Professional Development Is a Wellness Program

Traditional professional development plans in libraries may satisfy organizational or certification needs but do not necessarily satisfy employees’ needs, wants, and interests. What if we put employees’ needs and wants center stage by looking at professional development through the lens of an employee well-being program? A well-being program is an investment in the whole person, not just the part that is an employee, and therefore the concept of professional development can easily be built into a well-being program.

Wellness and well-being

The terms wellness and well-being are often used interchangeably. However, well-being includes social, spiritual, and other dimensions that go beyond standard definitions of wellness.

Wellness programs promote healthy lifestyles and disease mitigation or prevention. They concentrate on physical and mental health through programs that promote exercise, improved eating habits, smoking cessation, and regular health checkups.

Wellness programs are intended to produce fewer health care claims, lower health care plan premiums, reduced absenteeism, and increased productivity; better health for the employee is treated as secondary at best, though many employers might balk at that assessment.

On the other hand, robust well-being programs—those that go beyond traditional wellness programs—also provide cost savings and increase productivity, and they help ensure a sense of inclusion and belonging for employees, which in turn improves employee retention. The primary focus should be employees’ overall well-being for the employees’ sake, which will lead to a vibrant, thriving workforce.

Bill Hettler, physician and former director of the University Health Service at University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, cofounded the Institute for Lifestyle Improvement (now the National Wellness Institute). In 1980, Hettler wrote in the journal Family and Community Health about a model of wellness he developed that includes six dimensions: intellectual, emotional, physical, social, occupational, and spiritual. Many organizations have added environmental and financial dimensions, bringing the total to eight.

To ensure a complete and effective employee well-being program, strive to include these eight dimensions:

Physical. Physical activity and healthy habits. The core of traditional wellness programs, this aspect involves encouraging exercise and other physical actions to prevent illness, injury, and chronic health problems. Traditional programs use this wellness component to engender cost savings and reduce absenteeism.

Emotional. A sense of coping with life and having good relationships with others. Traditional programs would call this component mental health and limit it to employee assistance programs that treat mental health issues. That is ­certainly part of emotional wellness, but a well-being program is so much more; it also fosters a sense of well-being both within and outside the organization.

Social. A sense of belonging and connection. With regard to employment, social wellness is not just about being part of an organization. It is the feeling that once you are there, you belong within the organization. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs often stop short of inclusion and don’t do enough to encourage belonging. As consultant and speaker Vernā Myers said about DEI during a 2015 TED talk, “Diversity is being asked to the party, but inclusion is being asked to dance.”

Environmental. The practice of working in surroundings that are encouraging, stimulating, and pleasant. This includes the ergonomics of workstations, for example, but it also involves making sure that the workplace is friendly and accommodating.

Spiritual. Spiritual wellness is not about religious activities, though this may be part of it for an individual employee. Spirituality is about having a purpose and encouraging ethical behavior. Organizational ethics statements and other policies that promote an open and honest relationship with employees and patrons are important here, but most important is how the behaviors those create affect employees.

Financial. The ability to achieve and control one’s individual finances in the present and the future. This includes equitable wages and benefits as well as financial education about organizational opportunities (pensions, retirement savings) and personal financial education.

Intellectual. The ability of employees to recognize and expand their creativity, capabilities, talents, knowledge, and skills. Individuals succeed when they are able to use their innate and learned skills and talents—and nurture others’ ability to do the same.

Occupational. Employees’ satisfaction in the work they do. Satisfaction is not defined by the organization’s standards but by employees’ ability to find fulfillment in their own work.

Professional development as part of well-being

When professional development is part of an overall well-being program, it provides intellectual wellness and occupational wellness, and it can influence the other aspects of wellness. An established professional development program within a well-being program will help retain employees because of their satisfaction with the position and the employer, and it will help recruit new, valuable employees.

To obtain and retain a high-performing and professional staff, libraries must invest in staff development, even if that means the individual may not stay with the organization over the long term. Hire that newly degreed MLIS graduate for a position in which they can get the experience they will need to move on to the next position—even if it is not in your library. This is a win-win-win situation: You get to try out the new employee; the employee gets the experience needed; and if they stay, that’s great, but if they leave for another library, the profession wins by getting an experienced librarian. In other words, prepare your employees to move on to their next best thing, whether your organization can provide that opportunity or not.

