Assessing Your Occupational Wellness
Wellness Wheel Diagram outlining Occupational Wellness as one of the 8 factors of overall wellness.
Amidst The Great Resignation, you have likely wondered if you could be happier in your work, pondered a job change, or even a more significant career transition. We know that because study after study points to Covid-19 being a setback for women in the workforce, women are a leading segment of workers resigning from their jobs. But not all women are dropping out of the workforce entirely. In a recent interview with Time, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Rolanksy said their data shows a “Great Reshuffle” is happening with professionals changing jobs up 54% over last year. Those under 24 are most likely to be on the move.
We are all strong proponents of health and wellbeing. Because occupational wellness is a part of your overall wellness, we have put together a framework for you to assess your wellness based on what you value most.
REMINDER: everyone needs a village of resources to take care of their overall wellness. Please reach out to professional counselors, life coaches, and therapists. Our goal here is to empathize as fellow WIID and share our crowd-sourced information and opinions on what we consider in Occupational Wellness.
“We cannot pick and choose everything we want. Life doesn’t work that way, but we can prioritize what is best for ourselves and see that as a guide.”
Elements of Occupational Wellness
It is unrealistic that you will meet every element at your highest standard at all times in your career. Reflect on what really matters to you. Expand each section to understand what falls under each area.
Which of these are most important to you in this season of your life? Are those needs being met in your current role?
Adapted from undraw.co
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Do you have the appropriate resources you require to survive as a human being and an employee?
Basic human needs: I have adequate access to food, water, bathrooms, etc.
Expectations: I know what success or failure means for this job.
Tools & equipment: I have an appropriate space to work with a computer, software, and other tools I need to do my job.
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Do you feel you have a complete picture of safety in your work environment?
Health & wellness: I have the ability to obtain physical and mental health services that cover my needs.
Physical safety: I feel that my work environment is physically safe. This could be anything from Covid-19 policies, to model shop safety rules, to the location of the office being somewhere that you feel safe to commute to.
Financial security: My compensation is adequate to meet my personal financial needs and goals.
Emotional safety: There is encouragement of self-care, allowance to seek wellness services you need, and the work environment does not cause me emotional damage.
Life balance flexibility: I have the allowance to put the level of focus that you want to on your life outside of work.
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Does the culture feel inclusive, supportive, and respectful?
Encouragement: Others around me support my efforts, both in success and failure.
Friendship: I have personal relationships with mutual trust, support, and enjoyment.
Caring: My company provides support that makes me feel cared for. Employees act with concern for each other.
Advocates: There are people that are advancing agendas that I care about.
Respect: There is equitable regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others. Opinions of all matter—they are heard and counted.
Equity in opportunity: Everyone is provided with opportunities to allow them to succeed. Note that this is different than “equal” opportunity.
Trust: I have confidence in the truthfulness of the words and actions of the company and its employees.
Teamwork: My colleagues are committed to doing quality work in collaboration with me and other coworkers.
Representation: There is diversity and allyship at all levels of the organization that feels adequately represent your interests.
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Do you feel appropriately appreciated for your contributions?
Appreciation is different from recognition, which could be exemplified by an award for a great job done or a certification for the completion of a training.
Rather, appreciation highlights how an act or behavior was purposeful. This display of gratitude is done best in the moment display of gratitude. It should acknowledge both the good performance and what is valued about the individual person.
Appreciation doesn’t come only top-down, from a boss to a direct report, but should be across all levels and at any time.
