Leadership for wellbeing in the workplace

Abstract

The World Health Organization defines a healthy workplace as “one in which workers and managers collaborate to use a continual improvement process to protect and promote the health, safety and wellbeing of all workers and the sustainability of the workplace.” Health is defined as “A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease.”In workplace health and safety, this definition shifts the focus from physical, biological and ergonomic issues to health practice (lifestyle) and psychosocial factors (work organisation and workplace culture) (WHO, 2010, p.15.) Addressing workplace culture moves us from a management to a leadership approach to workplace wellbeing. This seminar proposes that leadership carries prime responsibility for the wellbeing of the human service workforce. By applying the author’s thesis findings to the WHO Healthy Workplaces model, the seminar offers a response to the question: What leadership values and actions will create or contribute to wellbeing in the workplace?