Investing In Staff Health & Wellbeing When Finances Are Tight
The article below by Patient Choice looks at how often employee health initiatives and reward programs are the first to go in business when things get a little tight. Cutting back on health in the workplace however may be the worst thing you can do for your business.
You might think that when finances are tight for businesses, staff wellbeing initiatives would be the among the first things to be axed to save money. However, research suggests that this isn’t necessarily true.
A recent survey has shown that businesses feel that investment in staff wellbeing is still worth it, despite, and in some cases because of, the recession. In fact, more than half believe it is ‘more important’ in the current financial climate. These were the findings of research undertaken by the Institute for Employment Studies.
The snapshot research which surveyed 50 employers showed that the issue of wellbeing at work is high on the long-term agendas of a range of companies.
Responses collected from employers in both the public and private sectors suggested that businesses recognise the importance of continuing to focus on staff wellbeing in the downturn, through providing training, improving communication at all levels and through the creation or implementation of solid underlying HR policies.
Claire Tyers, Associate Director leading the Work, Health and Wellbeing research team at the Institute for Employment Studies, commented: “Employers appear to have accepted that improving wellbeing has positive implications for staff efficiency and, ultimately, the profitability of their business.
“Therefore there is no reason to lose focus on the issue during the recession – in fact the reverse is true – it becomes more important than ever to keep people at work and working at their best when they are there.”
Investing in staff wellbeing
Having healthy staff will actually save you money in the long run. There are a number of cost-efficient ways you can invest in staff wellbeing:
- Allow flexible working. Staff allowed to work flexibly often report feeling less stressed.
- Subsidise fresh fruit or other healthy eating initiatives at work.
- Offer a flexible benefits package including medical insurance. Research has shown that private healthcare insurance is the second most important benefit to staff, after a pension.
- Organise office sport teams or a sponsored walk for charity.
- Improve communication at work and make sure staff know they can speak to someone in confidence if they have any problems.
- Make sure staff are well trained so that they feel confident and happy in their work.
Investing in staff wellbeing means investing in your business. Cutting back on it when finances are tight could end up being nothing but a false economy.
How Cooking Classes Can Boost Employee Health & Wellness
This article by Venturi’s Table looks at how encouraging staff to get involved in cooking can boost their performance and from where I stand, their health and wellness. Imagine your team learning in a safe and supportive environment how to prepare food in a hurry, what good for them nutritionally and how to eat well every day. What impact would a vibrant and energy filled workforce have on your business? On site cooking classes is one way to do this.
When you think about team building events, cookery might not be the first activity that springs to mind. However, corporate cookery classes can be an excellent way to boost team morale and improve your business.
Firstly, let’s look at the problems that poor teamwork can cause. Issues include:
- High staff turnover
- De-motivated staff
- Poor performance
- Reduced profits
- Reduced creativity
How Can Corporate Cookery Classes Help?
When they are taking a cookery class, teams must work together to create an enjoyable meal from scratch – after all, they will be eating it at the end. They will need to play to individuals’ strengths, communicate well and help others.
Doing a task such as a cookery class is a great way for staff members to get to know each other. In many businesses it’s quite possible that some people never actually meet face to face, or at least not regularly. Focusing on a specific activity allows even shy people to get involved and open up.
Cookery and Creativity
Corporate cookery classes have also been credited with helping to unleash employee creativity. This is especially true in creative industries such as advertising, marketing or design.
With the constant pressure to come up with one brilliant idea after another, media companies are cottoning on to the fact that creativity can be stifled by the environment of the office and boardroom or tired brainstorming practices. Companies are realising they must create the right atmosphere for ideas and ‘place’ is the new buzz word.
Research suggests that we have our best ideas when we are at our most relaxed, sometimes not are even thinking and normally nowhere near the office. Inspiration at work can easily be suffocated by characterless desks, computers and powerpoint presentations. A corporate cookery class can help release the flow of ideas by relaxing people and opening them up to the creative process. The hands-on cooking and delicious smells also serve to distract from work issues, allowing people to then return to it with fresh eyes.
Because cookery team building events are sensory, hands-on and invigoratingly non-stuffy, they are the perfect way to get staff feeling more creative again.
We can help your office get healthy by organising fun, interactive and educational cooking classes on site. Contact us to find out more about how simple food information can transform the health and wellness of your staff.
Stress & Overwork Affect Employer & Employee’s Health
In this article Legiant looks at how stress and overwork negatively impact productivity, morale and corporate health in the workplace.
