Tag: employee well-being

Better Together: Growth for the Companies is tied to Career-Growth of its Employees

career-growth of employees, companies

Thinking about career growth is one of the favourite pass-times, it seems.

We have thought about it in the middle of a meeting, or when we were having a quiet moment in the office, or maybe when we were on a holiday, all happy and relaxed. Suddenly, muscles go tense, and the mind goes racing. Sometimes, these thoughts act as motivating factors, the ‘positive’ stress that propels us to think ahead.

Individuals think about career growth a lot.

It’s time companies think about it too. Thinking about career growth shouldn’t just be a concern of the individuals. Companies can benefit a lot by sharing this concern. Yes! Companies can benefit from thinking about the career growth of their employees! How so? Let us delve into it quickly.

The first benefit is right there in our introduction! Individuals think about their career growth a lot. When the company they are working for is genuinely concerned about it as well, it can motivate them to stay. Talk about retaining talent! When companies show interest in helping their employees advance in their careers, it attracts more candidates, because of course, people like to work at places where they see a possibility of concrete growth on paper.

Secondly, companies can reduce their talent acquisition costs by thinking about the career growth of their employees. An employee who sees a career growth while staying at the company means that the company would be able to hire internally. Hiring internally means cutting down on sourcing and onboarding costs. And think of all the time that could be saved on background checks and references.

Thirdly, companies can improve their employee engagement when they think about the career growth of their employees. Employees who know there is a scope to grow professionally within the walls of the company, that there is a chance that they will get an opportunity any moment, are naturally more likely to engage with their work. When the employees know that what they are working at is nota dead-end job, it is likely to increase their motivation and engagement levels. They can attach more meaning to their work and to the company, because they know it is indeed leading them somewhere, that is, it’s not a dead-end job.

So, what can companies and employers do to implement this idea of showing interest in their employee’s career growth?

Think which positions and skill gaps are hard to fill in the company. Talk to the employees about their goals. A few conversations later, it should be possible to align the two, and realise the kind of opportunities the company can offer so that those hard to fill positions and skill gaps are no longer that hard to fill.

Opportunities can range from digital learning, workshops and seminars, sponsored L&D opportunities, shadowing positions and so on.

Now, companies may or may not be able to offer everything to everyone, and even if they do, there’s still a chance that the employee might have different priorities and choices.

That doesn’t mean companies should only and only think about offering career growth opportunities to those who would promise to stay, or to those who would directly, most certainly, be helpful to the company in some way. Benevolently given career growth opportunities to employees ensure a good word of mouth of the company, a good employer brand, and a chance that someone might come back as a boomerang employee!

What Employers can do to Ensure Mental and Physical Well-Being of Employees

How well are people in Indian offices doing when it comes to mental-health? What can employers do to ensure their employees do not become a part of the recent statistics on depression and general psychological well-being? As an article by One-to-One Help mentions, around 42% of Indian workforce is depressed. There has been reported around 40 to 50% of increase in employees suffering from anxiety and depression, primarily as a result of demanding work schedules and high stress levels. 23% of the workforce suffers from obesity, 9% from high blood pressure, 8% from diabetes and 5.5% from spondylosis. They are all more or less caused by high levels of stress, and in a vicious cycle, keep contributing to the stress because of the way they affect the mental and physical well-being of the employees, eventually leading to a burnout.

In the light of these statistics, it is important that employers and management level personnel take steps to ensure that the workplace becomes a conducive environment for the mental and physical well-being of their employees. What steps can be taken? Let us quickly have a look.

Creating a Psychologically Safe Space:

A Gallups study shows that employees whose managers are always willing to listen to them about their problems are 62% less likely to be burned out. So, maybe one of the ways workplaces can become places conducive to employee well-being is making them psychologically safe. Psychologically safe means that the employees should be able to voice their feedback, concerns, ideas, express vulnerabilities and even negative feedback without feeling afraid or/and without fear of harsh repercussions. The workplace should be a place of trust and a space that allows the employees to be authentic within the boundaries of professionalism, of course. We have talked in one of our earlier articles about how the workplace can create spaces where it is okay to voice negative feedback and emotions without fear of being judged. It is all about acknowledging the problems, listening actively even when a solution isn’t at hand and thinking about realistic ways of dealing with the problems, instead of always trying to remain positive. This is especially needed when the issues that are said to be causing stress and burnout need to be addressed- the problem must be acknowledged instead of sweeping it under the carpet of positivity.

Fostering Teamwork, Community and Accountability:

Mental and physical well-being of the employees can also be cultivated by encouraging team-work and demanding accountability, as the article by One-to-One Help points out. The former could be achieved by undertaking fun team-building trips and activities every once in a while, or by having informal non-work-related talking chai sessions where employees can engage in casual chit-chat, and improve their individual and group dynamics. Well-being workshops can also be organised every once in a while. It is about ensuring a healthy sense of community.

Although, activities of fun are enjoyable for most people, employers also need to ensure these activities don’t become enforced demands of ‘mandatory fun’. Some employees just wouldn’t like to spend too much time in crowds because of their individual nature. If forced participation is more likely to affect their work and stress levels in a negative manner, then they should be given options to not participate.

