With everything going on in the world, wellbeing is being taken more seriously than ever; and so it should. It always should, but the global pandemic has really highlighted the importance of wellbeing at work.
At this point, most people and their employers have a decent understanding of their physical and mental wellbeing, but what about in terms of employees’ career wellbeing, how does it then effect career progression? More importantly, what can you do to minimise the negative impacts?
Despite studies clearly showing that career progression and development are directly linked to wellbeing, a lot of companies, and even employees, aren’t recognising the importance and the overall damaging effects it can have on performance, progression and even the overall businesses’ profitability.
What does wellbeing even mean?
First things first, wellbeing is defined as “the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.”
In terms of your career, wellbeing is simply how you feel about your job today, how you feel about your job prospects tomorrow, and how much your work is contributing to your overall wellbeing and life.
If you’re struggling with your career wellbeing, you may start to see the knock-on effects across your life, as research from Gallup found that “people with high career wellbeing are more than twice as likely to be thriving in their lives overall.”
The effects of low career wellbeing
When women are growing, developing, and progressing themselves and their self-awareness, it has a huge impact on their visibility and confidence. They move into the wellbeing state and feel comfortable, healthy and happy, with an almost indestructible with a high sense of wellbeing.
Basically, they come to realise their own value. Indicating a clear link between wellbeing and self-worth – a fundamental factor needed to be able to achieve your full potential in the work environment.
And then on the opposite end of the spectrum are those women who are fed up and frustrated that their hard work is going unnoticed, or they are drowning in tasks that don't light them up anymore. However, they can’t possible see how they would fit in any other company, role or career. It is at this point that resentment starts to build and frustration begins to take its toll.
Going unnoticed at work impacts wellbeing, there's no denying it. #
When you feel valued, instead of feeling like you’re being taken for granted, your wellbeing increases. You see things much clearer; you are more motivated and your performance at work peaks. You feel more confident to talk about your achievements and in turn this only serves to increase your value and self-worth even more… in short, you thrive.
How to get out of a career rut
If you’re feeling stuck in a career rut right now there is a high chance this will be impacting on your wellbeing… so what can you do about it?
To help you get the ball rolling, here are four steps that will shift you out of this place and help you start feeling better about your career wellbeing and keep you moving up that career ladder.
Remember why you started
Carve out some time to remind yourself why you do the work in the first place.
Think about what got you into this work, what was your original motivation, and what is your motivation now, has is changed? Is there something missing? Jot down your thoughts and see what comes up.
Whatever you do, don’t settle! That's the worst thing you can do.
Chat to others about how you feel at work
Ideally, have a conversation with your line manager. If you can, be honest with them because there might just be some new opportunities in the horizon that could re-ignite your career spark.
Remember, ditch the guilt! The only person who can make things change is you. This will ultimately have a positive impact for those closest to you.
Figure out what you want
It may sound a little trite, but you wouldn't believe the amount of people (and companies) that really don't know what they want. Yet this is crucial, especially when resentment kicks in and you feel like you are questioning everything - your work and career in particular.
It’s really hard to focus on what is next if you don't have any idea of where you are heading.
Try something new outside of work that you’ve wanted to do for a long time
This can often boost your confidence and feeling of self-worth which in turn will help if you have been struggling to figure out what lights you up and what you want.
Remember this could be really different from you first started your job and that’s fine – people are supposed to change.
One last thing
If you fancy a bit of housekeeping to see where you are with your own career wellbeing and visibility then click here and take the test to find out how you can do more and celebrate what you are already doing really well.
If you know that you, or your workplace, would benefit from being further educated to grow and support women's career progression, then get in touch about the Step Into Self Promotion Workshops.
** Gemma is a self-promotion expert and specialises in working with organisations to identify, develop and retain their female talent and encourage senior level progression to close the gender gap. This is through coaching, consultation, training sessions and workshops. She understands the importance of visibility when it comes to women’s career progression and helps ambitious women find their confidence to own and showcase their expertise. Host of the ‘No More Hiding: Self Promotion at Work’ podcast – click here to listen.
Message her directly to find out more or book a call here. Download your copy of her white paper ‘Visibility At Work: The Importance of Self Promotion for Women's Career Progression here’. **
NB - When we refer to the terms men/women we are including all non-binary, trans and any marginalised genders