Wellness Action Plan (WAP) Manager Guide
What is a Wellness Action Plan?
A WAP is a personalised, practical tool that as managers we can all use with our team members – whether there is a mental health challenge or not. It helps us identify what keeps our teams well at work, what causes them to become unwell and the agreed support we can offer to boost wellbeing or support people through recovery.
A WAP documents and outlines the practical and reasonable steps that may be required to stay well at work or manage a mental health problem. It also opens up a discussion between you, the manager and your member, to help gain a better understanding of their challenges and experiences and therefore agree reasonable solutions to better support their wellbeing.
WAPs are also particularly helpful during the return to work process, when someone has been off work due to a mental health problem, as they provide a structure for conversations around what support will help and what reasonable adjustments might be useful to consider.
How will the WAP benefit my team members?
Utilising a WAP will create an opportunity to explore a range of solutions to support a colleagues wellbeing. A WAP can help employees to develop approaches to support their mental wellbeing, leading to a reduced likelihood of problems.
If a colleague does experience a mental health problem, together the colleague and you the manager can discuss what support and practical solutions could help and is an effective tool to start conversations.
The WAP is not only a tool to support colleagues when they are experiencing problems - it also helps identify how an individual’s wellbeing can be proactively improved.
What does a WAP include?
- The approaches an individual can adopt to support their mental wellbeing
- Early warning signs of poor mental health to look out for
- Any workplace situations which spark poor mental health or excessive stress
- Potential impact of poor mental health on thier performance, if any
- What reasonable support is needed from you, their manager
- Agreed actions and positive steps you will both take if the individual is experiencing stress or poor mental health
- An agreed time to review the WAP and any support measures which are in place
- Anything else that they feel would be useful in supporting your mental health
The WAP is a working document and is subject to change. You and the team member will work through the form to agree on deliverable and reasonable ways of working, including reasonable adjustments in order to promote positive mental health or address any existing mental health needs.
The Wellness Action Plan
The WAP consists of 8 questions and the form is available separately.
Manager Tips:
By allowing the individual to take ownership of the process and of the WAP itself, this will empower them to feel more invested in their own wellbeing.
As a manager, encourage and support your team members to develop their WAP.
You could start by:
- Asking your team member to read the WAP Guidance for employees and to then complete the WAP form (in draft) as outlined in their guidance.
- Scheduling some time to discuss their draft WAP with you and finalise it based on these discussions
- By regularly reviewing the agreed, practical steps in the WAP, a manager can support a team member to adapt it to reflect their experiences or new approaches they find helpful.
- Once the WAP has been agreed, factor in some time during your catch- ups or 1-to-1’s to review the WAP and make any necessary changes. The WAP is most effective when treated as a live, flexible document, so a regular ‘feedback loop’ with your team member to assess what is and isn’t working is an important part of the process.
- Your role as a manager is to discuss their plan with them and provide reasonable support. This may include seeking guidance from their HR representative on what is possible for any reasonable adjustments.
Confidentiality
The WAP meeting should be held confidentially between mangager and colleague, with the colleague being made fully aware of how the information will be used, and therefore providing information that they are happy to share. If the colleague is filling out a WAP as a result of being unwell, you may ask whether they would consent for a copy of it to be held with HR along with any other information about thier wellbeing, such as an Occupational Health report or a Return to Work plan.
Remember
We are often the experts on our own mental health and the support or adjustments we may need. The WAP provides the space and structure to explore this.
Important note: In order to fulfil NEXT’s duty of care to keep all employees safe at work, we are obliged to break confidentiality if an individual is experiencing a crisis.