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Hey@Shaz51
Thanks@Former-Member
I love your pictures. They can be better than words alone.
Here is one that is suitable for me now.
Thank you to those who have participated in or shown interest in the discussion thus far @Appleblossom @Shaz51 @Boo13 @Sophie1 @FindingStrength @Scoo @Jay-e
Today we move onto our next topic of Occupational wellness
Occupational wellness refers to the personal satisfaction and enrichment that is derived from ones work whilst maintaining a balance in our lives. Whilst we often think of occupational wellness in terms of paid employment, it can also apply to volunteer work and indeed to our caring roles.
Occupation wellness encompasses things like job satisfaction, healthy work environment, healthy work choices, job performance, productivity, efficiency, professionalism, job skills, job improvement, knowledge sharing, problem solving, accomplishment, appreciation, agency (perception of having control), companionship and pleasure.
There is an expected staff movement/ turnover in any organisation, some jobs are temporary in nature, examples include roles that are often filled by students (which can vary greatly from apprentices to medical interns, junior shop assistants to lab techs etc). There are also vacancies created by people moving up the corporate ladder or if someone was to get fired etc.
It is perhaps at looking at the reasons as to why people stay or leave jobs that gives a clearer picture as to what people see as important in relation to occupational wellness and most of this seems to revolve around various aspects of management or work culture.
Mediocre management encompasses a number of the top 10 reasons that people left their work in this article.
I have had only one new employer each time I have moved interstate with only one exception and on that occasion I left a company voluntarily because I was unhappy there. I was not really suited to the job as it was in a sales environment, however it was poor staff management decisions and the discomfort I felt with the widely known fact that the daughter of the business owner was stealing from the company that were the reasons I started looking for work elsewhere. In more recent times, following a corporate takeover, I was made redundant and subsequently became self employed with some regular contract work that an old boss helped me obtain.
In retrospect, I have really enjoyed most of the jobs I have hd and can see that the things that contributed to my job satisfaction are exactly those that are shown in the graphic – being appreciated, valued, given a variety of tasks and having had suggestions that I have offered being implemented. In more recent times and directly related to my caring role, flexibility has been an important factor.
Volunteering
Volunteer organisations have learned a lot from their paying counterparts are now providing more training or extending wellness programs to their unpaid workers. As there is no financial incentive for staying, "job satisfaction" is a key factor in keeping unpaid workers happy. There are challenges that come equally with volunteer work as they do in paid work and occupational wellness is no less important.
What if we work for ourselves or are not in paid employment?
Being self-employed along with our caring roles adds another aspect to occupational wellness and that being that the responsibility of this dimension falls squarely on ones own shoulders and it is important that we do not neglect this.
Improving our occupational wellness
How can we improve our occupational wellness? Whilst there are things that employers can and should do if they want to retain staff and maintain a happy work environment, we do need to take some responsibility for ourselves which could include taking advantage of in-house programs or doing what is necessary for us to find a more suitable job. For those of us who are self employed, who volunteer, who care, there are things that we can do too. Being self employed, some of the questions we can ask that will help us address this include - do we look at ways where we can work smarter not harder that will reduce effort or increase output and our job satisfaction? How do we go at problem solving? Do we recognise our own accomplishments? Do we ask for feedback from our clientele or the person we care for as to what we have done right or what we could do better? Are there training programs we could attend?
Finally, I will make brief comment in relation to employee wellness programs. Different to staff training or dedicated work safety programs, many companies these days provide employee wellness programs which often focus on workers physical/mental health and can include things like on-site gyms, smoking cessation programs, “parking” for push bikes, mini massages, yoga or other fitness classes, walking groups, stress management, opportunity for team participation in charity bike rides/ marathons etc and flu vaccinations. It is important to note that whilst these programs are helpful and enjoyable these can put the onus on the employee for occupational wellness and in some cases can lead to employee discrimination if they do not participate in popular programs, neither do they address the often-poor management that leads to employee dissatisfaction.
Thank you @Scoo @Shaz51 @Appleblossom @FindingStrength @Sophie1
Related but quite different to our occupational wellness is our next topic of financial wellness.
Australians are generally in a poor state of financial wellness with 1 in 2 reporting they live from pay check-to-pay check, 85% admit to living beyond their means, 23% have no emergency savings and the average credit card debt at the time was $4200 and the average household throws away $1,036 in food every year.
In this discussion it is important to reminded of SANE community guidelines that precludes financial advise and my discussion is in no way intended to be so. If you feel that financial counseling would be appropriate for you, links have been provided to government websites where impartial advice can be obtained and if you feel that you would benefit from this, I encourage you to do so.
Financial well-being isn't just about people's financial situation. It about having enough money to meet expenses, but also about having spare cash to make choices, feeling in control of your financial situation, and whether or not you worry about money. I will use the following graphic as the basis of my discussion today.
Financial resilience is the "root system" of financial wellness and it is what enables us to grow our financial wellness.
