We’re heading into Mental Health Month - a full month dedicated to shining a light on mental health and wellbeing. Does that mean making systemic changes to how we work and live to support our wellbeing, or defaulting to the all too common tokenistic gestures and superficial initiatives that treat the symptoms rather than the cause?
Here’s one reason we need to do the former. Have you heard of the phantom vibration syndrome? It’s that strange phenomenon where you think you’ve felt your phone buzz when it hasn’t. Studies suggest 90% of us experience it weekly. It might sound trivial, but it says something about the world we live in. We’re so conditioned to be ‘always on’ that our brains anticipate the next ping, email, or notification before it happens. We live in fear of missing an important communication.
A footer at the bottom of a boss’ email telling you don’t have to read an email sent out of work hours won’t change it. Nor will replacing biscuits in the kitchen with a fruit bowl or providing a subsidised gym membership when you don’t have time to get there.
Wellbeing is a key internal message in most workplaces today. But actions speak louder than words. When we look at many workplace wellbeing strategies, they often come down to one-off events. A morning tea on RU OK Day. A yoga class for World Mental Health Day. A fundraising push for Movember. They’re well-intentioned, but they don’t change the system. They don’t shift how people experience work every single day. They don’t treat the cause.
And, of course, the firm provides an Employee Assistance Program. The truth is, by the time someone calls the Employee Assistance Program, it’s often too late. An experienced and highly regarded EAP provider once told me, that by the time someone accesses EAP, they almost always needed support about 12 months earlier. The pressure has already been mounting with the person telling themselves – ‘I just need to get through this meeting, this week, this project…’ — until it becomes too much. EAP can help, but it’s not a cure; it’s triage. It treats the symptoms.
Even the Government has attempted to step in by introducing the Right to Disconnect legislation, recognising that the erosion of boundaries between work and life has become a serious issue. But it shouldn’t take legislation to force organisations to do the right thing. If we need laws to tell us that rest, balance, and personal time matter, something has gone seriously wrong in how we think about work.
Work/life balance is dead in the 24/7 culture, so we need to do things differently. We need to change the corporate view of wellbeing. It’s not something to be fixed when it goes wrong. It’s something to supported as a part of doing things right. Wellbeing isn’t the antidote to burnout it’s the foundation of doing work well in the first place. The evidence is conclusive: high performance cannot be sustained without wellbeing. They are inseparable.
That means looking critically at the culture of work itself. If you exercise for an hour a day but sit for ten, the benefits of that exercise are undone. If the firm hosts an event to thank people, but schedules it on their personal time, the gesture misses the point. When the way we work undermines health and balance, no wellness perks will offset it.
Instead, the elements that sustain wellbeing like fun, relaxation, exercise, and genuine connection need to be integrated into how we work, not bolted on. They need to be part of daily rhythms, organisational priorities, and leadership behaviours. They need to be measured and valued for their own sake, not just when warning bells sound that the culture is failing.
So, as Mental Health Month begins, the real question isn’t what one-off activity you’ll run. It’s what changes will you make, as a firm or as an individual, to the way you work, prioritise, and lead, so that wellbeing becomes the way of working, not the exception?
We’ve seen many firms making this change and are encouraged by the increasing willingness of firms to integrate wellbeing into strategy sessions and as a key driver to shape culture.
If we continue to compartmentalise wellbeing, we’ll never find it. We need to foster it in the true sense of the word. To make it part of our work, our daily experience, and our expectations of each other.
Not just the sugary topping on a cupcake at a morning tea nobody has time to attend.
If you want to experience what true integration of wellbeing and professional development looks like, join our three day Bold Balanced Unstoppable experience. Find out more: Bold + Balanced = Unstoppable
