Workforce well-being has remained at a standstill this past year, and by some measures, continues to decline. Results from recent studies on the state of well-being in the workforce have shown:
- “Workforce well-being continues to stall.”(Deloitte, June 2024)
- “People’s mental well-being has been worsening.” (Gallup, June 2024)
Due to the collective challenging times we’re facing and the redefinition of work from the pandemic, the results are not surprising. However, it’s important to be aware these results only give a partial view of the state of workforce well-being. They aren’t the whole picture.
Workforce well-being—driven mostly by Corporate Wellness programs or one-off initiatives—has had the same focus for so long, with lower results in recent years. Sadly, it’s likely we’ll continue to see deterioration unless we do something differently.
What’s missing from how we look at workforce well-being?
Improving workforce well-being is a relatively new business priority, with increasing demand since the pandemic. 15 years ago, it was rare for companies to offer Corporate Wellness programs; now the majority of companies have various levels of such programs in place.
The workforce well-being research in this first phase focused on proving well-being at work matters and impacts the bottom line—when implemented effectively. We have now entered the next phase of workforce well-being: the research has shown it’s important but hasn’t yet proved how to solve the problem. There are missing pieces necessary to diagnose the problem and make progress in creating a workforce that has foundational well-being.
Three core missing pieces of the puzzle to make progress:
1. Create a standard to measure workforce well-being
Measuring workforce well-being is an incredibly new concept. The results of a systematic review of well-being measurements for workers discovered: “There is not yet a gold standard measure of [worker] well-being.” This doesn’t mean there aren’t options. It means there isn’t a widely accepted tool to measure workforce well-being. Additionally, there is still work to do to develop valid and reliable measures.
From a measurement perspective, in the past three years, there has been increased attention to reporting on workforce well-being—along with heightened demand for worker well-being.
While workforce well-being studies have become a recent focus, it is still in its early stages. There are opportunities to expand. We can recognize we are still learning about workforce well-being and don’t have the answers yet on how to solve the problems. Developing standard measurements will help us get there.
2. Connect the dots between leadership and well-being
From research to organizational practices, a significant workforce well-being focus is one sided about the employee. Leaders view workforce well-being, which has become synonymous with Corporate Wellness programs, as an employee perk. Surveys on how employees are faring becomes a data point for leaders to lead efforts to improve workforce well-being regardless of their own well-being.
Directing all corporate well-being efforts to employees misses a crucial factor towards making progress: the leaders. Wellbeing measurements and organizational priorities must be expanded to include leaders as essential to advancing workforce well-being.
With workforce well-being research, it means addressing a current gap of what the leaders’ well-being impact is on their leadership performance, teams, and organizations.
Organizationally, it means leaders having a foundation in well-being becoming the norm instead of an exception.
3. Wellbeing must be integrated into the organization
Unfortunately, most companies have been operating with a limited, bolt on approach to well-being. For too long, the focus has been to offer one-off Corporate Wellness programs or initiatives, including: yoga classes, meditation apps, lunch n’ learns or trainings. However, in isolation, these programs have not been shown to make an impact. They should not be considered the main strategy to improve well-being.
To make a real improvement requires fully integrating well-being into the business and day-to-day operations as a foundation for leadership and organizational culture. Systemic change needs to happen to truly improve workforce well-being.
How to Make Progress:
1. Recalibrate your Mindset
Our mindsets around work and well-being need recalibration. In corporate America, we still operate with “busy badges,” meaning the belief we must be busy every second of the day to be most productive. While it is absolutely inaccurate, and research shows leaders perform at their best when maximizing their well-being—including creating space in their day—it is still a prevalent view.
As leaders, first, understand the impact you have on others when you lead with the “busy badge.” For instance, it has a negative ripple effect when you consistently email your team on nights and weekends. It sends a message that’s what’s expected of everyone.
Next, recognize that caring for yourself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually is how you operate at your highest leadership capacity. Recalibrate your mindset about what it means to lead with foundations of well-being.
While this might make logical sense, it’s often not fundamental to how organizations and leaders operate.
2. Expand How to Measure Wellbeing
There is an incredible opportunity to approach measuring well-being in different ways, by experimenting and testing out different hypotheses. We can’t keep measuring the same aspects and expect different results. We must be willing to look at different ways to diagnose the problems, address why they are occurring, and then create new solutions.
This includes expanding well-being research to address gaps in the research, including the impact a leader’s well-being has on their leadership performance. We must first expand how to assess well-being to ultimately create more standardized measurements.
3. Fully Integrate Wellbeing into the Business
We need systemic solutions to fully integrate well-being as foundational for leadership and organizational culture. This includes three pillars: Vital Leadership, Team Vitality, and Organizational Vitality. To be successful will require fundamentally changing how each part of the corporate system operates to include well-being. Companies could then look at any aspect of the business and see the well-being measurement and integration points. Two examples:
- Learning and Development: leadership training and skill development begins with building foundations in well-being.
- Recognition and rewards: recognize and reward everyone for cultivating foundational well-being for themselves and each other.
The first step of growth is awareness. Own your well-being and prioritize it so it becomes the norm and not the exception. Remove the “busy badge.”
Each of us can start making progress by embracing the mindset: well-being is foundational to peak leadership performance. How would you show up differently by truly embracing this mindset? What’s one step you could take in the next week?
