Workplace Wellbeing Ireland - Live at the Irish Aviation Authority

Workplace Wellbeing Ireland is a community of people working to promote health and wellbeing in Irish workplaces. It’s a place to connect, share ideas and best practice, talk about mistakes made, reach out for support and discuss future trends and innovations.

In May last year we brought the community together  at the wonderful Irish Aviation Authority conference centre where we discussed “the importance of committed leadership to workplace wellness” with a panel of guests from different industries. We recorded the audio from the event and I’m delighted to share it with you today as an extra special bonus podcast.

Our first panelist on the evening was Kate Moran, the Culture Program Manager at HubSpot. Kate believes wellness in tech and at HubSpot is very different from other organisations. Their primary focus is on listening to their employees to figure out what they want while also looking for new ideas and initiatives.

Also on the panel was Jennifer Grogan. Jennifer is the Organisational Psychologist for Health, Safety and Wellbeing at the ESB. A famous Irish institution, the ESB has a workforce of over six and a half thousand. As a high-risk industry that handles electricity generation and transmission, ESB takes pride in its history of supporting health and wellbeing. It is a relationship-based organisation, built on the idea of "looking out not just for myself but for each other". 

Last but by no means least we also welcomed Jim Gavin to the panel. Jim is an Assistant Director with the Irish Aviation Authority. The IAA provides is responsible for all the traffic that crosses over Irish airspace, from hot air balloons to jumbo jets. This amounts to over 2 million flights every year. At the time of this recording and in addition to his role at the IAA, Jim was also manager of the Dublin Senior Football Team and hoping to guide the Dubs to a historic “5 in a row”*.

*Spoiler alert. The Dubs went on to win their 5th All Ireland title in a row in September last year ;-)

What does committed leadership look like in the area of workplace wellness? 

From Jennifer's perspective, at ESB workplace wellness is driven from the top, through the support systems they have in place internally. They try to divide this responsibility throughout the company so that people can interact with different layers of leadership demonstrating their commitment. 

Jim spoke about the human factor, which is a big part of performance in aviation. The IAA support their air traffic managers with access to mindfulness and meditation sessions and provide the space to take time off during their busy day for a yoga class. Distress management courses is another item that Jim finds to be important for employees, as well as supporting online tools. 

For Kate, being in a leadership role means leading by example and demonstrating the importance of taking the time to switch off. People need to understand their energy levels to know when to take a break and recharge. On Fridays, she works from home to spend a little extra time with her family, and she is very open to her employees about this practice. 

How can leaders manage to model healthy behaviour given their busy schedule?

Kate talks about a global program she is part of as a trainer. The program aims to train employees on how to recognise when they're in different zones. In their performance zone, they can work at their best, get things done and take a rest. But after around 90 minutes of that, a break is needed. Listen to music, make a call go for a walk; they can do anything that gets them back to that place where they can start again. She feels it's essential for people to save energy for their family and at the same time enjoy their work in the company. 

As human beings we are influenced by what we see, written rules don't have the same impact as a positive example from a coworker or manager. People in leadership and management positions need to understand how to be a good role model for these healthy behaviours and support their teams. 

Jim also thinks it's essential for people to see the big picture, that is both their work and family life. He focuses on putting things into context for employees as he feels this helps them keep grounded for the right reasons and not because of a performance pay or any additional financial incentive. 

What to do when wellness leaders don't have the support of business leaders?

It is hard to develop a strategy without top leadership involvement. "What are you going to measure? What objectives are you setting to hold people accountable? How do you reward, recognise and reinforce those healthy behaviours?"

At ESB, strong leadership is driven from strategy and the values of the organisation. These elements connect employees and leaders to their "why". Why do we work together, and why is it essential that we care about each other? People also see value in the training, talks, and other activities which allow them to take time and reflect on health and wellbeing. 

In the aviation sector, workplace wellness is an emerging domain, Jim states. When looking at the effects of the lack of a wellness focus for some crews and airline pilots, you have to ask yourself why and find the primary root of the issue. In many cases, they found the source to be fatigue. But there are other factors beneath that, like relationship issues, financial issues or other stressors amongst flight crew.

What is your advice for people looking to start a wellness initiative at their workplace?

Kate thinks people need to be engaged in the process, understand it and have a voice in it. A good starting point would be looking up data on what people are experiencing in terms of their physical and mental health. A survey or a focus group that brings people together would also be a great idea. 

It would help if you asked people what they want but keep in mind that too many surveys can lead to survey fatigue. Kate shares a few of their practices at HubSpot: "What we do is we ask everyone, would you refer a friend to work here? If so, why or why not. We ask them how they feel their career growth is going and we ask them what general comments they have for leaders, and that's an open-door to say whatever you want." Their goal is to see which topics are brought up by most people so that they can start working on an action plan to solve those issues. 

It's important to remember that you can't solve everything. Choosing three top priorities is excellent as a starting point for your wellness initiative. The main points that will almost always come up are work-life balance, cross-team collaboration and flexibility. "We did a global survey and it came out that employees care more about flexibility and having that amount of freedom than compensation, which is huge because a tech company is so competitive in terms of salaries." Kate says. 

How do you roll out a wellbeing program in a company with extremely diverse demographics?

Jennifer thinks a sound approach is to ensure you are meeting the basic building blocks of what constitutes good health and wellbeing. It means you need to understand sleep, nutrition, the physical aspect of mental health, and then provide a blended approach. She suggests organising classrooms and seminars complimented by digital online tools. In this way, you're reaching the needs of different ages because some people like technology and some won't touch it. It is all about making sure you are providing an offering that several people can choose from, and accessible to the greater mass rather than choosing a one size fits all approach. 

Brian closed the event with a summary from his guests on the most important aspects to consider when starting a workplace wellness strategy.

An essential first step is to consider the whole workplace, the environment, jobs, tasks, and ensure that the process occurs in a healthy manner that includes the individuals' skill sets. The aim is to empower people to look after themselves while feeling supported by their workplace. There is nothing to lose in this process, so find one thing that matters to your employees and test it. Remember, you don't always need a big budget to do something.