Occupational Wellness is the ability to achieve a balance between work and leisure time, addressing workplace stress and building relationships with co-workers. It can focus on our search for a calling and could involve exploring various career options and finding where you fit best.
Because what we do for a living encompasses so much of our time, it is important for our overall well-being to do what we love and love what we do. When people are doing what they were meant to do, they deepen their sense of meaning and purpose.
The Path to Occupational Wellness
The occupational dimension of wellness recognizes personal satisfaction and enrichment in one’s life through work. At the center of occupational wellness is the premise that occupational development relates to one’s attitude about one’s work. Traveling the path toward your occupational wellness, you’ll contribute your unique gifts, skills and talents to work that are both personally meaningful and rewarding. You’ll convey your values through your involvement in activities that are gratifying for you. The choice of profession, job satisfaction, career ambitions, and personal performance are all important components of your path’s terrain.
Are you engaged in the process of Occupational Wellness?
- Do I enjoy going to work most days?
- Do I have a manageable workload at work?
- Do I feel that I can talk to my boss and co-workers with problems arise?
If you answered “No” to any of the questions, it may indicate an area where you need to improve the state of your occupational wellness.
5 Tips to Improve Occupational Wellness
Harris Interactive, a global market research firm owned by Nielsen Holdings, conducts a yearly work stress survey. Last year’s findings indicate eight out of ten American employees are stressed out on a daily basis by at least one job-related factor. The stressors include aspects such as heavy workloads, poor working conditions, and annoying co-workers.
One way to achieve greater occupational wellness is improving the interior of your work environment. Sherry Burton Ways, author and color therapist, says, “Marketing research has shown that approximately 80% of what we perceive or experience is based upon the visual sense of our environment. Most office design is uninspired. Therefore, work environments create uninspired and stressful employees.”
To keep your work environment optimized for wellness, here are a few great tips:
Plants
Research has shown that placing plants around your work building can give you better air quality and significantly lower stress. Strategically placed greenery can also decrease the noise level by as much as 5 decibels and can create a more relaxed atmosphere.
Colors
Colors affect your mood and your wellness. The color of your walls has a substantial impact on your mood. The clothes that you wear to work also makes you feel different. Feng Shui recommends decorating with the “water element” to decrease stress and to bring a sense of calm to your environment. Shades of dark blue create flow, purity, and freshness. You also might consider a small tabletop waterfall for your desk or other appropriate place in the office.
Lighting
Fluorescent lighting can cause stress and anxiety in the workplace, leading to migraines, eye strain, sleeping disorders, and much more. A better alternative to fluorescent lighting can be incandescent lights, skylights, or windows.
Ergonomics
Utilizing ergonomic-friendly office equipment decreases stress and work-related injuries. Everything from your keyboard and your mouse to your desk and your chair should be designed to ensure productivity and maximum comfort. To counter the negative effects of sitting at a desk all day, here’s a way to way to help – The Office Worker’s Schedule for Healthy Living Behind a Desk.
Technology
Inefficient technology like virus-infected computers, a weak internet connection, and outdated software can lead to work-related stress. Poorly managed technology decreases productivity and increases daily operational hurdles, increasing workloads and decreasing employee confidence—both factors are included in Harris Interactive’s 2014 stress survey. It is expected that OK Benefits will likely help the stressors currently found by using our outdated computer system.
You may also want to review the following CSQuest articles—Encouraging Occupational Wellness, Ergonomic Assessment, and Ergonomics: How to Limit Computer Strain on Your Body.
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher, Author, Artist, and Professional Speaker
All of you are the bond that keeps us together. Sustain those bonds with your fellow workers and reach out to your customers. This will help us continue CSS’s path toward quality and excellence. Thanks to all of you for choosing Child Support Services