Occupational Well-Being

In the recent years I am sure we all have come across the word 'Well-Being'. When I first heard it I thought to myself 'Well -Being' -hmmm.... what is it? I knew what being well meant and to me it was about knowing your inner self and knowing what makes you feel well and what makes you feel a bit overwhelmed and being able to develop strategies to regulate one's emotions in order to feel well. 

However, in recent times I have noticed that a large majority of people I know not just in education but in other sectors too have started putting the responsibility of their well-being on outside agencies or factors like their employer or organisations they work in. This has been very fascinating to me as the family and cultural as well as community group I come I always believed that well-being is something that is intrinsic and something a person needs to understand and manage. 

Yesterday, at my school we had a professional from InterLead come in and talk to us about occupational well-being. 

It was interesting to learn about occupational well-being yesterday. There are different types of well-being. like- social, psychological, emotional, physical and occupational. We explored all the different types briefly but occupational well-being was explored in depth. 

What was most interesting to learn was that although it is occupational well-being and the employer has a responsibility to create a safe and healthy work place environment but it is an employees's huge responsibility to make sure that great working relationships are formed and it is us as individuals and team members to maintain these relationships with our colleagues and leadership team. It is actually the responsibility of an employee to make sure they manage their well-being at work. 

For me as an educator it is my job to create a healthy, safe and positive work culture not only for myself but for and with my learners and my colleagues and the leadership team. 

Some wonderings I have at this stage...

What strategies can I consistently use to manage times when I feel a bit overwhelmed at work or lack motivation?

How might I support my team members well-being at work? 

Currently, I do make sure we talk about our well-being during syndicate meetings and it has definitely been of value. I will perhaps discuss this with my team members and seek their guidance so we are really chugging along well in terms of looking after our well-being at work. 

To conclude, 

I would like to share this quote I came across recently that according to me fits in well when we are thinking of our well-being at work or even in our personal lives.