The most important part of a good appreciation culture is that people are tailoring it to how the individual wants to receive it. “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace”, by Gary Chapman, gives a framework for methods of appreciation. We’ve listed these and provided examples of what that could look like in your workplace:
Words of Affirmation:
Verbal praise in a public forum
Encouraging words in a private forum
Acknowledgment of their skills and contribution from coworkers or manager
Loves reading reviews when consumers mention the great design
Is able to preserve if given thanks for their work
Email from an XF team member with words of thanks
Quality Time
Appreciates undivided attention from manager or coworkers
Loves when someone stops by to see how they are doing during a stressful day
Gets through a difficult task because others show genuine interest to listen
Appreciates happy hours and hang out time with coworkers
Gets motivated by doing something special together as a team after a project is complete
Acts of Service
Gets motivated by group efforts when others all pitch in with enthusiasm
Appreciates when a supervisor or coworker frees up their time to focus on a big project
During a crunch, encouraged by assistance in a way that the person wants to be helped
Encouraged when people do small favors
Is motivated if someone order in dinner when the team is working late, so they can stay focused
Manager or coworker helps to get their IT issues solved so that they can stay on task
The manager helps to protect their time from interruptions
Tangible Gifts
Enjoys when you take them to lunch and that you picked a gluten-free vegan place just for them
When life gets difficult, they appreciate a card the team customized or a gif of their favorite flowers
Someone sends them a link or brings them a book related to their personal interest or hobby
Appreciates when their boss allows them time off after a tough project is complete
Is motivated when given gift cards, free tickets, product samples as an act signifying a job well done
Physical Touch
High-five from a team member after completing an arduous task
A firm handshake of congratulations from a person in a top leadership position
A comforting hand on your shoulder during a difficult time
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Are you supported in your professional development and see the company growing?
Opportunity to learn and grow: I am able to gain exposure, experience, and training. I have genuine support and encouragement for your growth. For example, having access to mentors, being offered stretch projects, or time to learn and practice the latest features of a software.
Team growth: I see that my team is advancing in ways I expect. For example, your team participates in setting goals and actions for the future and then works toward those.
Discussion of progress: Someone has talked to me about my progress, at least in the last six months. If no one has set this up, I know who I can request to talk to about my progress.
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Is your organization transparent, clear, and accountable for their actions?
Commitment: Goals set at all levels in my company.
Heard: I am given an opportunity to provide feedback.
Actions: I see action toward plans outlined by my organization.
Transparency: I know what plans my organization has and how that drives the decisions they make. For example, I have access to information to understand the company's financial health as much as I am legally allowed to know.
Truth: My organization, and the people that work there, have honest practices.
Progress: I see that my company is evolving in ways that I expect.
Mission & Purpose: I know my organization's mission and the purpose of my role toward that mission. I want to be a part of that.
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Do you feel that being in this job is helping you to fulfill your personal and professional potential?
I am becoming the best version of myself in this job.
I know who I am serving, and I want to do that work.
I know what I am creating, and I am proud of that.
I am not in my job due to fear of getting in my own way of what I really want.
What’s next?
You’ve done the reflection and identified areas that aren’t up to your expectations. Before you jump to job hunting outside your company, you may want to ask yourself if there would be a reason to stay.
Can you brainstorm ways for there to be improvements in areas where you see deficits? Are there mini-goals you could act on to get you toward your expectations within your current company?
Can you ask for help? Have you taken the initiative to talk to your boss or another leader about those deficit areas to explore together what could be changed? Have you asked for what you want and need? Is it available at your company?
Do you see indicators of change to sense that things will be different, and do you want to see what that may look like?
What do you love about your current job, and are you willing to trade that? Are you willing to rebuild your connections, reputation, and relationships in a new path?
Will a transition come with a financial cost that you can afford right now?
Are the challenges you are finding in your current situation going to follow you even if you switch companies?
Are there elements of your current job that will get you to your ultimate career goal, even if it is not ideal right now? For example, are you getting experience, certification, funding, or other reasons to stick it out.
“A big part of your success at work comes from being happy and comfortable with where you live and with the people around you.”
Personal Stories of Job Transition
The catalyst for a job transition will be different for everyone. We are sharing these personal stories in case they resonate with you, so you know that you are not alone. We’ve anonymized the stories to protect the women sharing. Click on each heading to read more.
“What I personally look for in a job at this stage in my life: Will the the company be profitable and stable to provide healthcare, maternity leave, and dependent care benefits?”