Financial capability is the combination of attitude, knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy needed to make and exercise money management decisions that best fit the circumstances of ones life, within an enabling environment that includes, but is not limited to, access to appropriate financial services. Put in simple terms it means not only what you know but to also have the willingness, confidence and opportunity to act. According to a 2015 Nielsen study that 25% of families making $150,000 a year or more were still living paycheck-to-paycheck for many reasons but is often the result of a lack of financial management knowledge or an unwillingness to implement a budget that would be a foundation for financial wellness.
Economic resources include land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. It is often looked at more in commercial terms but simple correlations for us could include our homes and back yards, our income and ability to earn it, and whether we are able to use our own capital to supply a product to make a profit.
Financial inclusion refers to efforts to make financial products and services accessible and affordable to all individuals and businesses, regardless of their personal net worth or company size. An example of this is the one fee free account banks offer providing a minimum monthly deposit is met - this usually means that ones pay needs to go into the account. Centrelink have a free financial information service and the government also has the MoneySmart website that has information without any sales agenda attached to it.
Social capital is a little harder to define as “those tangible assets [that] count for most in the daily lives of people: namely goodwill, fellowship, sympathy, and social interaction among the individuals and families who make up a social unit” For the sake of simplicity, however, we can think of social capital as the links, shared values and understandings in society that enable individuals and groups to trust each other and so work together. On a practical level for this discussion I think this equates to whether or not your friends and family encourage healthy financial habits. This can be as simple as them being happy to have coffee at home rather than at a cafe, different family members /friends might have different items of not often used equipment (ie a trailer, garden equipment) that they are willing to share so that other family members don't need to hire/buy one themselves or who would support you in a money saving venture such as "no buy July" and not try and sabotage it.
It seems to me that in order to accomplish financial wellness that we need to look at the reality of our situations. The first step and one of the basics of most financial plans is documenting how much income we have and where do we spend it along with what debt and what assets we have. This is a necessary exercise to do and helps us to start taking control and helping us set and pursue long term goals. This is an example of what some people set as short and long term financial goals.
Being in control rather than being overwhelmed makes a huge difference.
Financial capability might include researching or going to a class on budgeting and financial planning - these are two resources that might be of help to you - remembering that one must be willing to implement change. Centrelink financial information services https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/financial-information-service and MoneySmart https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/ Bear in mind that there are a lot of financial services out there whose main agenda is to sell you a product, so one needs to be careful.
The economic and capital resources we might consider include: Can we use our back yards to grow fruit and veg to reduce our food bill? Can we do some further study to enhance our income (or indeed contribute to our occupational wellness)?
Financial inclusion might include: Are we taking advantage of things like a fee free bank account? Could we utilise payment plans that electric/phone/other companies and other firms offer using direct debit or Centrepay?
Social inclusion thoughts include - if you have joint finances, is your partner on board with this process? Sorting finances has the potential to expose other weaknesses in any relationship and you both need to agree and support each other with an action plan. Are your prepared to set boundaries in relation to how much you are prepared to spend on items? An example of not giving in to kids who demand name brands of clothing that you can not afford when generic items would be adequate.
Meeting expenses with some left over, managing debt, have a savings buffer and afford the "little extras" would bring a sigh of relief to many. Getting out of debt and staying out of debt can be a huge factor in financial wellness. For us it began with eliminating our credit cards and then tackling our mortgage whilst putting a little extra in my super.
Asking the hard questions and implementing decisions can include these aspects
Do we maximise our financial capability when we get a pay rise by using our financial knowledge and willingness to use the extra to better our circumstances by paying off debt or for savings?
We might need to use our economic resources for example selling an expensive car that is costing you a fortune when you could be driving a perfectly adequate but more modest vehicle that would free up capital and/or clear a car loan or otherwise reduce debt.
Financial inclusion could include things like taking advantage of a social inclusion education savings program that is offered in association with DSS and will provide matched savings of up to $500 to help with education expenses https://www.anz.com.au/about-us/sustainability-framework/financial-wellbeing/saver-plus/
Social capital could include having shared meals at home with friends where everyone brings a plate, rather than dining out or having a cook up day where kids have fun learning how to make sweet or savoury muffins/ quiches/ cakes/ biscuits/ other cheaper than ready made, then freezing them in "lunch size" portions and using them to reduce waste.
Feeling financially secure is the last aspect where we feel satisfied and we limit our financial worries. Time is also a factor as financial well-being is not just determined by how you are faring now, but also by how you are setting up and feeling about the future - something that @Sophie1 alluded to in her comment about saving for retirement. Once we are in control, can meet all of our expenses, have reduced or eliminated debt and can start saving we are also likely to be in a better position to contribute to our retirement in a number of ways, due to tax advantages a commonly used way this is done is by adding personal contributions to our super fund through payroll at our work.
What does financial wellness mean to you?
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