Zoe Hunter: Who's responsible for your wellbeing at work?

Workplace wellbeing increases productivity. Photo / Getty Images

Trying to find a healthy work-life balance can be tricky.

Sometimes it is hard not to bring what's happened at work home with you.

And working overtime can mean there's not enough time to attend personal health appointments or less energy to exercise.

In a feature on workplace wellbeing published recently, I interviewed a number of Bay businesses trying innovative ways to ensure their staff had a healthy work-life balance.

Four-day weeks, six-hour days, every second Friday off were some of the ways companies were improving wellbeing in the workplace.

Others offered paid lunch breaks each week to encourage staff to exercise.

What I wanted to know is whether it made staff happier and more productive.

The answer was yes.

I also found it was more common to see employers advertise wellbeing benefits in a job description.

The latest Stats NZ data found just 25 per cent of Bay employees were very satisfied with their jobs - a 7 per cent drop in job satisfaction since 2016.

However, 51.3 per cent of people were just satisfied with their jobs.

The workplace is where workers spend most of their time. So why shouldn't they be more happy to be there? And what are employers doing about it?

I'm one of the lucky people who is very satisfied with their job. Workplace wellbeing is important to me. It has to be in the day-to-day life I lead.

Let me take you through what a typical weekday looks like for me.

6am: Alarm goes off.

6.30am: Gym.

7.30am: Start work.

4.30pm/5pm: Leave work.

5.30pm: Teach dancing, which can finish anywhere between 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

That's a busy day.

Like many of you, I also spend most of my day at work. Outside of that, I am responsible for managing my own time.

But when it comes to the wellbeing of people at work, I believe the responsibility lies mostly with employers.

This means not just offering pay rises or swapping out the sausage rolls for apples at staff morning teas.

It means thinking deeply about what changes can be made to improve staff welfare. This could include offering time in the day for exercise, gym memberships, mentoring programmes, free or discounted counselling services, flexible hours and other working arrangements.

Employees are now looking for more then just the pay rate and want to know prospective employers care about their wellbeing.

And if a happy employee can mean more productivity, then it is a win-win for all.