How to… Support Your Team’s Well-Being

If you’re a manager, you’ll be responsible for supporting your team in their daily tasks. But are you also doing enough to sustain your team’s well-being? 

As the support charity for advertising and the media, we at NABS are passionate about the central role well-being has to play in success, satisfaction and performance at work. And more and more people are agreeing with us.

In research NABS conducted last year, a huge 94% of respondents said that well-being is essential for a successful and fulfilling career in our industry. Most of those people said that they do more now than they did a year before to improve their well-being.

It’s brilliant that people are doing more to take charge of their well-being, especially in a work context. When well-being dips, so do levels of happiness, satisfaction and performance, affecting the individual, their team and even the overall business. Conversely, when your well-being is high, you can thrive. Challenges are easier to overcome; creativity flourishes and relationships blossom. 

It’s important to note that people are looking to their employers for proper and practical well-being support. They’re quite right to do so. Employers have a duty to look after their employees, especially given the stress factors prevalent in our industry. Along with the excitement and fun we enjoy in adland, there are also long hours and demanding deadlines to cope with. Left unsupported, people often find it too difficult to manage, which goes some way to explaining the huge 30% churn rate in our industry. It’s far better, surely, to nurture our talented people so that they’ll stay with us for the long haul. 

There are some brilliant examples of organisations in adland who are doing tangible and practical things to look out for their employees’ well-being. Join their efforts, and you can be part of a positive force for good in our industry. Your employees will be more empowered and enthusiastic as a result, and your team and business will thrive too.

Here are some steps that you can take to help your team’s well-being to thrive:

• Examine your corporate culture to see if it supports all of the aspects that make up well-being. Do you offer flexible working? Are staff under pressure to work long hours? Is your working environment one that welcomes diverse candidates? Use your influence to effect change where it needs to happen.

• Lead the culture in your team. Be as open as you feel comfortable in discussing your well-being challenges and triumphs with your team. In doing this, you’ll create an atmosphere in which your team can bring their whole selves to work – including any issues that they need help with.

• Install well-being or mental health first-aiders in your team. These are people who colleagues can turn to in confidence if they have an issue that they need help with. Knowing that there is a safe, non-judgemental space in which to have this conversation can make all the difference.

•  Well-being is about preventing crises as well as managing them. Make sure your team has the knowledge to navigate the lows and make the most of the highs with targeted, well-being-focused training. 

• Remember to look after your own well-being. As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Monitor your well-being and reach out when you need help in order to be at your best.