Stress and overwork are terms commonly heard in the business world. Even though some people believe that stress helps them work better and working lots of hours is great, it’s actually damaging to both your health and your business. It’s common for people to view people who work too much as heroes in the business community, but not allowing yourself time outside of work can have numerous negative effects.
Many people take overwork very lightly and see it as “the more hours you work the better it is for the business” when in fact, studies have shown that the first 40 hours a week are worth much more to the company than the next 20 or 30 thirty extra hours. Some executives work sixteen hour days, getting up incredibly early, leaving the office very late, and taking plenty of calls on the drive to and from work. All of this work makes it difficult to have any personal time to relax and recharge your batteries so you can return to work feeling motivated and ready to be productive. Arriving at the office at 6am and leaving at 9pm sends a signal to other employees that this is what is acceptable and expected at this company, when it most definitely shouldn’t be. Working too much can pose many stress-related health risks as well as damage personal relationships outside of work. People who work in the medical field as doctors, surgeons or nurses are more and more likely to make potentially life-threatening mistakes for every hour extra that they work. In 2008, an overworked medical staff made approximately 4,000 avoidable errors in a year. Even though not everyone’s job has the safety of others depending on their success, errors made by anyone due to overwork can be major and difficult to clean up. So, instead of working those extra thirty hours a week, take some time to prioritize things so you can fit your work into a more reasonable amount of hours.
If you work in a place where stress is considered a helpful motivator, you might need to take a step back. Stress causes terrible damage that can be both physical and mental. Even if you think your stressful work environment helps you get everything done, you might need to think about your health for a moment. People who experience chronic stress are more likely to develop stomach problems, sleep problems, heart disease, depression, obesity, and skin conditions such as excema. Your body cannot distinguish between physical and psychological threats, so if you’re stressed over your busy work schedule your body is likely to react as it would in a serious life-or-death situation. In many cases, stress seems to sneak up on people and sink in so slowly that you might not even notice until one day you break down. The breakdown response could be in an agitated, depressed or a tense frozen response. In one case an employee at an IT company got so stressed that he had a stroke. The man went to the hospital and returned a few days later and had another stroke the day he returned. Your stress levels may not be causing you any physical harm yet, but if it builds up enough it definitely will.
The best way to avoid overworking and getting stressed out is to manage your time efficiently. Make to-do lists to keep yourself on track. It might not seem very helpful but it will keep you focused and aware of what has to get done that day. The to-do list can also help you stay on a 40 hour work week schedule. Another thing you can do is actually use your vacation time if the company you are working for offers it. Taking a few days off here and there can reduce stress and keep you from working too much. If your company uses an automated time and attendance system, plan out your vacation days months in advance so you can guarantee that you will get the time off and you don’t have to stress about having a last minute leave request approved. If you feel like you have no time during the day and you don’t think you could ever fit your work week into forty hours, write down everything you do and how long it took you to complete that task. You might notice that you’re spending a combined two hours taking coffee breaks or socializing with coworkers! If you have it written down in front of you, it’s much easier to see exactly where your time is going.
Stress and overwork can be damaging and costly for both businesses and employees within the business. Don’t let yourself slip into a stressed, overworked breakdown. Prioritize your responsibilities and keep your health in check and you may find that you’re much happier and even more productive than you were before.
Workforce Wellness Investments Improve Production
Here, Noel Stapinsky talks about common issues workers have with their health and wellbeing and how employers can promote an essential culture of heath and wellbeing in their workplace.
About one in five Canadians will suffer from mental health issues, and although many manage it on their own, the topic of mental illness remains taboo and hidden from employers and coworkers because of their personal nature.
“About 10 per cent of the working population in Canada has a mental disorder, which is responsible for about $17 billion in productivity losses each year.” says Dr. Carolyn Dewa, CAMH’s head of the work and well-being research and evaluation program and conference chair. “That’s why it’s crucial that companies that want to attract and keep workers acknowledge and address the work environment and provide necessary supports to ensure the health and well-being of their employees.”
About one in five Canadians will suffer from mental health issues, and although many manage it on their own, the topic of mental illness remains taboo and hidden from employers and coworkers because of their personal nature.
“About 10 per cent of the working population in Canada has a mental disorder, which is responsible for about $17 billion in productivity losses each year.” says Dr. Carolyn Dewa, CAMH’s head of the work and well-being research and evaluation program and conference chair. “That’s why it’s crucial that companies that want to attract and keep workers acknowledge and address the work environment and provide necessary supports to ensure the health and well-being of their employees.”
“In automotive plants, for example, it’s usually male dominant, they’re tough… they don’t want to talk about their feelings,” says Sari Sairanen, national health and safety director for the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union.
Breaking down the communication barrier is imperative.
“Over the years, mental health has never been something that people have felt comfortable talking about,” says Karen Seward, executive vice-president of business development and marketing at Shepell fgi, a workplace health and productivity solutions provider. “I think the barrier around it is the stigma of it being mental and cognitive, that makes it harder for people to understand it.”
Seward says companies can help by having the managers be aware of mental health issues, look for the signs and symptoms and be able to help support employees. It’s important for managers to know what resources are available to support someone suffering from a mental illness.
“What we find is two things: either people won’t talk about it in the work place or conversely, people who’ve been diagnosed leave the workplace because it’s too hard for them to explain it and get a support system internally,” says Seward.
In 1999, General Motors Canada established its Motoring to Wellness program and Ford Motor Co. launched its Drive for Wellness. These sites offer mental health information, quizzes, self assessments and contests. They engage the employees and open up dialogue on these issues.
Both GM and Ford offer wellness rooms where employees can pick up information.
By supplying the appropriate resources—through a web site, employee information room, newsletters or by training supervisors on how to identify mental health issues—getting the appropriate help for employees before issues escalate.
Appropriate return to work strategies should be used to ease the transition and ensure the health and safety of the employees.
For a company like Direct Energy, it’s a bit more challenging to encourage dialogue because half of its staff is out in the field.
To engage its employees in mental health awareness and coping strategies, Direct Energy launched workhealthlife.com and an employee assistance program.
James Temple, Direct Energy’s manager of corporate donations, says they aim to break down the stigma of mental illness through employee engagement. Employees were invited to a day at CAMH where they could interact with people suffering from mental health illnesses.
Deanna Matzanke, the director of global employment strategies for Scotiabank, says the company has integrated wellness strategies into the policy framework, focus on work life balance and offer a counselling support program to help employees with stress, anxiety and depression.
The bank offers a mental health first aid for managers to help them recognize symptomatic behaviour and offer tools to the employees.
But confidentiality and getting employees to confide in management about mental health issues remains a touchy issue.
“It’s a challenge. That’s why it’s important to break down those barriers through education and raising awareness. People may not know that some of the symptoms they’re feeling—isolation, lethargy, disconnection—are not signs of a healthy life,” says Sairanen. “People don’t need to ask on the shop floor, employees can be referred to outside agencies. But in the world we live in, this is a privacy issue. If you do it wrong once, you will lose the engagement and connectivity you will have with your workers.
The duty of all employers is to offer a healthy and safe work environment. Investing in their workforce will help with employee retention and promote a healthier productive economy.
“In automotive plants, for example, it’s usually male dominant, they’re tough… they don’t want to talk about their feelings,” says Sari Sairanen, national health and safety director for the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union.
Breaking down the communication barrier is imperative.
“Over the years, mental health has never been something that people have felt comfortable talking about,” says Karen Seward, executive vice-president of business development and marketing at Shepell fgi, a workplace health and productivity solutions provider. “I think the barrier around it is the stigma of it being mental and cognitive, that makes it harder for people to understand it.”
Seward says companies can help by having the managers be aware of mental health issues, look for the signs and symptoms and be able to help support employees. It’s important for managers to know what resources are available to support someone suffering from a mental illness.
“What we find is two things: either people won’t talk about it in the work place or conversely, people who’ve been diagnosed leave the workplace because it’s too hard for them to explain it and get a support system internally,” says Seward.
In 1999, General Motors Canada established its Motoring to Wellness program and Ford Motor Co. launched its Drive for Wellness. These sites offer mental health information, quizzes, self assessments and contests. They engage the employees and open up dialogue on these issues.
Both GM and Ford offer wellness rooms where employees can pick up information.
By supplying the appropriate resources—through a web site, employee information room, newsletters or by training supervisors on how to identify mental health issues—getting the appropriate help for employees before issues escalate.
Appropriate return to work strategies should be used to ease the transition and ensure the health and safety of the employees.
For a company like Direct Energy, it’s a bit more challenging to encourage dialogue because half of its staff is out in the field.
To engage its employees in mental health awareness and coping strategies, Direct Energy launched workhealthlife.com and an employee assistance program.
James Temple, Direct Energy’s manager of corporate donations, says they aim to break down the stigma of mental illness through employee engagement. Employees were invited to a day at CAMH where they could interact with people suffering from mental health illnesses.
Deanna Matzanke, the director of global employment strategies for Scotiabank, says the company has integrated wellness strategies into the policy framework, focus on work life balance and offer a counselling support program to help employees with stress, anxiety and depression.
The bank offers a mental health first aid for managers to help them recognize symptomatic behaviour and offer tools to the employees.
But confidentiality and getting employees to confide in management about mental health issues remains a touchy issue.
“It’s a challenge. That’s why it’s important to break down those barriers through education and raising awareness. People may not know that some of the symptoms they’re feeling—isolation, lethargy, disconnection—are not signs of a healthy life,” says Sairanen. “People don’t need to ask on the shop floor, employees can be referred to outside agencies. But in the world we live in, this is a privacy issue. If you do it wrong once, you will lose the engagement and connectivity you will have with your workers.
The duty of all employers is to offer a healthy and safe work environment. Investing in their workforce will help with employee retention and promote a healthier productive economy.
Healthy Minds, Healthy & Happy Workers
Here, Jenifer Newman and Daryl Grigg look at tips and ideas for creating a psychologically healthy workplace. Psychological health is key to physical health and by utilising the ideas below your workplace will be happy and healthy (and profitable of course!)
With the recession top of mind for many organizations, few would believe it’s the right time to adopt psychologically healthy workplace programs. Firms would rather deal with the important things such as cost reductions, staff layoffs, and salary and benefits cuts rather than “touchy-feely” stuff.
Or so the thinking goes.
It’s a myth that psychologically healthy approaches are a luxury in difficult economic times. In fact the opposite is true. The goal of creating a psychologically healthy workplace, according to Dr. David Ballard, executive director for corporate relations and business strategy at the American Psychological Association, is to “optimize outcomes for employees and employers, which is different from maximizing outcomes for either group.” This means finding ways to promote productivity that don’t burn out staff. It means providing employees with benefits that don’t bankrupt the business. This differs from previous ways of doing business, which highlighted maximizing company profits at the expense of employees or maximizing employee perks at the expense of the business.
Ballard suggested in a recent interview business success comes when people recognize placing a premium on employees’ psychological well-being is linked to higher productivity, better performance and increased quality. The most important element to ensuring business success during hard times is protecting the relationship between employee and employer. Ballard suggests four keys to preserving a positive relationship:
Honesty and transparency: Be up front about any harsh realities facing your company. Include employees in conversations about what actions are being taken to deal with business problems and why these are necessary. Discussing options for employers such as telecommuting or working from home to save jobs for instance, offers staff an opportunity to help the business deal with economic issues.
Ballard noted that when employers don’t even know specific outcomes, it is best to tell staff that you are working on the problem and you’ll keep them posted as information comes available.
Reduce uncertainty: Uncertainty on the job can take its toll psychologically, says Ballard. Stressed staff may engage in harmful behaviours such as using drugs or alcohol to cope, reducing exercise and eating unhealthy foods. Anxiety based on wondering whether you’ll have a job in the future can undermine staff confidence, distract employees and cause feelings of depression. Uncertainty can be reduced when employers are specific with the information they have and admit they don’t know yet, if that’s the case, when it comes to making changes to ensure business survival. If job loss is part of the bad news, Ballard recommends avoiding telling staff at 4:45 p.m. Friday and then escorting them out of the building. Rather, he counsels a respectful approach, including an explanation behind the decision to lay off staff that includes outplacement services and financial advice for employees. It’s important to offer counselling to staff who have lost their jobs, too.
Health and wellness services: Offering staff access to health and wellness services ranging from EAP, peer support and exercise opportunities is important in protecting the positive relationship between staff and employer. For example, initiating a lunchtime walking club helps employees stay active during stressful times and encouraging employees to talk to each other regarding the challenges they face is helpful too. It’s key to let staff know that it is normal to feel stressed, uncertain and angry when facing changes at work that are beyond their control.
Be flexible: Withstanding changes induced by economic hardship requires flexibility. Talking to employees about how to streamline the business for survival can help a business survive. Offering flex time, job sharing, and telecommuting are other ways to help a struggling enterprise.
Maintaining a positive working relationship with staff during hard times is vital to helping them cope with change and stress that comes with a difficult economy. Ensuring staff feel respected, involved, and included is important.
How To Retain Employees And Minimise Turnover
Here, Sarah K Yazinski speaks generally about creating a workplace staff never want to leave and promoting the health and wellness of employees is one strategy for retaining employees and minimising staff turnover.
According to strategic planning consultant Leigh Branham, SPHR, 88% of employees leave their jobs for reasons other than pay: However, 70% of managers think employees leave mainly for pay-related reasons. Branham says there are seven main reasons why employees leave a company:
- Employees feel the job or workplace is not what they expected.
- There is a mismatch between the job and person.
- There is too little coaching and feedback.
- There are too few growth and advancement opportunities.
- Employees feel devalued and unrecognized.
- Employees feel stress from overwork and have a work/life imbalance.
- There is a loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders.
Turnover Facts and Figures
Turnover is costly. According to Right Management, a talent and career management consulting firm, it costs nearly three times an employee’s salary to replace someone, which includes recruitment, severance, lost productivity, and lost opportunities. Life Work Solutions, a provider of staff retention and consulting services, provides the following turnover facts and rates:
- Over 50 % of people recruited in to an organization will leave within 2 years.
- One in four of new hires will leave within 6 months.
- Nearly 70% of organizations report that staff turnover has a negative financial impact due to the cost of recruiting, hiring, and training a replacement employee and the overtime work of current employees that’s required until the organization can fill the vacant position.
- Nearly 70 % of organizations report having difficulties in replacing staff.
- Approximately 50% of organizations experience regular problems with employee retention.
From these statistics it’s clear that it’s important to develop a retention plan to retain employees and keep turnover low.
Retention Methods
As explained by EA Consulting Group in a recent white paper, the dilemma facing organizations is whether to invest more time and money fine-tuning their recruitment strategy or to pay extra attention to retaining the talent they already have. Recruiting new staff is expensive, stressful and time-consuming. Once you have good staff it pays to make sure they stay (Main, 2008).
Think of retention as re-recruiting your workforce. Recognize that what attracts a candidate to a particular job is often different from what keeps that person there. While salary certainly is a key consideration for potential employees, pay alone won’t keep them in a job (Angott, 2007). Advantageous aspects other than strictly compensation attract good employees; something more than a number retains them. Today employees are looking for a career package, including a comfortable company culture, career path, diversity of responsibilities, and a work/life balance (Griffiths, 2006).
Here are some effective methods employers utilize in order to keep employees happy and part of their organization instead of looking for employment opportunities elsewhere.
Training. Training employees reinforces their sense of value (Wingfield, 2009). Through training, employers help employees achieve goals and ensure they have a solid understanding of their job requirements (Maul, 2008).
Mentoring. A mentoring program integrated with a goal-oriented feedback system provides a structured mechanism for developing strong relationships within an organization and is a solid foundation for employee retention and growth (Wingfield). With a mentoring program, an organization pairs someone more experienced in a discipline with someone less experienced in a similar area, with the goal to develop specific competencies, provide performance feedback, and design an individualized career development plan (Goldenson, 2007).
Instill a positive culture. A company should establish a series of values as the basis for culture such as honesty, excellence, attitude, respect, and teamwork (IOMA, 2008). A company that creates the right culture will have an advantage when it comes to attracting and keeping good employees (Main).
Use communication to build credibility. No matter what the size of the organization, communication is central to building and maintaining credibility. Many employers get communication to “flow up” through a staff advisory council (or similar group) which solicits and/or receives employees’ opinions and suggestions and passes them on to upper management (IOMA). It’s also important for employees to know that the employer is really listening and responds to (or otherwise acknowledges) employee input.
Show appreciation via compensation and benefits. Offering things like competitive salaries, profit sharing, bonus programs, pension and health plans, paid time off, and tuition reimbursement sends a powerful message to employees about their importance at the organization. The rewards given to employees must be meaningful in order to impact their perception of the organization and therefore have a marked influence on its retention efforts. Moreover, if an organization promises a reward, it should keep that promise (Gberevbie, 2008).
Encourage referrals and recruit from within. Having current employees offer referrals could help minimize confusion of job expectations. Current employees can realistically describe a position and the environment to the individual he/she is referring. Another way an employer can lessen the impact of turnover is to hire from within, since current employees have already discovered that they are a good fit in the organization (Branham, 2005).
Coaching/feedback. It’s important for companies to give feedback and coaching to employees so that their efforts stay aligned with the goals of the company and meet expectations. During an employee’s first few weeks on the job, an employer should provide intensive feedback. Employers should also provide formal and informal feedback to employees throughout the year (Branham).
Provide growth opportunities. An organization should provide workshops, software, or other tools to help employees increase their understanding of themselves and what they want from their careers and enhance their goal-setting efforts (Branham). It’s important to provide employees with adequate job challenges that will expand their knowledge in their field (Levoy, 2007). According to Right Management, employees are more likely to stay engaged in their jobs and committed to an organization that makes investments in them and their career development.
Make employees feel valued. Employees will go the extra mile if they feel responsible for the results of their work, have a sense of worth in their jobs, believe their jobs make good use of their skills, and receive recognition for their contributions (Levoy).
Employees should be rewarded at a high level to motivate even higher performance. The use of cash payouts could be used for on-the-spot recognition. These rewards have terrific motivational power, especially when given as soon as possible after the achievement. It’s important for employers to say “thank you” to employees for their efforts and find different ways to recognize them. Even something as simple as a free lunch can go a long way towards making employees feel valued.
Listen to employees and ask for their input as to what rewards might work best at your organization. Conduct meetings and surveys to enable employees to share their input (Branham). Most team members will work harder to carry out a decision that they’ve helped to influence.
Lower stress from overworking and create work/life balance. It’s important to match work/life benefits to the needs of employees. This could be in the form of offering nontraditional work schedules (such as a compressed work week, telecommuting, and flextime) or extra holidays. When work-life balance is structured properly, both the employee and employer come out ahead. For example, the employer will experience more productivity in the workplace because employees will be less stressed, healthier, and thus, more productive (Wingfield). Encouraging employees to set work/life goals, such as spending more time with their children, communicates that you really do want them to have a life outside of work and achieve a healthy work/life balance.
Foster trust and confidence in senior leaders. Develop strong relationships with employees from the start to build trust (Stolz, 2008). Employees have to believe that upper management is competent and that the organization will be successful. An employer has to be able to inspire this confidence and make decisions that reinforce it. An employer cannot say one thing and do another. For example, an employer shouldn’t talk about quality and then push employees to do more work in less time. In addition, employers need to engage and inspire employees by enacting policies that show they trust them, such as getting rid of authoritarian style of management (Branham).
Conclusion
It’s clear that having proper retention strategies is key in order to retain employees. According to Mike Foster, founder and CEO of the Foster Institute, in order to foster an environment that motivates and stimulates employees, managers need to incorporate motivation-building practices into their corporate culture. These practices include listening to employees and respecting their opinions, basing rewards on performance, and being available to them for everything from listening to their ideas and concerns to assisting them with their career advancement.
Employees need to feel valued and appreciated, be given feedback, provided with growth opportunities, be given work-life balance options, and have trust and confidence in their leaders (Branham). All of these retention strategies are beneficial when an employer wants to keep employees within an organization and keep costs of turnover low.
What Employees Really Want From A Job
Our basic human motivations never change much when it comes to enjoying life, work and health and wellness. The information below came from a survey initially conducted in 1946 and is as relevant to your business today as it was back then.
What Bosses Think Employees Want:
(in order of importance)
- Good wages
- Job security
- Promotion and growth opportunities
- Good working conditions
- Interesting work
- Personal loyalty to workers
- Tactful discipline
- Full appreciation for work done
- Sympathetic help with personal issues
- To feel like they’re a valuable part of things
Sounds pretty reasonable – staff motivation is mostly related to money and financial reward. To get and keep good staff, you’ve got to pay them more.
However, when employees were surveyed the results were quite different to that expected viewpoint. The well-delivered application of the information below can save you a whole lot in pay rises and financial incentives!
What Employees Really Want:
(in order of importance)
- Full appreciation and recognition of work done
- To feel like a valuable part of things
- Sympathetic help on personal problems
- Job security
- Good wages
- Interesting work
- Promotion and growth opportunities
- Personal loyalty to workers
- Good working conditions
- Tactful discipline
Surprised? Someone who feels valued and understood and part of a strong team will more often than not, sacrifice a bigger pay packet elsewhere. A corporate health program in your workplace will not only promote the health and wellness of your employees, it will effortlessly on your part tick off points 1, 2 and 3 on the list of what your people really want!
How Do You Feel About Your Employees Health?
Feelings traditionally don’t have much place in the business world and as a business owner you may not be all that interested in the moment to moment health of your employees as long as they get the job done. However, you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t suspect that their health and the way they feel has a significant impact on their attention to detail, focus, morale and desire and motivation to work for you. Below are a series of questions designed to bring awareness to the possibilities for your work environment and the health and wellbeing of your people.
Would you like your employees to:
- Have more energy and greater resistance to fatigue?
