The average person spends over 3500 days at work over a course of their lifetime [1], so helping prepare your learners to live a healthy, happy and fulfilled life means recognising the contribution that work and the workplace has on wellbeing.
Firstly, learners need to understand what is meant by wellbeing. ‘Wellbeing’ might be described as a general sense of how someone thinks or feels in or about their life; their overall mental and physical health; and that it can be made up of a combination of physical, social, intellectual and emotional factors. [2]
Next, learners need to recognise that work, or work-life, is one factor that can contribute to wellbeing. How we are and how we feel at work can affect our work outputs, and also start to impact other aspects of our lives too. Increasingly this is something that employers are aware of, with 51% considering ‘wellbeing’ in their strategic planning and 74% of organisations trying to improve the work-life balance of employees to reduce stress in the workplace. [3]
Defining and exploring what is meant by work-life balance is key. For example, understanding that this doesn’t necessarily mean a 50:50 split between work and home, but it is more about feeling fulfilled at work, as well as in other parts of life. Whilst a work-life balance can look different to different people, employees should feel that there is time away from work when they are not thinking or worrying about it. They should feel able to meet work deadlines, whilst having time for rest and relaxation, exercise and physical activity, hobbies, friends and families. Learners might be interested to learn that many employees identify work-life balance as the most important driver when choosing an employer, with a third saying it was a more important factor than salary. [4]
The focus should then be on developing a practical approach to managing wellbeing at work. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is not always easy to achieve [5] so it’s important to support learners to build the skills to be able to do so. Barclays LifeSkills can help you to equip your learners with tools to define their wellbeing and work-life values and choose mindful approaches to the world of work.
How to help learners reach their work-life goals
- Developing work-life values
Help your learners decide what wellbeing in and out of the workplace, looks like. Use the Values and behaviours to succeed at work module to teach the importance of personal and professional values for both employers and employees.
Support your learners in deciding what their work-life goals are and help them create a work-life balance that works for them. The module on Understanding your zones of control helps learners recognise how to establish targets and take positive action steps.
- Discussing work-life balance with others
Communication is key. Being able to talk to managers and employers, and creating strong relationships with their/other employees, as well as friends and family, helps in managing a positive work-life balance. Assist your learners with the module on Becoming confident with your communication skills.
- Developing employability skills
Developing employability skills can also support the development of a better work-life balance, which might mean a new job role or even a complete career change. Help your learners consider what upskilling they need to work on and raise their aspirations with the Finding better work opportunities module.
- Exploring finance and wellbeing
Financial wellbeing, is of course also part of overall wellbeing. Support your learners to help manage money more effectively and take positive action to increase their financial wellbeing with the Understanding money & bills
“For me, wellbeing has three key components: work, rest and play. If learners are to be successful in their studies (and life in general) they must make time for all three. This means taking regular breaks from your work or study to spend time with friends and family, watch an episode of your favourite show, listen to your favourite album, read a chapter of your new book, or take some exercise to get your body moving. Most importantly, it means being mindful of how you are feeling within yourself.” - Simon Beck, Assistant Headteacher, Lister Community School
Simply log in or register for free to access all the free modules in our Personal development and overcoming challenges category and more, including activities on a range of employability related topics from CVs and interviews, to problem solving and communication.
[1] Association of Accounting Technicians, 2018
[2] Barclays LifeSkills Wellbeing Toolkit
[3] Health and wellbeing at work 2022: survey report, CIPD
[4] Randstad UK, 2021
[5] UK working lives survey, CIPD Good Work Index 2022
