Is your company a healthy workplace?

Working life demands a lot from employees but can give even more if organized correctly. Megatrends, such as digitalization, globalization and population aging, are drivers of change. With the automation of artificial intelligence, work in many fields has increasingly changed from routine manual labor to information and service work focused on problem solving. The amount of part-time and fixed-term work increases, along with fragmentation of work. The transition to hybrid work has blurred the line between work and leisure time and has increased flexibility in working life.

– Renewal tends to create pressure because people’s ability to adapt is slower than the change itself. The world of work has been in turmoil for the last few years, and the fast pace of change has further increased cognitive load, worry, stress and pressure. This has also been reflected in Terveystalo’s data, for example, as an increase in mental health difficulties. Supervisors and management are expected to have the management skills and capabilities required in different situations, and they also need to remember to take care of their own coping, says Terveystalo’s leading occupational health physician Anita Riipinen.

Healthy workplace™ promotes the well-being of employees and the management skills of managers

So what is a healthy workplace like? When the workplace is healthy, the work is safe, streamlined and productive. The organization culture is healthy, and the good atmosphere makes the healthy employees give their best. The employees feel that the company is interested in their well-being and encourages them to take care of themselves. In a healthy workplace, the managers know how to manage. A healthy company or organization is also a desired partner and an attractive employer that is able to cherry-pick the best employees.

A healthy workplace consists of four areas

Terveystalo’s Healthy Workplace™ concept helps to focus on four distinctive areas that all contribute to the creation of a healthy workplace: healthy work, healthy individual, functional work community and active leadership – things that are known to increase productivity and success.

1. A safe workplace and working conditions that promote health are the building blocks of healthy work. Risk factors and hazards related to the work, working environment and workplace community are under control. The work is streamlined, and the facilities promote efficient working. The employer, employees, occupational health and safety organization and occupational health services develop the working conditions together.  Everyone is familiar with the workplace’s first aid preparedness and guidelines.
   
   
2. People’s well-being is a prerequisite for a healthy workplace. Work in a healthy workplace promotes the employees’ health: it is satisfying and matches the employees’ skills, resources, and work ability throughout their career.  Employees who feel well contribute to the work community and its well-being. They take responsibility for their own health and receive support for this where necessary. When people are feeling well, it has a positive impact on their lives overall.
   
   
3. In a functional work community, information flows and the atmosphere is supportive, encouraging and just. Common objectives are clear, and problems are solved constructively. Workplace structures and operating methods support the flow of work. In a healthy community, people develop their work and adapt to changes together.
   
   
4. In a healthy workplace, leadership is active, and target-oriented work aims to enable the employees and the organization to succeed. The supervisors create a positive work environment and set realistic goals. Management is straightforward, participative and just. The supervisors are able to identify changes in work ability and personal resources, and they respond to such changes. In a healthy workplace, the well-being of supervisors is also ensured.

– In order for the workplace to be healthy, all four areas must be in order.  If even one of them is sub-optimal, it will affect the others and decrease the overall quality. The situation and emphasis given to different areas may naturally vary in different organizations, throughout their development or depending on the financial situation, says Riipinen.