Building a Wellbeing Economy

In January, we welcomed Shona Glenn back to the BiGGAR Economics team after nearly five years as Head of Policy and Research at the Scottish Land Commission. Shona has returned as the Wellbeing Economy Lead and has outlined what this means in this post.

Wellbeing is a hot topic – but what does a “wellbeing economy” actually look like, and how do we go about building one?

There are of course many ways of answering the first part of that question, each worthy of an article in its own right – but for me a “wellbeing economy” is one that provides opportunities for people to lead fulfilling and purposeful lives and enables them to realise their full potential. The second bit of the question is more difficult.

Having recently taken up a new role leading BiGGAR Economics’ work on the wellbeing economy this is something I’ve been reflecting on a lot recently. I think the route I’ve taken to get here might provide some insight.

It’s been a bit of a convoluted journey. It began almost exactly 13 years ago and involved a detour into the world of public policy that lasted nearly 5 years. I first arrived in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Now the world is reeling from a different crisis, and I have déjà vu.

The thing is, I’m not alone. Of a team of just 12 people (and a dog) three of us – a quarter of the workforce – are returnees. We all left to do other jobs, gained new experience, learned new things – and then came back.

The benefits of this for the organisation are obvious. Our collective experience is richer, our knowledge wider, our understanding deeper and our connections to the outside world stronger than they would otherwise have been. It also feels pretty good at an individual level. More of a homecoming than a new start.

So what?

So, the factor driving this collective professional migration is wellbeing.

BiGGAR Economics is a company that prioritises wellbeing. Not just by having the right policies and procedures in place – but by embedding the warm words they contain in deeds and action. The commitment is real and it’s embedded throughout the company.

That’s important on various levels. Most obviously it makes for a happy workplace. That helps with staff retention (and means that when people do leave, they’re likely to come back!) It also improves performance. People do better work if they feel valued and are more likely to take the kind of creative risks associated with innovation if they know they won’t be blamed if they don’t work out.

But putting wellbeing at the heart of operations has another important dimension.

As a company our mission is to create meaningful impact. One of the main ways we do that is by helping clients to understand, articulate and – crucially – improve their own impact. With impact increasingly defined in terms of wellbeing, having an internal culture that prioritises wellbeing helps us to do that.

When I first joined BiGGAR Economics one of the things that attracted me was a willingness to look beyond traditional metrics of success. This is not a new idea. Since Robert Kennedy spoke his powerful words on the limitations of GNP in 1968 society has been looking for better ways of measuring “that which makes life worthwhile”. But it does feel like things have gained momentum in recent years.

A major step forward came in 2009 with the publication of the report of the Commission on Economic Performance and Social Progress, a technical investigation led by Joseph Stiglitz into the steps that should be taken to improve how we measure performance. One of the main messages in this work was a call to shift emphasis toward wellbeing and away from economic production.

In 2018 a handful of likeminded governments (Iceland, Scotland and New Zealand) heeded this call by establishing the Wellbeing Economy Governments group. Since then the movement has continued to grow – but important questions about how we operationalise wellbeing remain.

Which brings me back to where I started.

If we want to really hard wire wellbeing into our economic model I think we need to work out what it means for different parts of the economy and how different sectors and individual businesses can contribute. Then we need to equip them with practical tools to measure and enhance their impact.

The thing I’ve learned from my round about journey is just how important organisational culture is to doing that. This is not just about implementing good HR practice. Businesses that prioritise wellbeing and establish a culture that supports it are helping their people to develop the skills they need to build wellbeing. In so doing they are, quite literally, constructing the foundations of a wellbeing economy.

My take away?