If you decide that professional development should be part of your wellness or well-being plan, be prepared for pushback. It’s hard for staff members and leadership to accept change, as we all know, and many will see this as a radical move that does not benefit the library.

Reactions may be split between traditionalist librarians and more forward-thinking ones who understand both the importance of the individual and the importance of furthering the profession and the library community at large.

Of course, there is always the problem of funding. Professional development is seldom well funded and is often one of the first budget line items to be cut. Positioning it as part of well-being may receive better support because it avoids the misconception that professional development funding is used to select individuals to attend a conference as a privilege or reward.

Working with the funding you have at hand or are anticipating also allows you to be creative when approving employee development requests for something the employee is interested in or passionate about. I have approved payment for a short course or seminar, with the employee paying for supplies. I have approved a weekend-long retreat for which the employee is responsible for expenses but is allowed to count the retreat as work time. Always make sure that you comply with state and federal wage and hour laws.

Where to start?

First, a professional development plan is not about goal setting, nor is it a succession plan—although it is adjacent to both. Goal-setting plans are specific job-related goals that are quantifiable and have a short- or long-term timeline. A succession plan is designed to train the employee to assume a pre­determined future position’s requirements and responsibilities. Nor is a professional development plan a tuition reimbursement plan, though that certainly may be part of it.

To be successful and offer the employee autonomy, a professional development plan should be determined by the employee’s interests, ambitions, and occupational desires. It should be structured collaboratively with the employee and manager, with a review for funding approval.

We have developed a learning road map with paths, or learning stops, that the employee envisions with input from their supervisor or an identified coach. The road map is a plan for how the employee can reach their dream or achieve their learning goals. It is a series of learning goals to be achieved on the employee’s pathway to success. While a road map needs to relate to the work of the organization, it may not pertain to a specific position and may be measurable in either qualitative or quantitative ways.

To develop a learning road map, the employee should think about the following:

• What do I want to learn? Why is it important to me?
• What is the first learning stop or step? What do I want to do first?
• Who are the people who want to help me? What community do I need to reach out to? What resources are available?
• How will I know when I am finished? How will I know when I have learned what I want to know? What does success look like?

Example of a learning road map: “I want to become the person to whom people go with questions about adult literacy.”

Not an example of a learning road map: “Within six months, I will increase the number of books I read by 50%.”

Here are a few examples of learning road maps we have approved:

• A library branch’s customer service representative (a full-time circulation clerk) wanted to take belly-dancing lessons. She explained she would use that skill to conduct weekly exercise classes for patrons at the library. She documented what she wanted to achieve, how and when she would take the class, the cost, and how the request supported the library’s goal of contributing to a healthy community. Her request for funding was approved—it was not expensive—and she completed the training on her own time. She went on to conduct weekly belly-dance exercise sessions at her branch.
• A readers’ advisory staff member at our central library requested tuition assistance for a certification in therapeutic poetry composition. She documented what she wanted to achieve, the time frame, and the cost, and related it to our programs for teens and at-risk youth. We approved some tuition assistance and some work time for the training. She achieved the certification and began to work with our teens. She ultimately moved on to another organization, but her work with the library benefited many patrons.
• A children’s assistant asked to attend an out-of-state workshop on the drawing and painting of insects. She is an artist and has done many art programs. She documented what she wanted to achieve, the time commitment and cost, and how it related to her position as well as to the library’s newly redesigned children’s garden. We approved the workshop cost and time, and she assumed the travel and accommodation costs.

Professional development plans should be individualized and encourage both learning (intellectual wellness) and skills development (occupational wellness), but they will likely impact other aspects of wellness as well. The onus should be on the employee to determine what they want to achieve and how to achieve it, the budget needed, how a manager can assist, and how the plan relates to departmental or overall library goals.

Restructuring your professional development program as part of a well-being program will change employees’ sense of belonging in the organization and encourage professional and personal growth. It will improve work satisfaction, retention levels, and productivity; encourage new programming; reduce wasted development funding; attract new employees; and, yes, improve employees’ wellness and well-being.