There is growing awareness of the importance of individual well-being inside and outside the workplace. In working to get the very best out of their organisation, many managers are choosing to adopt practices to increase the well-being of their staff. A comprehensive Government sponsored study in 2014 suggested improvements in well-being will result in improved labour productivity, profitability, and the quality of outputs or services. Employee well-being has gone mainstream. It used to be niche, a luxury that was secondary to health and safety, and certainly not a strategic priority for most businesses.
Well-being includes people’s physical and mental health but it means different things to different people (and different organisations). It can be described as having a happy, healthy workforce, in mind, body and spirit but really well-being goes beyond “wellness”. It includes factors such as the physical and mental aspects of the working environment. It covers several aspects of the way people feel about their lives, including their jobs and their relationships with the people around them i.e. how employees get on with their colleagues and managers. Well-being is about corporate culture, inspiring leadership and a shared organisational belief system. It is a key driver of engagement, so, for many “employers of choice”, focusing on employees’ well-being is a conscious business decision and is more than just seen as part of the organisation’s duty of care to employee welfare. It goes beyond gym membership or mindfulness classes and considers the real basics of everyday work.
Although downward trends in fatal and major injuries at work in many countries reinforce the perception that ‘tough jobs’ are declining, health and well-being in the workplace remains an issue due to a range of factors, including job insecurity, potentially worsening working conditions and issues with work/life balance. Research by RAND Europe, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, suggests that lack of sleep, financial concerns and care of family are negatively associated with productivity. Mental health problems are also found to cause significant productivity loss, especially in the form of presenteeism, i.e. being at work but unfit to work productively. Workers who are subject to workplace bullying report significantly higher levels of absenteeism and presenteeism, than those who are not.
Job satisfaction – including aspects such as satisfaction with training, skills development opportunities, how much autonomy employees have in their role, and how much scope they have to use their own initiative and influence decisions, show a strong and positive link with workplace performance.
Closely linked to well-being is the concept of wellness which can be graphically represented. There are more colourful variations of this approach but we like this one because it demonstrates that as individuals our wellness is multi-faceted and that aspects of it vary with time and circumstances and can be charted. In the example below we would be telling ourselves that we needed to work on our physical and financial health.
Whilst not wishing to undermine individual responsibility there is a lot which employers can do. ACAS are very clear about the scope which employers have to influence the well-being of their staff. Their sensible advice states that there is no ‘one size fits all’ but where employers are able to raise well-being in their workforce, they are also likely to see improvements in the performance of their workplace.
There will be different factors that influence well-being at an individual level, but detailed analysis of a wide range of research studies has suggested that there are 11 key factors for increasing well-being to boost performance in general. Most employers will not achieve good results in all these areas, but those who are able to focus effort on a number of these areas should be able to increase well-being.
- Where employees have a degree of autonomy over how they do their job – this does not mean that people should ignore set processes, but could mean that staff have a level of discretion about how they undertake their work. Involvement in decision-making can also be beneficial.
- Variety in the work employees undertake, which can be addressed through job design.
- Staff respond positively to a sense that their job has significance within the workplace, as well as the perceived value of the job to society i.e. purpose.
- Being clear about what is expected of staff, including feedback on performance, which could be addressed through a combination of effective induction, clear employment conditions and a regular appraisal process
- Supportive supervision, which means ensuring that line-managers are adequately trained; and an environment in which co-workers offer support can also be positive.
- Staff also benefit from positive interpersonal contact with other people. This includes contact with managers and co-workers, as well as with customers or the general public (where the job requires it).
- Opportunities for employees to use and develop their skills, which could be through training, and/or by increasing the variety of work they undertake.
- A sense of physical security is important for employees, including the safety of work practices, the adequacy of equipment and the pleasantness of the work environment.
- A sense of job security and clear career prospects both help increase well-being.
- Staff respond well to the perception of fairness in the workplace, both in terms of how the employee is treated but also how they see their co-workers being treated. Effective use of procedures for responding to bullying coupled with disciplinary and grievance procedures where needed are helpful.
- Higher pay also registered as a strong positive motivator. This relationship, however, depends not only on the absolute level of pay but how this compares with the pay of others.
Alongside these factors which can boost well-being, the research also showed that when the demands of a job are particularly high this can reduce well-being. It was noted that job demands resulted not only from the amount of work a member of staff was undertaking, but also from the level of compatibility with pressures outside of work.
A key thread that runs through many of these factors is ensuring good, open communication with employees.
Fairness is one of ACAS’s key levers for productivity so it is not surprising that employees’ perception of fairness at work can also impact their health. According to a recent study by the University of East Anglia, fairness is vital to well-being and productivity. Researchers investigated how employees’ perceptions of workplace policies for rewards, pay, promotion, and assignments were impacting their health and found that employees who reported more fairness at work also reported better health. The findings suggest that employees who feel they are being treated fairly at work are more motivated and more likely to feel healthy. We would recommend five ways to improve perceptions of fairness in the workplace:
- Offer clear and transparent policies
- Show empathy which requires time and listening
- Handle promotions with care lest the internal candidates feel slighted
- Provide honest feedback on both a formal and informal basis
- Avoid favouritism and the impression of favouritism
High levels of well-being at work are good for the employee and the organisation. It means lower sickness-absence levels, better retention and more satisfied customers. People with higher levels of well-being live longer, have happier lives and are easier to work with. Towers Watson surveyed 74 leading organisations in the UK during 2012 regarding their health and well-being programmes. Organisations who report that they have been able to create an internal culture of health are more likely to regard linking health to productivity as essential to their health strategy and measure employee outcomes associated with their programmes. As a result, they are more likely to understand the return on investment associated with their programmes, and where they observe quantifiable returns they are more likely to report appreciable positive return on investment associated with their programmes.
Improving health and well-being can have real societal, economic and personal benefits above and beyond their value to business alone but just because the benefits to employers are difficult to quantify does not mean they should be discounted. Employers often say that their employees are their greatest asset but assets need looking after and should be used effectively.
We explored all of these themes further on our “Improving Workplace Productivity” course ran last year. If this a course you would be interested in running in-house, please do not hesitate to contact us, as we would be pleased to provide you with a proposal for consideration.
Our Consultants would be pleased to advise you on any element of the issues arising from this newsletter.
