The necessity of promoting workplace well-being is becoming globally acknowledged, and the Singapore group Workwell Leaders is set to make a unique contribution to the cause.
The organisation is developing a set of best practices for employee well-being that would form a pioneering benchmark for all of Singapore, according to a report in The Straits Times. These best practices would also result in greater value for any business.
Speaking to the publication, WWL Chairwoman Anthea Ong said that the benchmark set of best practices was likely to be adopted first by the larger companies and then by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“Whether it’s peer support, training resources, training for mental-health first aid, even creating peer support groups that also involve some of the employees of the partners, that’s an opportunity that we haven’t really leveraged to get the larger organisations to bring (SMEs) along,” she said.
Its mission and vision focused on building “mentally healthy workplaces”, the WWL works through organisational leaderships, seeing it as “a fundamental responsibility for themselves and their work communities”.
Ong said to ST that the benchmark under development would be the first of its kind in the world. She added that the WWL had targeted an adoption rate of 25 per cent within the first three years of the launch of the workplace well-being benchmark in Singapore.
In order to achieve its goals, a 12-member WWL work group is structuring a study that would help collate best practices. The framework covers a range of workplace aspects, such as changes in workplace behaviours; impact of those changes on workers; workload; work design; team collaboration; and a sense of belonging. The benchmark aims to quantify how worker well-being relates to productivity, attrition, and innovation.
By October 2024, the study parameters are expected to be finalised, and by early 2025, the study results are expected to be published.