BeUpstanding™ Blog

June 2020

4 Posts Back Home
Showing all posts made in the month of June 2020.

Tips from Champions for running a health and wellbeing program with a remote working team

BeUpstanding Stories

With staff moving to working more from home as a result of COVID-19, this can present additional challenges to running health and well-being programs within a workplace. We have had many workplaces contact us to ask whether they can still implement BeUpstanding if staff are not located in the office or onsite and the good news is YES! BeUpstanding is designed to be able to be implemented with your staff no matter where they are working from and we have had many BeUpstanding champions who have successfully taken part in the program during the last few months whilst dealing with changes to staff working locations. Two of these champions share their experience below with running the program in their workplace before and during COVID-19 imposed changes, and provide insights and tips for how they were successfully able to engage staff in the program and encourage them to sit less and move more while “at” work. Our two Champions are Sabrina from CheckUp in Brisbane and Matthew from Breakthru in Sydney. How did COVID-19 affect your workplace?  Sabrina: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all CheckUP staff began working remotely from home throughout the course of the pandemic. In terms of…

Keep Reading

Loading

The importance of social support during isolation

The Evidence

Social support involves having a network of friends, family and peers that you can turn to in times of need. Psychologists and other mental health professionals often talk about the importance of having a strong social support network. Why is having social support particularly relevant during social isolation? In the time of COVID-19 pandemic, you may have felt more irritated, lonely, or more easily affected by stressful situations. These experiences may be a trigger to reach out and connect with others. While some people have taken the lockdown time as a chance to reengage with hobbies, or home or garden projects, others may be busier than ever due to the changes induced by the lockdown. Regardless of whether you are enjoying some more free time, or adding another ball or two to your day-to-day juggle, feelings of loneliness, anxiety and isolation can arise from social-distancing requirements. This is because of the distress people experience when their social relations are not the way they would like. Poor social support has been linked to depression and loneliness has been shown to increase the risk of depression, alcohol consumption, cardiovascular disease and other physical ailments. Research has also demonstrated the link between social relationships…

Keep Reading

Tips for running Health and Well-being programs with a remote working team

Key resources

COVID-19 has upended business operations on a global scale and has forced many workplaces to rapidly transition to staff working remotely. However, with organisations adapting to change and staff experiencing the benefits of working from home, it may be the case that the shift towards telecommuting is here to stay. While the focus of organisations has been on ensuring the safety of their employees at this time, employee well-being is also becoming an area of greater significance. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), well-being is “the ability for individuals to address normal stresses, work productively, and realize their highest potential.” A wellness program should be designed to support the overall health and well-being of employees, while aiming to meet the specific needs of each individual employee. If you and your team are new to working from home, navigating this change on its own can be challenging. While your organisation may already have a wellness program or initiative in place, being able to adapt the program and make it relevant and engaging for staff working remotely can come with its own set of challenges. So how do you set you and your team up for success when it comes…

Keep Reading

Loading

Developing a workplace culture when working remotely

Latest evidence

During the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the Australian government had implemented social isolation in an effort to flatten the curve. Many office-based employees were encouraged to work from home in order to minimize the risk of individual’s exposure to COVID-19 through face to face contact. While working from home is reasonably practicable with the current available technology, this is often associated with a shift in workplace culture. Critical to maintaining a successful workplace culture is ensuring that there is knowledge sharing among employees. What is a knowledge-sharing culture?  A knowledge-sharing culture is a set of understandings that focus on disseminating existing knowledge among team members and bringing new knowledge from the external environment. It is a set of unwritten guidelines that promotes sharing knowledge, experiences, and insights that are critical for accomplishing team missions. The key elements in knowledge sharing are not only the hardware and software, but also the ability and willingness of team members to actively participate in the knowledge sharing process. Why it is important: Shared understanding is a collective way of ensuring organisation relevant knowledge, and can influence the ability of teams to cooperate and perform well. The internet enables knowledge exchange in ways such as online group…

Keep Reading
Navigate