How does personal wellbeing affect your business?

Today (26th September 2018), The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released new figures detailing the overall personal wellbeing of individuals across the UK.

Many things, including lifestyle choices, personal relationships and current events can affect feelings of personal wellbeing.

At Futures for Business, we also believe that careers, employment and training have a big influence on feelings of personal wellbeing.

The Research

Figures collected over six years, between 2012 and 2018, show that the UK population’s feelings of personal wellbeing have improved overall.

The research uses four wellbeing factors:

1. Worthwhile Activities - How worthwhile individuals feel the things they do in life are, rated from 0-10, where 10 is ‘completely worthwhile’.
2. Happiness – How happy each individual felt on the day prior to answering, rated on a 0-10 scale, with 10 signifying ‘complete happiness’.
3. Anxiety – How anxious each individual felt the day before answering the question, rated on a scale of 0-10, where 10 is ‘completely anxious and 0 is ‘not at all anxious’.
4. Life Satisfaction – How satisfied each individual is in life, as it is now, on a scale of 0-10, where 10 is ‘completely satisfied’.

While the research has shown that the UK population now rates their personal wellbeing higher than they did six years ago, there are still a significant number of people who report low personal wellbeing or high feelings of anxiety.

And, if they work for you, that could be affecting your business.

The Potential Impact of Personal Wellbeing on your Company

A person’s feelings of wellbeing may affect many parts of their lives. In a working environment, this could include:

• Loss of motivation
• A lower standard of work being produced
• Unreliability
• Strained relationships with colleagues and customers

The ongoing effect of this could eventually damage the business’ reputation or even cause talented people to seek opportunities elsewhere.

We know that you care about the people who make your business work, and we care about ensuring that you are equipped to give them an environment that works to improve both their personal and professional wellbeing.

Improving the Personal Wellbeing of your Company’s People with Futures for Business

Ensuring your staff feel positive about their lives and personal wellbeing can be a balancing act, and your teams may require a variety of solutions, based on their current circumstances.

That could include empowering your team to take on more responsibility, which could affect how worthwhile they feel their contributions are to the company and the people they work with.

There are many ways to empower your people. This could involve:

• Training to develop new skills or supporting individuals to improve their current knowledge.
• Introducing fresh ideas and skills to the team in the form of apprentices.
• Recruiting new people and increasing the capacity of existing teams.

In some cases, you may find that the solution involves more than one approach and you need additional support to ensure current staff are supported through any necessary changes and receive training to boost their confidence and abilities.

Futures for Business offers tailored programmes, designed to nurture existing talent, and introduce the next generation of bright and capable people who will drive your business forward.

Get in touch to find out more.