Your how-to: Creating a simple wellness newsletter for employees
A wellness newsletter is a tailored communication tool designed to foster improved mental wellbeing amongst employees in your workplace. Regularly distributed, it contains relevant content that educates, inspires and motivates your staff to prioritise their mental health. It can feature expert advice, personal stories, health-related news, tips for stress management, resources promoting work-life balance, exercises for mindfulness, and recognition of individuals who demonstrate positive mental health practices.
This initiative aligns with the principles laid out by Safe Work Australia in the 'Work Health and Safety Act 2011', which emphasises the employer's responsibility towards maintaining a mentally healthy workplace. The newsletter acts as a practical, engaging, and integral component of a broader workplace wellness strategy, assisting in ongoing dialogue around mental health, reducing stigma, and fostering a positive workplace culture.
Step by step instructions
Identify your Audience: Establish who your target audience within the workplace is; this could be broadly everyone or specific departments/groups. Understanding your audience is vital as it will impact the content, tone, and distribution method of your newsletter.
Assemble a Team: Based on your company size, decide if you need a team to help create the newsletter. This could include a writer, editor, designer, etc. If it’s a small business, you might take on more than one role yourself.
Create a Schedule: Decide on the frequency of the newsletter, whether it will be weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, and stick to it. Consistency is key in communication.
Write the Content: Start writing the content for your first issue. It must be clear, concise, and engaging to keep readers interested. Always proofread for any errors before sending it out.
Define the Objectives: Clarify what you hope to achieve with the newsletter such as raising awareness about mental health, providing resources for self-care, or celebrating initiatives within the company. Having clear objectives aids in creating relevant content and measure success.
Plan the Content Brainstorm the type of content that would be most beneficial. This typically includes but is not limited to, health tips, success stories, mental health resources, company policies promoting mental wellbeing and interviews with experts.
Design the Layout: The design should be attractive and professional, including your company logo, a title, and different sections for various types of content. You might need to use software such as Adobe InDesign or utilise free online tools like Canva.
Distribution of the Newsletter: Decide on the best way to distribute the newsletter to your employees. This might be via email, during meetings, on the company’s internal platform/site or even as a physical print-out in employee common areas.
Use this template to implement
To ensure you can execute seamlessly, download the implementation template.
Pitfalls to avoid
Prior to creating the newsletter, define your purpose clearly. Is it to promote healthy habits, share resources, spotlight employees' wellness journeys or do more? A newsletter without clear objectives may end up being disorganised and uninteresting.
Be mindful of the Privacy Act 1988 in Australia, which requires you to maintain confidentiality of personal information. Privacy must be respected when sharing wellness stories or pictures of employees. It is essential to get written permission before you do so.
Remember, you are communicating with a mixed group of employees, not doctors. Avoiding jargon and keeping your language simple ensures that your message is understood by all employees irrespective of their knowledge about wellness topics.
Just as important as identifying the purpose of the newsletter, is knowing your audience. Your content should resonate with your employees, be relevant to them and meet their wellness needs. For instance, if a large number of your staff are of an older age, including tips focused on younger generations’ wellness could be seen as irrelevant.
One of the key ways to keep your employees engaged with your wellness newsletter is through consistency. Whether weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, decide on the frequency of publishing and stick to it. Sporadic delivery could lead to the waning of employees' interest.
Ensure there is a mix of content types - articles, success stories, healthy recipes, upcoming wellness events, and more. A monotonous newsletter may lose readers' interest.