In a volatile and uncertain socioeconomic environment, a large government department in Western Australia recognised the need to adopt a strategy of sustainable physical, mental and social wellbeing.

To create a culture of sustainable wellbeing the Department's employees would need to have the knowledge and willingness to take responsibility for their wellbeing, leaders would need to role model positive wellbeing behaviours themselves, and the leaders would also need the skills to develop and implement strategies to embed wellbeing in their teams.

With expertise in psychology, change management and leadership development, Kaya developed a suite of four evidence-based wellbeing programs specifically designed to support employees and leaders in their pursuit of individual wellbeing, and also to understand their contribution in creating an environment and culture of wellbeing.

The programs included

Being a wellbeing (2-day program). This program takes participants on an individual wellbeing journey that equips them with a framework and tools to bring about positive change in personal thinking and behaviour. Participants also complete the Kaya Wellbeing IndicatorTM and receive a personalised report detailing their own wellbeing status with developmental suggestions.

Being a wellbeing leader (2-day program). This program is an adapted version of the Being a wellbeing program, that further explores the impact of leadership on wellbeing and introduces leaders to the role they play in creating an environment and culture of wellbeing.

Building a culture of wellbeing (2-day program). This program builds on the leaders understanding of individual wellbeing and provides a framework and the skills to develop a strategy and implementation plan for organisational change. This program also explores the drivers and influencers identified by research to create a culture of wellbeing.

Mental health in the workplace (1-day program). This program has a strong psychoeducational foundation, providing participants with information about the most common mental health issues and a variety of resources that are relevant in the workplace. This program also includes foundational skills for having mental health conversations.

To measure the effectiveness of these programs in creating positive change within individuals and the government department, we used three methods of evaluation:

• Immediate post-course feedback
• Measures of change in thoughts, attitudes and behaviours at three points in time (baseline, time 1, time 2). Baseline represents the pre-measure, time 1 represents 3-months post program follow up, and time 2 represents 6-months post program follow up)
• Measures of self-evaluated wellbeing resources (as measured by the Wellbeing IndicatorTM

Key findings from our evaluation of the programs revealed that 98% of participants would recommend these programs to their colleagues and that more constructive wellbeing beliefs and behaviours that support wellbeing developed and were sustained up to 6 months following the program.

These results highlight that not only were our participants satisfied with their experience of the program but we saw measurable and sustained change in participants beliefs and behaviours around wellbeing. Measures of self-reported wellbeing using the Wellbeing Indicator also highlighted a positive shift in wellbeing over the timeframe of the project, with all seven drivers of wellbeing demonstrating a positive shift.

Post-program changes in wellbeing beliefs and behaviours

Change in leadership and behaviours over time

Change in Wellbeing IndicatorTM over time