THE MENTAL HEALTH SERIES WELLNESS CENTRES PIVOTAL FOR EMPLOYEE WELLNESS

As asserted by Ann Voskamp, “shame dies when stories are told in safe spaces.” This can best describe the idea behind the recently established FNBB Wellbeing Centre for employees and a Kids lounge.

The centre will offer a range of wellness activities for staff and after care programme for children aged between two years to 12 years. The Wellness centre has meditation rooms where staff can unwind from stressful work issues.

Whilst reference is made of the centre, the essence of today’s discussion will centre on the importance of wellness centre for employees. The importance of wellness centres cannot be underemphasised with FNBB HR Director Bonang Kwape highlighting that it “takes the pressure off employees” in a recent Argus Online interview.

Mapping out spaces for quiet, meditation, or energy rooms in their offices is indeed a dynamic way of promoting mental health in the workplace. Importance of meditation rooms in the workplace has been seen to be pivotal with a 2018 study by Zaneco and others giving evidence of improvements in sustained attention and response inhibition for those that underwent intensive and continued meditation practice. Cheng observed in 2016 that meditation in the workplace is important in promoting organizational competitiveness and innovativeness among employees which ultimately results in business success. Of late there has been a global resurgence in use of mindfulness meditation in order to reduce and deal with stresses that employees face at work on a day to day basis.

First National Bank Botswana is clearly set the standard for other organisations to benchmark on. Other employers should realise the importance of workplace mental health and follow suit. As posited by Delloite Centre for Health Solutions report, workplace mental health is at a tipping point thus the need to address it to for improvement in mental health of employees. The compounding challenges brought by COVID-19 potentiates the mental health issues thus the need for action as productivity is hinged on good mental health.