A Finnish project was the first project in the world to promote occupational wellbeing with funding from a social impacts bond (SIB). Over the past two years, several governmental offices in southwestern Finland (covering 1,600 civil servants) have benefited from prevention measures and an awareness programme. Halfway through the programme, the average number of days of sick leave has been reduced by one day per person, per year, thus achieving one-half of the programme’s total goal.

As part of its People and Standards modernisation strategy, Malta’s Employee Support Programme aims to meet the needs of public employees who are dealing with problems that could interfere with their work/life balance. It provides confidential and short-term psychological counselling. It also dispenses training to managers about workplace wellbeing.

At the consulting group PwC France, implementing an active policy for workplace flexibility was an obvious solution. It initially created “nomadic agreements” for its employees working at its clients’ premises in order to give them greater flexibility. Gradually, the nomadic agreements have been extended to job roles that require less mobility. Without needing specific approval from their line managers, employees can work remotely up to six days a month.