Like a fish in a dirty tank, if employees are in an unsupportive, inconsistent, underappreciative or generally toxic environment it will impact their productivity, engagement and wellbeing. They will be less likely to stay, and more likely to be talking in a negative way outside of the organisation.
So what can you do?
Taking employees on team days or offering them macchiatos in their coffee machines is only going to give them brief moments of experiencing ‘clear waters’. Then they’re back, swimming around in their day to day toxic environment.
In many cases, these ‘perks’ can cause employees further frustration – through a feeling of forced socialising, tick boxing or the added pressure on workload.
Let’s look at how you can make a genuine impact. I’m going to give you 5 steps to genuinely purifying the waters so that the interventions you put in place are an asset, not a frustration.
Step 1: Analysis
The first step is to bring together existing data you have on employee feedback, workforce data (e.g. turnover etc) and do a gap analysis – what don’t you know.
Then carry out further surveys, focus groups and staff forums, providing employees with genuine opportunities to feedback on their experience and actively involving employees in solution development.
Bring it all together and paint a picture – helping you identify what issues exist in your organisation (and trust me there will always be some), and where they are.
Step 2: Tailor your interventions / business changes
Use the data analysis, employee feedback and focus groups to tailor your solutions to your organisations needs and the areas that need the most resources.
Think outside of the box and utilise your own employees experience. Think about developing interventions that are going to help prevent the issues in the first place, before looking at minimising through reactive measures.
Your solutions may be a mixture of policy, training and procedures or they may be technology led. These are the basis of making an impact, the ‘creation of the cake’ and will take time. The employee ‘perks’ (often seen as the magic potion) are the ‘sprinkles’ will be much more effective once the root people experience is improved.
Furthermore, some solutions may apply organisation wide, with specific solutions focused in areas where significant issues have been identified.
Step 3: Individualised experience
Once you have more information, you can develop a diverse range of interventions that are tailored to support individuals needs and interests, as well as continuing to provide opportunities for individual feedback.
That way, you can ensure that you are meeting the needs of as many of your employees as possible, remembering everyone is an individual and some will still require additional interventions.
Examples of individualised experience interventions include personalised wellbeing and productivity plans, Employee Assistance Programmes, financial wellbeing programmes, full 360 appraisals, regular catch ups on workload, well planned and regular training and development, mentoring and coaching, and wellbeing screenings.
Within this you will need to provide both preventative support, to help keep employees mentally and physically well, and reactive support for when unfortunately they are not.
Step 4: Work environment
Looking at the work environment, both physical and digital, in the workplace and remote, you can then see what changes can be made to provide a healthier work environment.
This includes everything from the quality of the office chair and lighting, options of different working environments for different tasks / flows (including remote and workplace), flexible working, having systems that make sense and don’t crash, to having time and places to get away from the desk at lunch.
Creating a healthy working environment will help your organisation to promote both wellbeing and productivity, allowing employees to get on with their work with limited personal or external distractions, impacts or frustrations.
Step 5: Workplace culture
Finally, looking at what you can do to develop a / enhance your positive culture – the backbone of genuine sustainable success in your organisation.
Whether it is leaders leading by example, clear communication, inclusive and supportive policies such as flexible working or managers showing gratitude and put through a support programme BEFORE they become and while they are a manager.
This will develop high engagement in your wellbeing interventions and your organisation. When employees genuinely believe that the organisation is trying to do its best for them, they will do the same.
Next steps
So, in conclusion, remember that creating a ‘Wellbeing Oasis’ means taking the time to look deeper and address the root issues, not just relying on temporary fixes. Keep repeating these steps, like a filter purifying the water – and you will turn the mirage into reality.
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