Four Ideas to Put Employee Well-being First

Digitalization, the pandemic, the work-from-home shift … these trends have changed the way we work. Despite its many benefits, we should not overlook the impact this has on our physical and mental well-being – with high costs for people and the organizations they work for. That’s why I firmly believe that we as leaders have a responsibility for employee well-being. Here are my thoughts on how we can respond.

Now more than ever, companies have a responsibility for employee well-being.

Why Are We Burned Out?

It’s been happening for a while: the blurring of lines between work and private spheres. For many of us, it’s difficult to know when to stop, especially when our digital communication tools are on and send us notifications 24/7. And so, we often don’t stop working when we should be taking a break from work.

Female leaders are the population whose health and well-being are most affected as they struggle to keep up with managing a home, their teams, and their own well-being. One recent McKinsey study found that 42% of women report being burned out and a quarter are considering quitting work or changing jobs.

In addition, while working remotely has many benefits (and surveys show that most employees prefer the flexibility), it can lead to longer working hours. Something that could have been resolved in a five-minute chat in the office now requires a structured call.

Then there are the negative physical health impacts. Previously, the act of moving between work and home contributed to physical and ergonomic well-being. The need to move around meant people took breaks. This has been lost and replaced with higher complaints of back pain, amongst others.

How can we respond?

If company leaders want to create human-centric workplaces, then we need to respond to changing work trends with approaches that put employee well-being at the center.

Here are my ideas:

1.      Integrate physical well-being practices

Companies should support creating ergonomic workplaces with investments in better equipment for home offices. Activating step challenges, or making it a norm to have running and walking meetings, are helpful initiatives to encourage physical well-being.

2.      Build better support for stress and burnout

We need approaches that both prevent sustained stress and address it. Organizations should collaborate with their corporate health management team to create support programs for all colleagues. For example, at our organization, everybody has a personal developer. This is a relationship based on trust. Employees can flag when they are experiencing sustained stress with their personal developer as well as find constructive solutions together to reduce stress and prevent burnout. Additionally, training formats for stress management and mindfulness are helpful.

3.      Provide mental well-being support

Identify partners that can provide mental health and well-being coaching that’s confidential, convenient, and easily accessible for all employees.

4.      Make mental health discussions part of your culture

We, as leaders, need to create a common language and, more importantly, psychologically safe environments where people feel they belong and can speak openly about mental health without fear of judgment. We need to keep pushing to overcome the stigma. Because the stigma keeps people in the shadows; it keeps people from asking for help.

No doubt there are many more excellent ways that organizations can step up and take responsibility for employee well-being.

Which initiatives for employee well-being do you find effective? I look forward to discussing them with you in the comments below.

I write regularly on leadership topics on my blog Sabinext. Follow and connect with me here on LinkedIn for more content.

#employeehealth #employeesfirst #employeewellbeing #leadership #healthyworkplaces #burnoutprevention