Editor’s Note: Today’s post is by Mikka Lene Pers. Mikka is the Inclusion and Wellbeing Partner at IOP Publishing. She is a Chartered Psychologist with a special interest in Wellbeing, Digital Health, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
At IOP Publishing (IOPP), our goal is to make science better, together. As an organization, we exist to expand the world of physics — and we can only achieve this by supporting the wellbeing of the people who make it possible. We therefore encourage our colleagues to bring a can-do attitude and a shared commitment to propelling science forward, creating a bigger impact, and fostering a true sense of community.
Human and organizational health are indivisible. To support our colleagues to be the best they can be, we must create an environment where they can thrive. By prioritizing the health and happiness of our employees, we are not only enhancing individual wellbeing but also contributing to the overall success and resilience of our organization.
The commitment to employee wellbeing is particularly crucial at this time when the academic publishing industry faces significant challenges. Public trust in science is under threat. Over the past few decades, the reliability of scientific research has come under scrutiny in association with, for instance, research integrity challenges and the reproducibility crisis. The growing acknowledgement of publishers’ role in maintaining many of the barriers to equal representation and participation in the global research community (see for instance The Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing), and the proliferation and increased use of AI tools also challenge trust in science. This requires publishers to develop innovative ways to ensure that they can continue to provide rigorous and fair evaluation of research, including through peer review. The large-scale shift to open access (OA) publishing represents another profound transformation in the scholarly publishing landscape. Navigating these changes and challenges in the academic ecosystem requires a resilient, adaptable workforce that is open to change and equipped to handle the complexities that come with it.
First steps towards a strategic approach to wellbeing
We know that colleagues at IOPP feel that their wellbeing is important. In our latest engagement survey, 87% agreed that “IOPP does a good job of promoting health and wellbeing.”
As recommended by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), we consider preventative and proactive organizational-level initiatives to be crucial for creating a workplace culture that supports individual growth, collaboration, and overall satisfaction. It has been shown that a fulfilling and enriching work environment is built on a foundation of good management practices. In fact, the impact of managers and leaders on people’s wellbeing trumps that of psychotherapists and doctors and is similar to that of a spouse. Role clarity, autonomy, manageable workloads, job security, and being given the skills and support needed for people to excel in their roles, are all equally central for embedding wellbeing considerations into the very fabric of our way of working.
These organizational interventions must be combined with more targeted wellbeing support that empowers colleagues to make choices that protect their own and others’ wellbeing and helps us recognize colleagues at risk of poor wellbeing who require more focused support.
Over the past year, we’ve been taking stock of how we support our colleagues at IOPP so that we can tie together existing and future wellbeing initiatives under the umbrella of a wellbeing action plan. This action plan will ensure that we offer organization- and individual-level wellbeing initiatives that are designed to contribute to the six principles we believe underpin employee wellbeing:
- Recognition and Rewards play a crucial role in promoting a sense of accomplishment and motivation. Recognition, performance incentives, and opportunities for progression are ways to appreciate the efforts and contributions of colleagues.
- Meaningful, trusting relationships with colleagues and line managers are essential for employee wellbeing. Regular team meetings, social events, and opportunities for employees to connect on a personal level are all ways to encourage open communication and foster a sense of belonging.
- Safety and Security. By ensuring that our colleagues feel secure in their roles, we can help them navigate pressures and temporary uncertainties with resilience. This entails creating an environment where employees feel assured and at ease sharing their thoughts and emotions. Financial security and a sense of stability in job prospects are also crucial components of safety and security. These can be aided by competitive, transparent salaries, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for career development and progression.
- Promoting Work-Life Integration. Allowing colleagues to manage their work and personal lives effectively reduces stress and enhances job satisfaction. Remote and hybrid work options, flexible hours, and adaptable work structures empower employees to balance their professional and personal commitments to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. To foster an inclusive workplace that celebrates differences, we need to take into account how wellbeing needs differ across demographic groups and across our life span.
