If you want to work on employee well-being in the workplace, you might be overwhelmed with where to begin. Remember that what’s important is that you’re trying to take steps to support your staff, so don’t put too much pressure on where you start.
When you start thinking about your employee well-being plan, consider the following elements:
· Flexibility and structure in scheduling
· Better worker autonomy and opportunity to engage in problem-solving
· Maintain adequate staffing throughout the organization
· Ensure management is prepared to support employee needs
· Encourage a sense of belonging
The main purpose of employee wellbeing initiatives is to foster a better work environment and make it easier for employees to accomplish their tasks. So take some time to think about where your organization might benefit from the most attention.
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program, starting October 12, 2022.
Did you know that only 70% of small businesses in Canada make it to five years? One of the best ways to make a significant impact on the overall health and success of your organization is by focusing on employee retention. The reality is, you save a lot of time and money when you focus on supporting your existing employees, instead of starting at square one with new ones. Not only that, but your business will be stronger when you have staff that also feels invested in the organization.
If you want to run your business at optimal efficiency, you need employees that also feel driven to achieve your goals. The fastest way to building that bridge between your employees and your goals is through fostering employee well-being.
These days, mental health and employee well-being are top priorities for HR managers and business owners all over the world. In Canada, the corporate wellness market was valued at USD 2.4 billion in 2021 and is only expected to continue to grow beyond 2022. People are becoming increasingly aware of the ways stress affects our lives—both internally and externally. So, it’s important that those in leadership positions take the time to understand how they can better support employee well-being and contribute to an overall positive environment focused on growth.
What is employee well-being?
The term employee wellbeing includes everything that can impact the mental and physical health of someone in the workplace.
This includes but is not limited to:
· Job satisfaction
· Workplace culture
· Work-life balance
You should always welcome feedback from your employees whenever possible. Even if you need to do it anonymously to make people feel more comfortable, it really helps to have a genuine understanding of how everyone feels. You can’t find a solution for a problem if you don’t know it exists, so make sure your staff knows that at the end of the day, it’s all about improving their day-to-day.
Why does employee well-being matter at work?
Keeping employee wellbeing a priority benefits everyone in the workplace. Management will have a happier and more productive workforce, and employees will be more at ease and feel fulfilled in their work environment.
Advantages of employee well-being
The bottom line is, employee wellbeing helps the organization as a whole just as much as it does the individual. When you spend a little time investing in your employees and how they feel, you can expect to conduct work more efficiently and experience improved relationships across the board.
Some other benefits of employee wellbeing initiatives include:
· Increased employee engagement
· Improved company reputation
· Lowers risk of burnout
· Feelings of empowerment lead to better productivity
With workplace environments changing, it’s important to make sure that employees feel supported and engaged throughout the workday. When you focus your attention to the well-being of your employees, you’ll start to notice positive changes in their work performance as well.
At the end of the day, it’s all about maintaining a sense of balance, structure, and providing the feedback and support your employees need. When you focus on employee well-being, you’re going to naturally improve the function of your business.
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program, starting October 12, 2022.
In the 60s, Douglas McGregor introduced “Theory X” and “Theory Y” to depict the ways in which managers view workers and how they can contribute to or detract from employee performance. Take a moment to see which one you identify with more:
Theory X assumptions
– Employees are resistant to change.
– By nature, employees do not like to work.
– Average employees need formal direction and dislike responsibilities.
– Employees put job security above personal ambition.
Theory Y assumptions
– If a job is rewarding and satisfying, employees will become more committed.
– Employees can be self-motivated and driven to achieve organizational goals.
– Employees have unique skills and abilities that can be applied to organizational problems
If you find that your own beliefs are more aligned with Theory X assumptions, it might be time to rethink your engagement strategy. Theory X assumptions are widely accepted as negative and your employees are generally able to tell when you feel that way. The sooner you are able to adopt a more positive outlook, the sooner your employees will present their own.
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program—starting October 12, 2022!
It’s all well and good to talk about employee engagement—anyone even remotely involved in a business understands how important it is. However, when do you stop talking and start acting on your insights? The simple answer is now—there’s no better time to test new productivity hacks and work processes.
Before you can start implementing anything though, you need to define your strategy. Consider some of the following so you can pinpoint what you should focus on:
– Where is productivity currently lacking?
