How to use R U OK? Day to build a culture of check-ins, not checklists
Every September, many of us do R U OK? Day beautifully: morning teas, posters, yellow ribbons. For a moment the room feels lighter. Then Monday arrives. Meetings stack up. Deadlines bite. The poster fades. What happens next is what matters.
A healthy culture is built in ordinary moments after the event. The shift is simple to say and hard to do: move “Are you OK?” from an annual campaign to a daily habit. That means short, human conversations embedded in how work runs, regularly, safely, and with a clear next step when someone says, “Actually, I’m not.”
The 60-Second Check-In
Make check-ins routine, brief, and expected. Open one-to-ones with a human minute before tasks. When someone opens up, follow a simple flow: ask, listen longer than feels comfortable, agree on one practical next step, and book a time to circle back.
The Zone of Helpfulness
Safety relies on balance. Under-involvement looks like silence, rushing past distress, or outsourcing care to posters and policies. Over-involvement looks like rescuing, interrogating, or trying to be a counsellor. Aim for the zone of helpfulness: present, with boundaries, practical. Notice, listen, connect people to the right pathway—don’t carry their story home.
Leaders Hardwire It
Leaders make this real by building it into the workflow. Add “wellbeing check-in” to agendas and retros. Include it in onboarding and leadership scorecards. Make pathways obvious: QR codes, short links, phone numbers. Close the loop with metrics that matter—psychological safety pulse, time-to-care, and follow-up rates—not cupcake counts.
Employees Make It Real
Culture isn’t HR’s job alone. If a colleague goes quiet after a tough client call, try a plain sentence: “I noticed today was heavy—how are you, really?” You don’t need a speech; you need presence. If they want support, walk with them to the next step—booking EAP, asking for a small adjustment, planning a debrief—and check back within 48 hours. Trust grows in the follow-up.
Avoid the Traps
One-off awareness with no follow-through breeds cynicism. Forced sharing erodes safety. Vague promises without clear pathways create risk. Equally risky is toxic positivity—the idea that the only acceptable response is “I’m fine.” A healthy culture sounds different: people can say “I am stretched” without penalty; plans adjust when pressure spikes; teams debrief and capture what they’ll do differently next time.
What Good Looks Like
Conversations feel normal and short, not rare. People seek help earlier. EAP usage sits in healthy ranges instead of spiking only after crises. Managers can explain, specifically, how they handle check-ins and where they escalate. Over time, trust nudges up, surprises nudge down.
Start small and keep it consistent. Schedule a recurring 15-minute team check-in. Open every one-to-one with a human minute and finish with, “What one step helps before we meet again?” Publish your support pathways. Review the data monthly and adjust. Stay curious and kind, with boundaries.
R U OK? Day is the spark. Culture is what you do next. Build the habit of check-ins, stay in the zone of helpfulness—not under- or over-involved—and make conversations the way you work, all year.
If you need support designing check-ins that stick (not just on the day), get in touch with us, and we’ll map it with you: