The modern workplace is at a crossroads. People feel so much stress before they go into the workplace that the office environment is the one arena where tensions fly high.
Throw into the mix the insurmountable pressures of deadlines and you’ve got a very palpable melting pot of tension. What is the solution question mark the most obvious solution that everybody is working to implement now is a culture of wellness.
But wellness in the workplace has to work with the employee as well as the business. Ultimately our employees need to hit targets but they need to feel good while they’re doing it. What can we do to regain focus on wellness in the working arena?
Actually Consider Change
We can spend a lot of time implementing certain processes but if we are nearly paying lip service to the idea of well-being then our employees won’t buy it! Instead, we need to focus on the true acts of change within the business.
Working to change a company’s culture is attacking it at a grassroots level. You’ve got to revisit your current culture model and consider implementing things that will facilitate change over time.
It’s not an overnight switch but it’s about putting those options in place that your employees can choose to implement into their lives.
While many employers are very hot of the idea of carpooling as it helps to reduce carbon footprint at the same time we need to think about reducing the business’s emotional footprint.
And while carpooling can help bring employees closer together by giving them the opportunity to talk there are other components that you should consider, like cycling. In fact, cycling to work increases your happiness because of the exercise involved.
And we have got to remember that with these little enforcements, change can come.
Support The Employee In Every Aspect Of Their Working Life
As we implement a holistic approach to workplace stress we’ve got to consider the employee as a whole entity. It’s so easy for us to think about them as the person that works for us. But we’ve got to think about the entire body of work that they produce and the emotions that come alongside it.
An employee is someone who is dedicating so much time for our business that we’ve got to give them the motivation to want to be there but also support them in every aspect of their working life.
This means that we should focus on every aspect of their health. There are things that we can do to encourage them to open up to us such as by having an open-door policy but if we don’t do anything about their problems then we’re not being a good boss but we’re also driving them out of the business very slowly.
The employee has so many different aspects of them that we cannot look at one or two anymore. It isn’t just about asking them if they are ok but it’s about taking into account what we can do to focus on their well-being in a social sense as well as the other aspects like health and nutrition.
We also need to consider their professional development. As our employees should want to come to work we need to give them the framework so they can thrive.
Focus On Accommodating New Working Practices
Right now we are in the middle of the remote working revolution. This is one component that can help employees reclaim their work-life balance. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Once we start to consider the employee as an individual we’ve got to get a proper understanding of what they need to do their job properly. This means we have got to consider the external circumstances.
If an employee is more productive working at home, we should provide this. But we should also think about keeping them as part of a team.
There are numerous companies that exclusively hire people to work remotely and it’s those businesses that are at the forefront of productivity but they also understand the importance of making people feel like a team.
You must remember that you can give an employee all the perks in the world but if they’re not able to function you’ve got to ask yourself if they are able to collaborate as an effective team? We need to implement new processes but we have to also consider the direct impact on our employees’ ability to thrive.
Wellness is crucial but we still need to ensure that our employees are productive in the right way. It’s that yin and yang of business that can take a while to get right.
