Teacher: Half-day off each week helps boost wellbeing

Thursday, 10 June 2021

Childcare teacher Tatiana Watene says her workplace offers her a sense of wellbeing by treating her as a whole person, with a life outside of the job.

Teacher Tatiana Watene has flexible work hours and can take half a day off every week to look after her life outside work – and she says it makes a huge difference to her overall wellbeing.

Watene is a teacher at Headstart Childcare in Hobsonville, in Auckland.

“Our centre director knows her staff, ensuring we have that time away from the centre but also really appreciating us when we are at the centre.”

Two of the teachers at the small centre have been there for 15 years and Watene has worked for the centre for three-and-a-half years.

She said the low staff turnover at the centre reflected the overall satisfaction felt by workers.

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Watene said being treated as a whole person and having regular conversations with her boss contributed to her sense of wellbeing at work

She also appreciated that her boss encouraged a balance between work-life and home life, she said.

Skills Consulting Group, wellbeing general manager, Jane Kennelly says millennial misery needs to be addressed before companies start to lose large numbers of young workers.

“Wellbeing, particularly in the teaching profession today, is all about how you are looked after by your boss, how they treat you and how they see you in the context of your workplace,” she said.

“It’s is about your mental health, as well as your physical, emotional and spiritual health, those are all things that come into play.”

But a new survey has exposed a gap between what workers want and what businesses think they need.

The Work Wellbeing Index, measured what’s really important to Kiwi workers in the workplace, what contributed to their workplace wellbeing, and whether they felt their current organisation had a wellbeing culture.

Nearly 1500 workers and 104 human resource specialists were surveyed for the index, commissioned by the Skills Consulting Group.

Skills Consulting Group general manager of wellbeing Jane Kennelly says the inaugural index quantifies the workplace wellbeing in different industries and sets a benchmark for improvement.

Fruit bowls and yoga classes were perceived by staff as evidence of an insincere “box-ticking” mentality, the survey found.

When it comes to workplace wellbeing, the survey found workers consider fruit bowls and yoga classes as insincere.

Demonstrating genuine care had the biggest positive impact on workplace culture, but the data exposed an expectation gap.

“Sixty-three per cent of employees said a positive wellbeing culture is number one when looking for a role, yet employers are falling short, with workers saying only 40 per cent of their employers actually meet their needs,” Kennelly said.

Businesses needed to recognise that employees were people, with personal lives that could impact their work, she said.

“Does the organisation want them to just do the job and go home or are they prepared to acknowledge that there are a whole lot of people who do the work, and they should be recognised, valued and heard?”

Career development also contributed to workplace wellbeing, she said.

According to the index, New Zealand has an overall work wellbeing score of 62 out of 100. Wellington-based organisations scored higher at 66, Christchurch workplaces came in at 63, while Auckland businesses were at the national average.

Kennelly said the study found employee satisfaction levels could increase by as much as 11 per cent if an organisation had a proactive wellbeing culture.

As job satisfaction increased, so did productivity, she said.

There was also a correlation between workplace and personal wellbeing, with overall satisfaction with life increasing with workplace wellbeing, she said.

“We know there’s a blurring between peoples’ work and personal lives, and this research is showing us that cultivating a work wellbeing culture can play a vital part in impacting a person’s life.”

Employees in education and healthcare scored below the national average at 59 points each, while construction fared the lowest with a score of 55, and manufacturing scored highest with 70.