Did you know that 72% of education staff report feeling stressed at work? And what’s more, 54% state that they have considered leaving the sector in the past two years due to pressure on their mental health.
There’s no doubt these figures are concerning, but there are many ways you can prioritise staff wellbeing to ensure a positive and productive school environment. In this blog, we outline some of the benefits of prioritising staff wellbeing and the positive impacts this has in the long term.
Everybody Benefits from Positive Staff Wellbeing
School staff spend a substantial amount of their time at work. In fact, research shows that teachers clock on average 49.5 working hours per week. With so many hours being spent at work, it’s important that staff feel supported.
Happier staff leads to better morale, increased productivity and reduced staff absences. This has a knock-on impact for the wellbeing and attainment scores of students, as these can be adversely impacted by poor staff wellbeing and absence.
Tips for Helping Support Staff Wellbeing
- Be aware of stressors: Ask staff for feedback on what makes them feel stressed and work with them to co-create ways to minimise that stress. This can be done anonymously if you think this will encourage honesty. It’s important to really take on board their feedback and implement measures that they identify where possible.
- Make priorities clear: Ensuring staff know what their priorities are allows them to set clear boundaries and not take on too much. Encourage your staff to have a cut-off period at which they set their work aside for the night and focus on relaxing.
- Encourage staff to express their feelings: Bottling things up doesn’t do anyone any good. Pair staff members up and encourage them to have regular wellbeing check-ins with someone they trust. Outputs from these sessions can be tracked on CPOMS StaffSafe to ensure relevant staff are aware of any challenges and can provide ongoing support.
- Keep track of staff wellbeing: Having a formalised record of health and wellbeing concerns, like CPOMS StaffSafe, will allow you to notice patterns and track trends more easily, so you can take necessary steps to provide support.
- Monitor sick days: Using CPOMS StaffSafe you can look for trends in staff absences. If there are particular days or points in the school calendar where absences regularly occur you can use this data to understand why. For example, if staff often take sick days after parents evening could this be a sign of feeling stressed or overwhelmed, because of the extra workload associated with the events? Seeing these patterns more clearly can help you address potential issues sooner.
The Bottom Line
As a school administrator, you don’t have total control over the wellbeing of your staff. However, by implementing these five tips you can help keep your staff happier, improve results and keep work-related stress to a minimum.
At CPOMS, we know that staff health and wellbeing are critically important to a school’s ability to thrive. That’s why we’ve created our Guide to Mental Health and Wellbeing in Schools which provides expert advice on how to prioritise the overall wellbeing of your staff and students. Download the guide here.
