to chance, work wins. Every time two dogs fight, work and life, work barks and bites a lot harder. So you need boundaries in place.”
Listen to this fascinating, fun and rollicking conversation wherever you get your podcasts, or right here.
