Leadership Well-being

It’s no secret that the most valuableasset for any organization is its employees. Without them, profits aren’t made,growth is non-existent, and the mission is never realized. This is why manyorganizations are taking intentional action in investing in the overall healthof their employees. Top leaders are recognizing the benefits that employee well-beingprograms deliver.

While, great strides are being madein this arena of leadership, one concept always rings true; leaders must setthe standard. This includes being the example for self-care.

Sarah Caron offers the followingadvice for leaders.

Making Well-Being a Top Priority:

“It’stime to make holistic well-being a top priority…”

The term “wellness” often refers tofitness and nutrition programs, or at work, that program that has you completea tobacco-free agreement, a health assessment, and your biometric screening(labs) once per year. This approach and the term “wellness” is phasing out and quicklybeing replaced with “well-being” as it implies a holistic approach. There is muchmore that goes into feeling well than simply exercising and eating healthy, orgetting your labs drawn. If you are living paycheck to paycheck and strugglingto pay bills, you are probably not thinking about purchasing a gym membershipor paying a premium for healthy foods. Not to mention the stress you may befeeling which can in turn interrupt your sleep, your work performance, and yourrelationships among other things (let’s face it, we’re not the best version ofourselves when we’re stressed). Do you see the vicious cycle? It’s time to makeholistic well-being a top priority both personally and professionally.

“Anystep you take is a step in the right direction”

To be an effective leader, yourpersonal well-being needs to come first. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by allthe things you are supposed to be doing to take care of yourself, so choose oneor two to start. Sleep is a great place to begin since lack of sleep has manyripple effects including weight gain, depression, memory issues, weakenedimmunity and other health problems. Experts suggest aiming for 7-9 hours ofsleep and like any new habit you’re trying to develop, makeit a priority. This is just one suggestion, but feel free to startanywhere – gradually increase your steps every day, start your day with ahealthy breakfast, take time to disconnect from your device, make a new socialconnection, practice mindfulness, etc. Any step youtake is a step in the right direction.

“well-beingshould be a strategic business priority”

Well-being is contagious! As youbegin to make it a priority, your work colleagues will as well. Leadershipcommitment and support is one of the top drivers of successful workplacewell-being programs. Effectively inspiring well-being at work can help controlhealth insurance costs, increase productivity and engagement, reduce injuries,and increase morale and job satisfaction. The list of benefits goes on. Bottomline: well-being should be a strategic business priority. If you need more proof, there is anabundance of research that shows investing in well-being is good for business,including thisstudy that compared stock performance of companies that invest inwell-being (Koop Award winners) to the S&P 500 Index. Guess who performedbetter?!

Editor’s Notes: Sarah Caron is a Registered Dietitian and the Well-beingProgram Manager for IDEXX, a biotechnology company based out of Westbrook,Maine.

You can connect with Sarah via herLinkedIn account:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcaronrd/