Putting employee well being First : caring for your People

 

Introduction

Employee wellbeing encompasses mental, physical, emotional, and economic health, influenced by workplace relationships, resources, and decisions. It's enhanced by a positive culture prioritizing wellbeing, clear tasks, motivation, and benefits like financial support, health aids, and work-life balance measures

Flexible work hours, health insurance plans, yoga classes… Companies increasingly rely on benefits like these to boost employee wellbeing.

By introducing such, employers feel confident that staff gains better work-life balance and feels more positively about their jobs and workplace.

But recently employees have admitted experiencing symptoms of job burnout for reasons ranging from poor management to unmanageable workload to unfair treatment at work.

So despite all, employees do still get overly stressed at work. This negatively impacts both their mental and physical health.

These issues do not only affect individual wellbeing, but also the business as a whole through decreased productivity and performance.

Obstacles to sustaining wellbeing at work

 ·       Leadership Style: Ineffective or toxic leadership is a major contributor to employee stress (Leiter et al., 2018). Micromanagement, lack of clear communication, or failure to recognize and reward contributions can leave employees feeling unsupported, undervalued, and ultimately burned out.

· Workload: Excessive workloads due to under staffing or unrealistic deadlines create constant pressure and anxiety (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2010). This can lead to feelings of inadequacy and difficulty maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

 ·       Reduced Social Support: Hyper-competitive work environments with constant comparisons and a lack of collaboration can be detrimental (Cropanzano et al., 2017). This can lead to isolation, decreased trust, and difficulty seeking help when needed.

·       Task Clarity: Ambiguous roles and responsibilities leave employees confused and unsure of priorities (Piccolo & Colquitt, 2016). This hinders productivity, increases stress, and makes it difficult to achieve full potential.

·       Motivation: Employees who find their work monotonous or lack a sense of purpose are less likely to be engaged (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). This can lead to decreased productivity, higher absenteeism, and ultimately, employee turnover.

Beyond the Workplace:

It's important to acknowledge that personal factors outside of work can also indirectly impact employee wellbeing. Events like relationship issues, family problems, or health concerns can contribute to stress and anxiety, impacting an employee's ability to perform at work.

 Bridging the gap

Know yourself first…

The first step you should take is understanding what your existing culture is really made of and how this affects your workforce on any given day.

Do you support employees when they fail? What do you really measure during employee performance reviews, results or effort?

Sit down with executives and managers to discuss what type of culture you want to create going forward and which parts you would be willing to change. Then, turn to your people for feedback.

Conduct a thorough research to understand employee needs and figure out how you can meet them. Questions you could ask include:

One possible adjustment would be to provide mental health sessions either in the form of subscription to a mindfulness app – for example Headspace – or through personal counselling sessions, and put a pause to food discounts for a while.

Blessings of employee wellbeing

“The employee wellbeing definition refers to the state of employees’ mental and physical health, resulting from dynamics within – and sometimes outside – the workplace”.

In business terms, securing employee wellbeing can translate to:

1.     More productivity: Employee wellbeing boosts productivity and performance. When feeling well, employees display healthier behaviors and better decision-making.

2.     Higher employee morale: Employees feel more competent and valued when their needs are met at all levels, including physical, mental, and financial.

3.     Better talent: When your company has a good reputation in the market as an employer who respects and supports work-life balance, you’re more likely to attract skilled candidates and retain your existing employees for longer periods.

4.     Improved CRM: Happy employees are your best brand ambassadors. If you treat them well, that positive energy will pass on to your customers. Those employees will be motivated to understand how your products and services will best serve customer needs.

 Elements of Employee well being 

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 career wellbeing action items for leaders

•    Help employees discover their strengths
  

Create a culture of high development by using a strength based strategy to design your employee experience, from attraction to performance.

•             Don’t tolerate abusive managers

Remove managers who make employees’ lives miserable. Such managers are a tremendous risk.

•     Develop Managers to be coaches

Move the Manager mindset from being a boss to being a coach who develops employee performance and has regular coaching conversations to provide meaningful feedback

•       Include well being in conversations about career development

Managers and teams that share a bond of trust can begin to have meaningful discussion about wellbeing at work.

Conclusion

The majority of factors that hinder employee wellbeing would hardly exist if managers invested in building effective leadership skills. Understanding the employees’ boundaries and working habits, and respecting their unique needs and motives will help to provide the best opportunities to them.

To support wellbeing at work, build and maintain a workplace culture that makes employees feel safe, a company that feels like a second home. When it’s well thought-out and effectively implemented, you’ll see lower incidences of employee burnout and higher rates of engagement.

 References

• ·       Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2017). Job demands-resources model: 10 years of research and practice. Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 389-418. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-48454-001
• ·       Cropanzano, R., Hofmann, D. A., & Harvey, M. S. (2017). Social exchange theory and the employee experience: An integrative perspective. Academy of Management Annals, 11(1), 1-76. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-54892-003
• ·       Eisenberger, R., Stinglhamber, M., & Hayes, A. F. (2019). Rethinking the Meaning of Work in a Changing World. Harvard Business Review, 97(1), 90-100.