Growth within the same role
Transitions don't have to mean leaving a company. I was comfortable, maybe too much so. I always have been someone to create a challenge for myself if I'm feeling stagnant, so I wasn't even looking for a change.
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An opening came up in another group where I would have the same title, but a totally new challenge. With a lot of fear attached, I took the role, and it was definitely the right move.
There was no way for me to have known beforehand just how much more I was able to learn on this new team. Having a new boss can be great for getting new perspective. Working on a new category of products meant learning new users, materials, and constraints.
My fear of change and unknown almost kept me from making a really positive change.
It was always part of my plan
My transition was in the making for a long time. The job I was moving from was in a specialized industry - very niche. It was also my first Industrial Designer position after graduating, so I knew I had to go with what I could get, as ID can be a competitive field to get into.
The perfect team
I asked myself questions that let me know I was ready to transition from my first design job. Bear in mind, that I had a gap where I was freelancing and working at a coffee shop between the two jobs!
Is my team fun, sociable, accepting, and collaborative?
Are there people to learn from and are they interested to teach me?
Does the company value industrial design in a way I find to be meaningful (aka, not just stylists)?
Are there women in leadership positions.
Is the company growing and shifting or staying stagnant?
Is the design team active in the design community outside of work?
Does the company respect employee work-life balance?
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From the outset, I knew that I would not want to stay for too long, as my goals at the time (and still) were to design products that involved different technologies and manufacturing processes so I could learn as much as possible – broaden my knowledge, so I can apply it in the future. This first job position was also in my hometown, which I didn’t want to stay in for too long.
During my time there, I met some wonderful people, and I did learn plenty; especially all the soft skills you pick up by just having general work experience. This was my main reason for sticking it out for a couple of years there. However, as my knowledge grew of the industry, so did my knowledge of what to expect from an employer. I was being managed by people who did either did not have enough experience or did not have a lot of knowledge within design, as I had hoped.
The industry and the processes involved in getting a product ‘out of the door’ were almost stifling - there was not a lot of respect for design or creative processes, and I had almost no one to talk to when it came to needing inspiration. The atmosphere itself was not a very inspiring one either, and most of my work was task based, so very repetitive, unchallenging, and not a lot material to be learning about. There was no room to grow within the business as it was not design focused, my managers didn’t have a lot of power to make any helpful changes, I wasn’t receiving the design mentorship that I wished for, being a junior, and quite frankly, I was not being paid enough.
All of this, coupled with my initial feelings about entering a niche industry in the wrong town, was more than enough to keep me searching for a new role. All these things that I mentioned are what I watched out for when looking for a new role – I desperately needed positive, experienced people to learn from, in an environment that respected, is responsible for and put money into creating a better future through the industry that they are in.
Lack of adequate childcare forced me out of design
The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics says we are at the lowest labor participation rate since the 1970’s. This is due in part to the lack of adequate childcare coupled with companies not giving flexibility that caregivers need. With childcare centers shut permanently and over 110,000 childcare workers leaving the profession this past Feb - Sept, this has forced some designers with children to leave their career.
Design educator and mom, Dr. Louise Manfredi, told the Wall Street Journal that inadequate availability to childcare forced her out of the creative workforce to care for her infant daughter.
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Neither the state nor her large scale employer has accountability to ensure enough care options are available to accommodate the need. She woefully tried everything to find an alternative solution in time to meet the employer deadline of return but was unsuccessful.
"It feels incredibly demoralizing. All I’ve ever done is study and work towards this job," said Ms. Manfredi. "I’m stuck in a holding pattern that I didn’t put myself in." She worries that her students might be discouraged by her professional situation.
It may look different globally, but in United States, we have a serious challenge for caregivers who want to continue their career but are struggling to work around inadequate availability to care.
I toughed it out, because there is life beyond work
I was at a design job that had a trifecta of wrongness where I knew I needed out. Employees would make political, religious, and homophobic statements and taunt others into their one-sided debates with no one in management doing anything about it, because they were usually joining the discussion. It was shocking and I was likely too inexperienced to even know how to address this horrific workplace behavior beyond putting my head down and not engaging. I was bored with the repetitive work that didn’t challenge my creativity. The work was focused on corrugated packaging and I wanted to design consumer products.
BUT it paid well, I was friends with a few amazing female coworkers, and it was a job that rarely ever went past a forty-hour week. I had enough energy left over that I was able to seek out passions outside of work.
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I taught design at a college at night, freelanced, took fun classes, went to the gym, and had a social life. They were even supportive of my outside interests. For example, they let me use their equipment at work to produce things for myself. Because they supported my side hustles and self-care, I stuck it out for just over a year after I knew I wanted to move on.
PS. That office shut down a few years after I left, so no one has to worry about ending up there.
Geographic location
After I met my forever partner, I knew we would want to relocate to be near family if we ever wanted a family of our own. Switching career paths from industrial design to strategic design is a hard move, but definitely achievable with professional support.
Boredom
When I transitioned from my last job there wasn't anything really "wrong", but I felt like I wasn't learning anymore.
Mental & financial security
Coming out of a year where I pushed myself harder than I ever had, all I was looking for in a next job was security and the ability to work on my mental health.
I had been freelancing and I took jobs for many different reasons. Sometimes I loved the company, sometimes I knew the sketches would look amazing in a portfolio, other times I knew the impact lived beyond the product, but most of the time, it was at a cheapened rate, because rent was due in two weeks.
Combo of red flags
I think that sometimes people don't see the red flags in their professional environment. Here are some that I consider to be a sure sign:
The work is not challenging anymore. When you feel you're reproducing a skill and not looking for new solutions to real problems.
When the work takes more time than what it's acceptable. It shows the company doesn't care about you.
When your leadership does not recognize your work.
Poor management and bad leadership.
When you don't feel heard, and your concerns are not considered.
My company left me, thank goodness
I had a previous job that is a great example of prioritizing what was important to me in that season on my life. Looking back, there were plenty of things that were not ideal, but because the company was truly design led, I was learning a ton, and I was able to live in a city I loved, I was not looking to move on. For example, there was a strict dress code, so I couldn’t wear anything casual, like jeans, and I hated having to invest in clothes I only wore to work that I didn’t feel like myself in. I had to commute over an hour by car, which killed my after-work social life and drove me crazy sitting in traffic every day.
What I didn’t realize was that the company was in bad financial shape because they didn’t share information on performance with employees. The company had a massive layoff, which included many in new product development, including all of design. I had been so convinced of the design-led nature of the company, but it was design that was let go when things got tough.
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This was at a time that many, many people were losing their jobs in an economic downturn, so finding my next career move did not come easy. To bridge the gap, I did freelance projects and worked hourly at a retail store and gardening center (which I actually loved, but it paid next to nothing.)
I was forced to reevaluate what was important. When I finally found a new role months later, I felt more confident in their stability, since it was at a company that was more diversified and had a larger design team. I had to leave the city, friends, and family I loved for a move across the country and well as make my long-distance relationship with my partner ever longer distance.
It turned out to be the right move for reasons I had not originally even been targeting in my job search. I had never worked on a team that had more than a handful of designers. Having such a large and talented team meant that I could learn from a ton of people and a lot of opportunity in variety of projects to work on. It also meant that, for the first time, I was working with other women industrial designers and the team was more diverse in general than my previous roles.
More Resources
So You are Thinking About Quitting Your Job, podcast from Harvard Business Review, Women at Work, Nov 1, 2021.
Why is everyone quitting, and how do I know whether it’s time to leave my job? Washington Post, Oct 13, 2021.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Industrial Designers, updated Oct 28, 2021.
What’s Next for the Design Studio? Innovation Magazine, IDSA, Fall 2021.
Women in the Workplace, McKinsey & Company study 2021.