Beyond the cupcakes: What else can your company do for worker wellbeing?

Whenever there’s a wellbeing day or initiative in the workplace, it’s often accompanied by cupcakes (we’re looking at you, yellow cupcakes for R U OK? Day). And while we LOVE baked goods here at Creative Natives, there’s so much more that companies can do to build a positive workplace culture and support the wellbeing of their workers.

Us whenever there’s cake ⬆️ via GIPHY

Caring about the wellbeing of your workers is not something that companies can perform for a day, week or month and then forget about for the rest of the year. So if you’re looking for some simple, affordable and popular (these were liked by over 20,000 people on LinkedIn, plus we stole a few excellent ideas from the comments) ideas to build a positive workplace and prioritise your team’s wellbeing, try a few of these out:

• • Put a ban on scheduling meetings during lunch and encourage your team to take their full lunch break
  • Implement meeting free Fridays
  • Get outside! Have a walking meeting or do a team lunch in the park
  • Not everyone drinks, so make sure social events don’t always revolve around booze. Go bowling, escape from an escape room (also great for team building on the sly 😉), hit a hole in one at mini golf, check out the newest restaurant near your office or school everyone at pinball or Mario Kart at a video game bar

via GIPHY

• • If you say you offer flexible working, actually offer it. Allow people to start early and finish early, start a bit later and finish later, or do whatever flexible working means to them
  • Implement a work from anywhere policy. A change of scenery is great for creativity and productivity – read more about why we love working from anywhere here
  • Trust your new hires from day one – don’t make them earn it. If you don’t trust your new starters, why did you hire them in the first place?
  • Listen to your workers when they have something to say about company culture. Whether they’ve been around for a few weeks or a few years, they all have perspectives that are worth listening to
  • Encourage your team to take their annual leave and actually switch off. Tell them to leave the laptop at home and delete all work apps off their phone so they can stop thinking about work and relax. It’ll do their wellbeing wonders

via GIPHY

• • Give your team a day off once a month. Here at Creative Natives, we give the second Friday of every month off as a wellbeing/life admin/you do you day and it’s one of the team’s favourite wellbeing initiatives
  • Give back to the community either as a group or allow paid time off so your team can volunteer their time. It fills everyone’s cup
  • Create a culture of feedback and praise. It feels good to be recognised for your good work, plus it raises morale and motivation
  • If a member of your team comes to you saying that they’re not okay, take it seriously. Listen to what they have to say, offer support (e.g. provide your EAP’s number, rearrange their workload, give them some time off or just be there and listen) and make sure to follow up with them to know that you’re there for them

Building a positive and caring workplace is so important for your team’s wellbeing. If you’re after some more ideas or want to talk more in depth, get in touch – hello@creativenatives.com.au.