3 Whose responsibility is workplace wellbeing?

It was noted earlier that ‘Employers, managers, and leaders all have a role to play in workplace happiness’ (Finkbeiner, 2022).

However, when it comes to wellbeing, it is really important to be aware of your own status before you try to support others, and for you to feel able to seek support or take action to improve your own wellbeing if you need to. In safety briefings on aeroplanes, you are instructed to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others, and looking after your own wellbeing should be a similar priority in a work context, to equip you to be able to support colleagues at all levels.

In the video below, Sharon Mallon PhD, Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at The Open University, discusses how organisations and individuals can have greater awareness of monitoring wellbeing.