How do you feel when you’re going to work in the morning? Or in the evening? After all, work at the mills isn’t bound to a single time of day. And not everyone leaves home to go to work every day, because working remotely their workstations may be at their dining table or in the corner of their bedroom.
The mood that you start or end your working day with really matters. People spend a significant portion of their lives at work, so the state of our wellbeing is far from insignificant.
Metsä Group has an ongoing large-scale development project for improving wellbeing at work.
The biggest thing about improving wellbeing at work is the unified early intervention model, whose benefits we’ve already seen in Finland for a long time. The model is based on early recognition of factors threatening working capacity, discussing them openly, and agreeing on the necessary measures to resolve the situation.
For Metsä Group, it is important to operate ethically. That includes everyone having the right to good wellbeing and a duty to take care of one another. Early intervention is also a method for ensuring ethical operations within the organisation.
A genuinely caring culture is the best thing we have. That means everyone has their own role. As managers, we must be observant and pay attention to how our team members are doing, and not hesitate to discuss any concerns. Mutual openness and good interaction increase the sense of security. We have to remember that a workplace culture doesn’t just happen to us, we create it ourselves, in every moment and encounter.
As colleagues, we also have a shared responsibility. No one should be left alone. And, finally, we’re all responsible for ourselves. It’s our responsibility to take care of things like our physical fitness, and recovering sufficiently outside work.
Many newer managers have difficulties with their own role in resolving the complex working capacity challenges of their team members. Often, my advice for them is to listen carefully. We can’t resolve all problems at the workplace, but listening and being heard is at the heart of everything. Everyone draws their own borders around their private lives, but regardless, it’s important for us to be heard and engaged with at whichever level we’re comfortable with.