Yes / No - Cope better with stress?
Yes / No - Have a better self-image and greater confidence to participate in life?
Yes / No - Experience less anxiety and depression?
Yes / No - Be able to relax better and feel less tense?
Yes / No - Fall asleep more easily and sleep better?
Yes / No - Be able to manage their weight more easily?
Yes / No - Reduce their risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoperosis and arthritis?
Yes / No - Have more mental clarity and wellbeing?
Yes / No - Have greater efficiency and focus on the job?
Yes / No - Enjoy their day to day activities and feel appreciated?
Yes / No - Actually want to come to work for you every day?
Yes / No
I heard a speaker last week mention the two aspects of business – the soft and the hard. The soft being the people and feelings aspect of business and the hard being everything else. Most business owners struggle a bit with the soft stuff – it comes more naturally to some than to others. However, if you’re going to work with people, there’s simply no way of avoiding the squishy bits.
In honour of this, my two favourite soft and mushy laws of success are:
- Income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them
and - Influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first
How can asking yourself these questions transform your work environment?
How can these questions serve to create an incredible business for you, your staff and your customers?
7 Dimensions Of Employee Wellness
Jasmine Jafferali expands on our commonly held perceptions of wellness, health and wellbeing.
What is “wellness” per se? There are many definitions, and 20 years ago, wellness didn’t exist. But today, the industry is growing fast, and the term “wellness” is being overused, abused and it is not being used in its appropriate context. Wellness is achieving one’s full potential; it is self-directed and an ever-evolving process. Wellness has seven dimensions: occupational, spiritual, intellectual, emotional, environmental and physical. When all of these dimensions are met, then we are considered whole or complete. Wellness is more than just products to make us feel good or be physically fit.
7 Dimensions Of Employee Wellness
1. Social Wellness. This is how a person contributes to their environment and community and how he or she builds better living spaces and social networks. The social dimension encourages contributing to one’s environment and community.
2. Occupational Wellness. Occupational development is related to one’s attitude about one’s work, and recognizes personal satisfaction and enrichment in one’s life through work. The choice of profession, job satisfaction, career ambitions and personal performance are all important components of this dimension. To be occupationally well, a person is ultimately doing exactly with what they want to do in life and are comfortable with their future plans.
3. Spiritual Wellness. The spiritual dimension recognizes our search for meaning and purpose in human existence. It does not mean one is religious, but that it is better to ponder the meaning of life and be tolerant of the beliefs of others than to close our minds and become intolerant. Spiritually well people take time out of their day for spiritual growth and learning. They have a clear sense of right and wrong, and they act accordingly.
4. Intellectual Wellness. This dimension recognizes one’s creative and stimulating mental activities as well as expands knowledge and skills while sharing his or her gifts with others. The intellectually well person is open to new ideas, thinks critically and seeks out new challenges. These people will stretch and challenge their minds with intellectual and creative pursuits instead of becoming self-satisfied and unproductive.
5. Emotional Wellness: Emotional Wellness. This dimension includes the capacity to manage one’s feelings and related behaviors, including the realistic assessment of one’s limitations, development of autonomy and the ability to cope effectively with stress. Emotionally well people have the ability to express feelings freely and manage feelings effectively. They are also aware of and accept a wide range of feelings in themselves and others.
6. Environmental Wellness. This includes the ability to promote health measures that improve the standard of living and quality of life in the community, including laws and agencies that safeguard the physical environment. The environmentally well person is aware of the earth’s natural resources, conserves energy, buys organic foods and products, and enjoys and appreciates spending time in natural settings.
7. Physical Wellness. This is what we all do well in our health clubs. It is met through the combination of good exercise and eating habits, taking precautions for self-care and receiving appropriate health screenings throughout our lives. It also means taking personal responsibility and care for minor illnesses and knowing when professional medical attention is needed. Physically well people understand and appreciate the relationship between sound nutrition and how their body performs. The physical benefits of looking good and feeling terrific most often lead to the psychological benefits of enhanced self-esteem, self-control, determination and a sense of direction.
Integrating Wellness into Your Workplace
What are you doing in your programming to promote wellness? First, you have to decide what will wellness mean in your facility. Does your facility have spa amenities, dietitians, offer corporate wellness programs, physical therapists/chiropractors or a recycling program? Wellness is more than just going to the gym to work out these days. It means getting a sports massage, attending a health seminar or seeking the expertise of a registered dietitian. It is helping the member to relieve stress and educate health through other means besides physical fitness.
