BritCham Releases Report on Workplace Wellbeing
After more than two years of living through the COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention everything else that’s been happening in the world, it’s clear that things have certainly taken their toll on everyone’s mental and physical health. This means that wellbeing and support, especially within the workplace, have become even more important.
Well, this mantle has been taken up by the British Chamber of Commerce in China, which recently released its inaugural Wellbeing & Resilience in the Workplace Report (to read the full report in PDF, scan QR code below). The report's findings come from an online survey that received 301 valid responses from professionals in the British business community in China.
The report aims to highlight the problems that negatively affect employees’ mental, physical, and emotional health, while also looking at how different demographics are affected and what employers are doing to support wellbeing.
So what are some of the report's key findings?
Probably a no-brainer, given the precarious state of the world in recent times, but yes, everyone is stressed. High stress levels ranked first for having the biggest negative impact on employees’ wellbeing across all demographics except those in their 40s. Every demographic, except those in their 50s, also had anxiety ranking in their top five, while the risk of burnout was another common trait seen across most groups.
Over the past six months, to what extent have the following adversely affected your wellbeing at work? (Tap chart for larger view)
Fellow women of Beijing, you may also have been able to predict this one – it certainly came as no surprise to me that women reported lower levels of mental health than men. In the report, 71 percent of men stated their mental health as good, very good or excellent compared to only 53 percent of women. According to the report, women also felt less empowered (even at senior levels), more likely to be worried about making mistakes, and twice as likely to report harassment and bullying – 22 percent compared to 10 percent.
Gender and wellbeing (tap infographic for larger view)
Another interesting observation was that when asked to what extent certain factors over the past six months had a negative impact on their professional/personal life, the female demographic was the only one not to have the COVID-19 pandemic ranking in their top five. In contrast, it ranked as the number one most important factor for men. Perhaps women are too preoccupied worrying about a million other things to be able to worry about a pandemic too…
Over the past six months, to what extent
have the following factors in your professional/personal life had a
negative impact on your overall wellbeing?(Tap chart for larger view)
As well as the findings that demonstrated significant differences between genders, it also showed that there were differences between industries. The main respondents to the survey were from the education sector, representing 24 percent, as well as the financial, legal and professional services sector (FLPS) at 23 percent. In these two sectors, there were stark differences such as a lack of clarity around career opportunities being the number one issue negatively affecting wellbeing in the workplace for the FLPS sector, whereas it ranked 13 for the education sector. This demonstrates how sources of stress differ within different workplaces, meaning there's no magic fix to help employees' wellbeing.
Education vs FLPS (tap infographic for larger view)
According to the report, 59 percent of employees felt their organization was promoting wellbeing to some extent or more, however, 35 percent of respondents said that their workplace did not actively promote wellbeing at all. Many employees also stated that even if their organization had wellbeing support, it could often be inaccessible or ineffective. Women in particular felt that the support offered was less available, effective, and accessible than men did.
To what extent does your workplace actively promote wellbeing?
The British Chamber concluded that companies could offer and promote more support for wellbeing and stated three key reasons why: it's good for business, good for clients, and is the right thing to do.
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Images: British Chamber of Commerce in China, Unsplash Mor Shani
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