- Continuous Learning and Development. We believe that providing ongoing opportunities for learning and development is a key principle in promoting employee wellbeing. Training programs, mentorship initiatives, and access to specialist resources support continuous learning, which empowers colleagues to develop their skills and capabilities, pursue a career that is meaningful to them, and contribute to the creation of a dynamic and resilient work force.
Defining a long-term strategic approach to employee wellbeing means that we can quantify and monitor its impact to ensure we’re on the right track and where we need to do more.
Establishing a baseline and measuring employee wellbeing
To establish ways of measuring colleague wellbeing, we will need to identify a baseline that future efforts can be measured against. This means getting a clear understanding of our existing wellbeing provisions and assessing their reach, uptake, and effectiveness. Our flexible, hybrid work policy, an annual day off for Moments That Matter, and meeting-free Fridays, have all been put in place over the years with wellbeing in mind. This year, IOPP celebrated Work Life Week, including offering colleagues a Wellbeing Day, which gave everyone an opportunity to step back, refresh, and take some time out of the day to engage in activities that nourish their overall wellness. We also believe that our generous benefits package improves our people’s sense of safety and security.
Our vision is to be an employer where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is intentional, ongoing, and built into our identity. Our DE&I strategy helps us work towards this in a way that is natural, sustainable and visible in our ways of being, networks, and the colleagues and communities we serve and support. We are proud that close to 20% of our people are part of one of more of our six employee resource groups. These employee-driven groups unite around shared characteristics or life experiences. They offer the opportunity to network, socialize, work on professional development, and raise awareness over different issues. Another way we enable everyone across the organization to have a voice is through our Employee Forum, which brings together employee representatives elected to represent colleagues across our functional constituencies with our leadership to discuss relevant business issues. Our Social Committee and the events they organize further help build a sense of community and belonging amongst colleagues. Most of the activities of these active communities take place online, keeping our global colleagues connected.
We regularly offer educational sessions focused on topics related to wellbeing. This offering ranges from educational sessions that help line managers support their team members’ mental health to workshops focused on stress, resilience, agile working, and how belonging impacts wellbeing and workplace productivity.
To promote a supportive workplace culture, we have developed a Listening Ears peer-support program. Fully trained and certified Mental Health First Aider volunteers are available to listen to colleagues in need of support, provide details for professional assistance, help find local services, and check in with employees if needed. Listening Ears are a point of contact for colleagues experiencing mental health issues or emotional distress, offering initial support and signposting to appropriate help.
We also provide access to opportunities for continuous learning and development to empower our colleagues to enhance their skills, stay relevant in their roles, and pursue their professional aspirations. Recently, we have launched a new learning platform, WeThrive, which hosts personalized learning content across the board, including rich wellbeing content.
To assess the effectiveness of these and future wellbeing initiatives, we plan to introduce a colleague wellbeing survey. We will also review existing colleague data and identify additional data needed to quantify and measure wellbeing. We know that, in addition to program participation, key metrics for measuring and tracking wellbeing also include employee satisfaction levels as measured by engagement surveys and onboarding and exit surveys, absence data, employee turnover data, and performance and productivity data. These data points are especially useful when combined with demographic data, which helps us understand the diverse needs for, and barriers to, wellbeing experienced by people in different groups. Combining quantitative reports on these metrics with qualitative methods, like one-on-one interviews and focus groups, ensures that both the quantifiable and more nuanced aspects of wellbeing are addressed, giving us a deeper understanding of employee wellbeing. These insights into how wellbeing is currently supported and experienced in our organization will help us develop a strategic action plan to meet our colleagues’ wellbeing needs.
Putting the wellbeing of our colleagues first has always been our priority and we’re proud of the many ways we do this. With the strategic action plan we are currently developing, we are laying the foundation for delivering on our commitment to creating a supportive and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.
