Over the past year, at www.makeadifference.media we’ve highlighted some of the most progressive leaders who are benchmarking best practice when it comes to embedding workplace wellbeing as business as usual.
We’ve also helped readers to navigate the maze of information and resources they are bombarded with, as they grapple with the wellbeing challenges workplaces are facing at a time of continued change and uncertainty
A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed and helped us with our mission to accelerate the shift from stigma to solutions – bringing more and more employers to the workplace mental health and wellbeing conversation.
Across the year, it’s been interesting to see key themes emerging, and these are reflected in www.makeadifference.media’s ten most-read pages and articles of 2022: psychological safety, women’s health, measurement and reporting on wellbeing, helping neurodiverse colleagues to thrive…
Which pages and articles have you found the most inspiring and useful and what topics would you like us to feature in 2023? Send us your ideas please to [email protected] or [email protected].
Also, a quick reminder that you’ll be able to hear more about all of these key topics at our free to attend sister conference and exhibition The Watercooler Event, which is taking place at ExCel in London on 25th & 26th April 2023.
1. How can leaders create psychologically safe workplaces?
The most visited page on www.makeadifference.media in 2022 is an article by Francoise Woolley, Head of Mental Health & Wellbeing with Acas. Psychological safety is a term that’s been commonly used in recent years, but there’s still a lot of confusion about what it is, why it matters and what leaders can do to create a culture that fosters it.
In this article, Francoise outlines clear, transferrable tips that can be applied to any organisation.
2. Self-harm in the Workplace
As the stigma that has traditionally surrounded talking about mental ill-health starts to ease, across 2022 we’ve been tackling some of the more taboo aspects of the topic. Self-harm is one these.
In this article – which remains one of our most-read articles month on month – Andrea Woodside explains what self-harm is, dispels myths and offers practical tips for those who find themselves in a situation where they need to help someone who is self-harming. She wraps up with pointers towards useful contacts.
3. 4 menopause self care tips
The rise in documentaries, celebrity-led podcasts and media coverage is finally giving perimenopause and menopause the public attention it needs.
To mark World Menopause Day, in this piece, Olivia Matsell, writing for Vitality at Work, explores four small, incremental changes that can make a big impact to the menopausal experience.
4. Reporting on wellbeing: are you ready?
While there’s no doubt that workplace wellbeing has made huge progress in recent years, accelerating the shift from stigma to solutions, measurement remains a challenge for many employers. But for wellbeing to be truly embedded into business strategies and taken seriously, it needs to be measured using standardised metrics before it can feature in annual reports meaningfully. In this article, our Features Editor, Suzy Bashford, gathers perspectives from a range of experts who explain why, for a company to describe itself as “wellbeing driven”, their strategy must be as natural and measurable a best practice as diversity, equality and sustainability.
5. Upcoming and past webinars
With more than 8,500 registrants across the year, our Make A Difference Media webinars continue to be very popular, with great feedback from speakers and attendees alike including:
- This has been so utterly brilliant!
- Thank you to all of the panel, and to Claire and the Make A Difference team
- Really appreciate such a knowledgeable and senior experienced panel
- This has been such a great session – not just repeats on ideas and thoughts but some truly valuable new thoughts emerging. Massive thank you to you all for this!
- One of the best webinars… so real… thank you
We’ve got plenty planned for 2023 too. You can see what’s coming up and register here. Access recordings of previous webinars, along with PDFs of slides and a summary of hints and tips shared in the very active webinar chats free here.
6. Make A Difference Awards
We launched the Make A Difference Awards in 2021 so that we could stop, think and thank the individuals and employers who have really made a difference to workplace mental health and wellbeing – those who are leading the way, and inspiring others to follow their example.
Thanks to our inaugural co-sponsors (Royal Mail and Optima Health), it was quick, free and easy to make a nomination and the Make A Difference Awards virtual event was also free to attend. With 136 nominations and over 5000 votes, the awards were a resounding success. We’ll be opening nominations to the Make A Difference Awards 2023 soon, with the winners announced at the free to attend The Watercooler Event on 25th April.
7. Profile: Hannah Pearsall, Head of Wellbeing, Hays
While Hannah Pearsall believes that wellbeing programmes and campaigns have their place, her priority is creating a culture of wellness with initiatives that fit into a holistic strategy, aligned with business objectives. In this profile interview, ahead of Hannah’s appearance at the 5th annual MAD World Summit, she explained how she’s been focussing on ways that managers can create psychological safety and a culture that fosters positive choices and behaviour when it comes to wellbeing.
8. Report: Women’s workplace wellbeing – a joined-up approach
We’ve collaborated on a number of Leading Practice Papers in 2022 and this report – summarising the key insights that emerged from a virtual roundtable focused on creating a joined-up approach to women’s workplace wellbeing – made it into our most-visited pages of 2022.
The roundtable of HR, Wellbeing and Benefits leaders, convened with the support of digital health provider Peppy, considers the changing expectations of the role of employers, what is and isn’t working when it comes to women’s health and what the future of gender-specific healthcare may look like.
9. What’s new for the 5th annual MAD World Summit
Our sister event, the annual MAD World Summit, is now firmly established as the go-to solutions-focused conference and exhibition for employers who want to make a difference to workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing. Ahead of the 2022 event, this article pulled out some of the highlights to give attendees a flavour of what to expect, from inspiring celebrity and C-suite keynotes, to practical workshops and intimate peer-to-peer roundtable discussions.
10. How can workplaces support employees with ADHD?
As awareness of neurodiversity grows, it’s important for workplaces to look at how they can support neurodiverse individuals to thrive. In this article, Sophia Waterfield hones in on ADHD, summarising what it is, how it presents itself in the workplace and practical steps employers can take to support colleagues.
That completes our roundup of the top ten pages and articles of 2022. Hopefully you’ve all had a chance to step back and recharge over the festive period and are feeling ready for all that 2023 holds in store for us. I wish you all well and would love to hear from you, so please send your content ideas to [email protected] or to [email protected].
About the author
Claire Farrow is the Global Director of Content and Programming for www.makeadifference.media the annual MAD World Summit and The Watercooler. She’s on a mission to help every employer – large, medium and small – get the insight, inspiration and contacts they need to make real impact on workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing in their organisation. She has been freelance for more than 15 years. During that time, she has had the honour of working with many leading publishers, including the New York Times.
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