Worker Wellbeing
Description
Includes good health and wellbeing; supporting work-life balance; right to reasonable working hour limitations; predictable work hours; right to paid time off; compassionate leave; maternity and parental benefits; elder or child care leave; access to child care; health promotion; access to leisure and exercise; accessible design; healthy and culturally appropriate nutrition; health and injury insurance and other health benefits; reintegration support; and retirement benefits to support long-term financial wellbeing.
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Resources
Getting Started Guide
Worker Wellbeing: A Getting Started Guide
Wellbeing is multidimensional and includes physical health, mental health, work-life balance, emotional wellbeing and financial wellbeing. Companies need to take steps to positively support and advance the wellbeing of workers – from supporting a healthy work-life balance and promoting healthy lifestyles through inclusive wellness benefits, to supporting the long-term financial wellbeing of workers.
Anchored in research, our Worker Wellbeing: A Getting Started Guide aims to support your company as it begins or revisits the different dimensions of your worker wellbeing strategy. It helps build a foundational understanding of the issue and provides clarity on the work ahead.
Fair and Flexible Work Schedules
Guide to Developing Balanced Working Time Arrangements
This practical guide from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) can help you create balanced and healthy work schedules that will benefit both your employees and the company at large. It provides a set of five guiding principles for developing work schedules that are healthy, productive, family-friendly, and more. It also provides tips, examples, and recommendations for how to structure different types of working time arrangements and provides a collaborative four-step process for designing and implementing these arrangements. This resource will be of particular benefit to HR professionals, sustainability change agents, operations managers, and senior leaders.
Healthy and Inclusive Workplace Design
Workplace design and set-up allow employees to benefit from natural lighting and airflow. The company actively engages in health promotion, including the option (but not requirement) to obtain annual flu and virus inoculations, ergonomic workstation equipment and set-up, time for movement breaks, or incentives to participate in sports or other outdoor/health promotion activities. Where the company provides meals, most meal options are healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate. Workers have access to adequate leisure time and exercise, including where workers are employed in labour camps, on vessels, in factory communities, or other settings where they are unable to go home on their personal time. The workplace, accommodations, and any communal spaces are designed and built to be accessible to persons of diverse abilities. The company makes reasonable accommodations for workers to work in the home, where feasible and safe, and provides the necessary hardware, software, and ergonomic workstation equipment for workers to do so.
WELL Building Standard
This research-informed resource from the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) can help you to create and support thoughtful and intentional spaces that enhance human health and well-being. WELL draws upon the expertise of medical professionals, public health experts, building scientists, and thousands of other practitioners and WELL users to advance the quality of life of workers. The standard addresses ten key concepts such as air, light, thermal comfort, movement, and materials in the workplace, and provides evidence-based recommendations for performance-testing and optimisation.
Family Supports
The company offers employees and contractors paid maternity and paternity leave (including for non-biological parents) as well as parental benefits. Workers are able to take parental leave to care for small children as well as leave for elder care. They have access to adequate compassionate leave for bereavements or to care for a family member with significant risk of death. The company offers flexible work and/or remote work arrangement where practicable, to allow workers to more easily meet their family obligations.
How to be Family Friendly: A Guide for Employers
Studies show that employees with a supportive employer are most satisfied with their work-life balance. This toolkit from Employers For Childcare introduces an 8-step process (with supporting considerations and questions) that will help you to develop and implement a family-friendly workplace culture.
Other Resources
EDI Leading Practices: A Guide for Companies
Workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is a complex and rapidly evolving space, and increasingly, companies are interested in understanding how to meaningfully advance EDI in their organisations. To help them do so, we consulted EDI research and guidance, reviewed practices of over 100 companies, and sought input from practitioners across a range of industries and geographies. Our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Leading Practices Guide offers a comprehensive framework with practices, case studies, and resources to help organisations embed EDI into their strategy, structures, and culture.
