The Impact of the UK’s Always-On Culture
We recently joined Microsoft at their new London flagship store to launch their research on the damaging effects of the UK’s “always-on” culture.
The report findings confirm what we know to be true - the UK’s “always-on” culture is having a serious effect on people’s health. 86% of Brits say they have experienced anxiety due to work pressure in the last year. This is leading to difficulties ’switching off’ from work (87%) and sleeping (86%), as well as feelings of failure (79%).
Our Co-Founder Abby and Mental Health Lead Dr B were invited to speak at the launch of the research, alongside Microsoft experts.
The research found that even though UK employees are working overtime, answering calls and emails when they’re meant to be off, they don’t seem to think that their organisations have an always on culture. Working outside of normal working hours has now become the norm, we’ve lost sight of our need to recharge and reenergise.
We need to put our own personal guidelines in place: when do we want to be ‘on’ and when do we need a break? And leaders also need to put boundaries in place so that employees know there is no expectation to be working all hours or checking emails while on holiday.
Make healthy working practices the norm
We know that the employee wellbeing programmes we deliver only create real change if they are grounded in a culture where healthy working practices are the norm and modelled by senior leaders. The success and wellbeing of people and business go hand in hand; and encouraging time to unplug and to invest in re-energising activities is an important part of any thriving business. Organisations that understand and act on this will continue to adapt, innovate and outperform those that don’t.
You can read the Microsoft report in full here.
Get in touch
To find out more about how we can support you with your employee wellbeing training please get in touch.