– Is there a certain time of day or week that employees seem less engaged?
– Have you conducted any surveys to learn more about why employees might be less engaged?
At the end of the day, your ultimate goal is figuring out what works best for your organization, and what makes the most positive difference in your workflow.
Question for leaders
1. Does your organization currently have an employee engagement strategy in place?
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program, starting October 12, 2022.
It’s important to note that employee satisfaction is not the same thing as engagement. Some people might use these terms interchangeably when in reality, satisfaction deals more with a sense of content, and engagement is focused on going above and beyond in one’s position. Someone with job satisfaction is fine with where they are, whereas someone who is engaged feels a sense of urgency to meet and surpass expectations.
What true employee engagement looks like:
– Emotional connection to work
– Driven to advance company goals
– Passionate about the outcome of their efforts
– Happy to be there because of growth potential
What job satisfaction looks like:
– Focused on pay and benefits
– Priority is on job security
– Not driven by emotional commitment
– Happy to be there because it meets their basic requirements
Question for leaders
1. How do you measure the difference between employees that are engaged compared to those who are just satisfied?
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program, starting October 12, 2022.
We all know how important employee engagement is for the success of any organization. But the question is do employees understand that? What’s even more important than that, what’s in it for them?
You can’t expect your employees to make their engagement a priority if they don’t see an exchange of value. In other words, you need to communicate how they benefit from becoming more engaged at work.
There are a few different ways you can do this:
– Offer milestone rewards for employee achievements
– Get involved with projects and show employees how valuable they are to your goals
– Make sure employees understand how important their role is to your organization
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program—starting October 12, 2022!
As we find ourselves in the last stretch of the summer months, it’s important to take note of how to help employees return to the office and get in that productive mindset. If employees are regularly in and out of the office, it can cause everyone to be in more of a distracted headspace.
When you take the time to re-engage with your employees after summer vacation, you can expect:
– Lower risk of burnout
– Stronger company culture
– Improved work-life balance
Getting back into a routine is good for your mental health and your employees will feel more empowered when they feel like they’re back in control. Help them understand that and make sure to provide the resources to help them get there.
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program—starting October 12, 2022!
The Engage and Mobilize Program focuses on simple but powerful behaviours that will have maximum impact on your leaders’ ability to engage his or her employees.
When it comes to managing an organization, there’s always going to be some kind of formal power structure. Those in charge are given control because of their job title, so employees have to listen in order to maintain their job and income.
However, informal power is highly underrated, and sometimes a more effective way to harness power in the workplace and get the results you need.
– Informal power stems from the relationships you build and the trust you share with coworkers.
– An example of informal power would be an employee going above and beyond for someone simply because they want to.
They aren’t carrying out a task because it’s part of their work, but instead out of a true desire to perform an action that will benefit someone they have built a relationship with. The stronger your informal power, the better chance you have at increasing engagement.
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program—starting October 12, 2022!
At the end of the day, we all just want to be understood, right? Sometimes leaders feel like they need to hold it all together and give off a flawless impression, but it might do more harm than good.
If you can learn to be vulnerable while keeping it professional, you stand to develop more meaningful relationships at work and give your employees more space to feel comfortable.
Being a good leader is all about setting an example. If you show your employees that it’s okay not to feel 100% great all the time, there’s a good chance it’ll take off some pressure and help them feel more engaged in their work. Instead of being distracted by what they can’t control, they’ll feel more empowered to take control of what is within their grasp.
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program—starting October 12, 2022!
When it comes to management, a lot of human behaviours are assumed rather than observed. This can lead management to have certain perceptions of their employees that aren’t helpful towards increasing engagement. Just because you’ve been in management for a long time doesn’t mean you automatically know how everyone operates.
Common leadership failures in the workplace:
– Ineffective conflict resolution
– Failure to take emotional wellbeing into account
– Not being the driving force behind change
– Focusing on current errors instead of developing talent
– Failure to provide consistent and constructive feedback
– Not being available to employees when they need you
– Failure to bond with employees
At the end of the day, we’re all human and mistakes happen. However, when you become aware of where you might fall short, it puts you in a much better position to self-correct and keep your team on track.
Registration is now open for our next Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Training Program—starting October 12, 2022!
The Engage and Mobilize Program focuses on simple but powerful behaviours that will have maximum impact on your leaders’ ability to engage his or her employees.
