A strategic re-set—Sustaining public service well-being

Impact
This article explores how public servants’ well-being can be supported and enhanced strategically and sustainably. The author contemplates how a more strategic, proactive approach will benefit the public service over the medium to long term. Policy-makers, line managers and human resource professionals should consider the psycho-social well-being of public servants when organizing work and designing jobs. The significant cost in the UK of spiralling absenteeism, staff burnout and turnover must be compared to the investment required to prevent these issues. The author calls for appreciating the value of reasonable and sustainable job expectations, autonomous jobs, and sufficient feedback to further continuous growth and engagement. Challenging, fulfilling and balanced jobs support well-being, resilience and performance—ultimately ensuring trustworthy public service delivery to all citizens.

Abstract
This article investigates the multi-faceted nature of the current mental health crises in the UK’s public sector. Addressing the issue is complex due to restricted resources and financial pressures. The harmful outcomes to the public service, the individuals affected, and the significant cost to the public purse necessitate a systematic and strategic approach, rather than a reactive, treatment-focused approach. This calls for a more sustainable, long-term way of thinking about public sector well-being (PSW) which is more aligned with achieving the UN’s Sustainability Goal 3 (Well-being) by 2030. The article contributes thoughts about sustainable people management in the public sector (public servants) by synthesizing previous discourse from strategic thinking, psychology and economics. The author recommends a future-orientated, integrated interdisciplinary research agenda into PSW, rather than regression into a reactive model of fixing poor well-being.