Our Approach
Staff wellbeing initiatives are most effective when they are a shared responsibility between employees and employers, and when everyone sees they have a role in making a caring and supportive workplace. It can be helpful to frame this shared responsibility around individual, collaborative and systemic actions.
Individual Actions are actions that employees can take on their own to support the wellbeing of themselves or others, for example:
Taking care of your own wellbeing by getting regular exercise and enough sleep, eating right, managing screen time, and maintaining strong social connections.
Contributing to a caring and supportive workplace by welcoming new colleagues, checking in with, or offering help to colleagues you’re concerned about.
While individual actions are important, on their own, they’re not enough to make a system-wide shift.
Collaborative Actions are those that groups of employees can do, for example:
A school, starting an Inquiry Group or other professional learning experience that that allows for greater staff collaboration.
Groups of employees starting walking groups, book clubs, or organizing social events.
Collaborative actions can help build morale and collective spirit among staff while also addressing specific issues of staff wellbeing.
Systemic Actions are those which an organization can take on. For example:
Form a district wellness team or committee to help identify key issues affecting mental wellbeing and give employees a voice in developing solutions.
Adopt innovative wellness practices and processes that support staff wellbeing, such as limiting email responses.
Address workload issues identified by staff in schools and other district work sites.