The wellbeing of employees, and particularly their mental health, has been put into the spotlight since the beginning of the pandemic. In fact, since many offices closed and remote work became the norm for some, it has become such a big issue that governments at all levels are investing millions of dollars to ensure that employees are looked after, whilst effects of lockdowns and workplace restrictions might take years to be fully realised.

With that in mind, Leanne Perryman, the Manager of People & Culture at the Surf Coast Shire, a council serving a population of a little over 30,000 centred around Torquay in Victoria, says that they actually started their “wellbeing journey well before COVID struck, which worked to our advantage.” From the outset, they focussed on mental health, but once the pandemic began, that became an even greater emphasis of their activities, with various strategies and performance measures.

To some extent the wellbeing of an organisation is about the culture of that organisation. On that note, Abbey Kinnane, the Health, Safety & Wellbeing Lead at the Victorian Building Authority (VBA), which is the Victorian regulator for building and plumbing practitioners, says that as the lead in this field, she has “the opportunity to lift the wellness maturity of the organisation by investing in, and implementing some really amazing initiatives. This is going to help shape the future of the health and safety of the VBA.” In an organisation like the VBA, which deals with a lot of men who don’t often show their feelings, this includes “developing a strategic plan for what health, safety and wellbeing look like.” This also means “having really solid foundations for diversity and inclusion.” These foundations come from employee feedback and frameworks, and “making sure everyone is included as part of that.”

Leonie Graham, the Director of People Support at IP Australia, a federal government agency that deals with intellectual property, trademarks and patents, says that they have very specific challenges. They have “about 1,200 employees” and due to the “fairly distinct” nature of their work, much of their workforce is “quite highly educated, usually at a PhD level.” In general, this means that many of them are “not particularly extroverted in their working style. They are quite happy sitting behind a computer and not talking to people for an entire day.” Though this might be useful in terms of what they do, it presents its own set of challenges for wellbeing, and therefore “we have to make sure that we’re designing our strategies for what will work for our workforce, for what they will they find valuable.” What this shows is that wellbeing often has to be bespoke, and what works for one may not work for another. That’s why they “work with individuals on an informal basis,” rather than as a group in a structured way. They can therefore “adjust what the expectations are to make sure that we’re providing an inclusive culture for all.”

Matt Meffan, the Enterprise Account Director at Unmind, a leading workplace mental health platform, says that while customisation is important, group training, especially for managers around education, is equally important. “We see a huge opportunity in helping people to understand the different conditions that might exist in their teams and in their business.” Their goal is to help people thrive.