It is predicted that the wellness industry will be the next trillion-dollar industry, and in the next 10 years, an additional $1 trillion dollars of the U.S economy will be focused on getting Americans healthy through programming and treating the whole person.
Americans are already spending more than $200 billion in the industry, including $150 billion per year in the nutrition industry (of which $19.8 billion are on supplements) and $24 billion for fitness clubs. The need for personal, customized care is growing because people are willing to spend the money to safeguard their youth and be well. It is time to shift our focus, get creative and develop wellness-based programs for our employees.
5 Things That Can Make Employee’s Jobs More Stressful
Managerial disorganization, interpersonal conflict and a lack of training frequently contribute to workers’ stress levels. Throw in the recession and the massive spectre of job losses these days, and stress levels have the potential to be sky high.
For employees, this can mean increased physical symptoms like headaches, stomach problems, sleeplessness, over or under eating or excessive drinking.
Organizations feel the pressure too. Staff underperforms, productivity dips and morale and revenue drops. Both employees and the organization must work together to mitigate stress.
There are 10 main areas of workplace stress that require immediate attention to prevent risks to employee health and productivity and here the first 5 are covered:
Performance stress
This is a difficult one since many workers would rather not discuss concerns about their performance for fear of appearing incompetent. However, many employees find work stressful because of lack of knowledge, training or adequate instruction. These issues can be alleviated by providing staff with training and guidance to do an effective job. In some cases, unnecessary stress happens because the person isn’t the right fit for the job and might be better suited in another role. If you feel stressed because you have doubts about how to do certain aspects of the job, think about what you need to fill the gap and approach your supervisor. If it feels like you are admitting a major training gap, think about obtaining the skill on your own time – at night school for example. Actively seek a way to feel good about yourself in the role by learning as much as you can and admitting when you don’t know what to do. There is no harm in not knowing. The harm comes when we don’t try to find the answers we need.
People stress
Trouble with colleagues or co-workers makes stress levels rise. This is especially true if our difficulty is with a superior. If you find yourself stressed by relations between you and others, first reflect on your own behaviour. How can you make conditions better for yourself and others. If you search and find that the problem is your co-worker, think about how to address him or her. Most workplace stress is caused when people are afraid to try to work the problem out with each other. Talking about the issue with the individual involved is key. Many times we talk about our issue with anyone other than the person who is troubling us including colleagues, the boss or HR. However, if it is truly impossible, as in the case of harassment for example, obtaining help from a supervisor or HR is important.
Priority stress
Sometimes you have too much to do in too little time. Stress is generated by giving equal weight to all tasks. Do what is most important first. If you can’t figure out the priority, this usually signals a lack of clarity about what’s important in your organization. In that case a conversation with your boss is in order. Frustratingly, you may find that the discussion doesn’t make things clearer because the manager herself doesn’t know what’s most important. At this point, recognize this is not your fault. Ask the manager to think about what would be the most important projects and where you should spend most of your time. Give the manager some time to sort this out and ensure that you book time to discuss these priorities. Be willing to go back as many times as it takes to get clarity. You’ll find your stress decreasing when you can state clearly to yourself what is most important for the department.
Job-loss stress
Layoffs are common these days and rank in the top tier of life’s stressors. Equally stressful is wondering whether you’re next on the chopping block. Actively looking for alternate employment in case the worst happens is important. Also, find out what your benefits will be in case of layoff or consider going to school should your job end. It may be difficult to find work in the field you’ve been previously employed. So look at other occupations that might suit you. These may not be your first choice, but think of it as a temporary situation until work in your chosen field becomes available again. Much of the stress in a layoff comes with feeling like a failure or that things are hopeless. Once again, remember it’s not your fault, think about how to weather a temporary economic storm and discuss the issue with others. But don’t isolate yourself. If ever there was a time for support, this is it.
Favouritism
If your boss plays favourites you are likely to suffer from stress at work. To work in an organization that favours some employees over others increases competition, creates resentment and encourages conformity. To be one of the chosen employees, workers will follow along with the majority opinion at the cost of creativity and divergent opinion. If you see favouritism at work, ensure that you let people know how you are contributing to the effort. Stealing credit can occur in these environments and it is made harder if you let people know what you are doing and accomplishing. You may not be able to change this toxic behaviour but you can mitigate any ill effects. Feeling left out is a common experience when favourites are played. Guard against this by developing activities and relationships with others who you find interesting. Get involved in other areas of the organization so that you have a broader perspective than just your department.
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