Wellness works at work!
June 5, 2019
Last week the World Health Organization declared burnout to be a legitimate medical diagnosis. This declaration comes as a small measure of comfort to those of us who have experienced burnout, and struggled with understanding the source and finding a solution to this overwhelming mind-body illness. According to the International Classification of Diseases, or the ICD-11, the World Health Organization’s handbook that guides medical providers in diagnosing diseases, doctors can now diagnose someone with burnout if they meet the following symptoms:
1. feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
2. increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
3. reduced professional efficacy.
Smart managers have long been aware of burnout, and larger corporations often provide wellness programs for employees. The best programs will include on-site screenings and prevention, health risk appraisals and assessments, gym memberships or access to on-site facilities, stress management training, wellness activities and challenges, as well as wellness rewards and incentives.
One of the elements that makes corporate wellness programs so successful is that participants take part within a community—with their co-workers. Our personal health and wellness needs and goals may be highly individualized, but we achieve those goals faster and keep to good habits longer when we have a community around us reinforcing these good behaviors. The benefits of exercising with a partner have been well documented.
Bringing wellness into the workshop also integrates these values and routines into the place where we spend most of our time, almost every day. So instead of wellness being something we think about AFTER work, it becomes a part of everything we do.
If your business or the company you work for doesn’t have a corporate wellness program, we would be happy to work with you to set one up that is right for you! Talk to your trainer or to Josh or Lesley!