Demanding accountability is all about creating certain ground-rules about how to approach unpleasant or difficult situations, how to respond and other rules of engagement. A sense of accountability ensures that we take responsibility about each other, which in turn fosters a safe community.

Ensuring Ergonomic Welfare:

Besides all these psychological tools, it is also a good idea for employers to ensure ergonomic welfare. As an article by The Business Goals points out, ergonomic welfare is often forgotten in the office. Ergonomic welfare includes ensuring the physical wellbeing of employees isn’t affected by long hours of screen-time, bad posture for prolonged periods of time and about maintaining a comfortable, workable physical environment for them in the office. Employers can take steps to keep reminding their employees to take frequent breaks, walks around the office etc. If possible, employers can also create small lounging areas where employees can sit around for sometime and decompress.

Thus, employers, managers, leaders can take these simple humane steps to ensure their employees can trust the office environment, be their authentic selves, create well-functioning bonds with their colleagues, be productive in their work and have better days at work. Depression, anxiety, burnout are things built up over time through the small and big issues. Ensuring an environment of mental and physical well-being in the office ultimately ensures a positive step towards fostering the desired company culture and mission. 

How To Increase Retention With Workplace Aura

One of the most important aspects of employee retention is providing a comfortable work environment and culture. The employees should feel safe and comfortable in their workplace. No one wants to walk into a room and feel uncomfortable every day. This can be accomplished by making the workplace personal and welcoming. It is important that the office is well-lit and properly ventilated. Designing a comfortable work environment is about aesthetics; careful attention to its design can boost the employee happiness. The office culture should match the industry.

workplace-aura

Entrepreneurs recommend that the employees should be offered skill enhancement training. The changes in employment laws, latest technologies and new selling techniques are some of the reasons to keep the permanent employees in the loop. Seminars and classes provide training to the employees about the updated techniques. Computerized training, DVDs, books, articles, audiotapes and pamphlets also help in acquiring the desired knowledge. Reviews or evaluations help in assessing the employee performance and their enthusiasm towards the goals set by the company.

A lot about the employees can be known only by listening to them. They may have interesting ideas or business plans that can be implemented which will make them feel like they are also a part of the entire business process. Anyone can spare a few minutes from their busy schedules to find out what is going on with the employees professional and personal lives. Recognizing the accomplishments of the employees is most important. Awarding a prize or praising employees for their performance is one of the most effective ways to make them feel appreciated, which will make them want to stay in the company for a longer time.

Offering a competitive salary package helps in keeping the employees happy and satisfied. The salaries are based on employee skill, experience, work seniority and demand. However, high salary is not always the only deciding factor about employees seeking employment elsewhere. There are other benefits that they often look for like health insurance, life insurance or a retirement-savings plan and these are essential in retaining employees.

Constructive fun like innovative workshops, quiz/other contests and party games in an inclusive environment removes pressure from a hierarchal workplace. Everyone is able to decompress, have fun, share their stories, and work together while becoming closer as a unit. Most of the skills that are needed in the employees cannot be effectively retained and implemented without repetition and practice.  Retaining employees is as important as maintaining the bottom line or increasing scope of influence because workforce represents the essence of a business regardless of the specific niche, or industry.

Hence do take good care of your Most Important M (men).

Being Well Ensures Being Successful: A Workplace Initiative

Maintaining a positive vibe and enthusiastic ambience at workplace is the key for successful business proceedings. Many times it is seen that the physical and mental illness of the staffs affects the growth of the company. The most common cause that damages a firm’s proceedings is non attendance. This is mainly caused by physical weakness, mood disorder, depression or some other illness resulting in drop in performance meter of the employee and degrading of moral at the workplace.

Now, what begs the question is how exactly well being of employee effect the company’s prosperity. It is statistically approved through different office surveys that the employees working under poor conditions and provisions are more susceptible to non attendance and lack of aspiration while in case of well-conditioned employees this disorder is quite low. The former situation likely to deteriorate the turnover of the company while the latter situation will no way degrade the turnover but may also improve the stakes for the firm.

With the business boom happening all over the globe, more and more offices are coming into play meaning more workforce environments are being formed. Under these situations, it is of utmost importance to keep the physical and mental condition of the employees afresh. If the employees are deprived in either of the conditions the drive for accomplishment for the company will slow down. For this very reason, today’s firms are always encouraging their work place employees to keep themselves fit and fine which will ultimately beneficial for creating positive vibe for the firm and in its path of progress. The organizations nowadays are providing their staffs with health check gadgets for their fitness regime, exercise and spa outings, recreational activities and other stuff for the employees’ well being.

employee-wellness

Some of the methods for employee well-being initiative are discussed below

  1. It is important to lookout for employee’s fitness regime

The company can keep track of employees’ fitness through mobile apps and also pass awareness messages and alerts to them during slack.

  1. Keep the employees busy in extracurricular activities

By arranging periodical recreational activities like sports and others in the veil of competition will ignite workplace rivalry and keep them tracked on fitness regime.

  1. 3. Encourage healthy living among the staff

Companies are aware today that the health care costs are increasing day by day and healthy employees will bring in higher efficiency and hence healthy production. It is imperative to take proper care in order to maintain wellness of the employees. The following steps could be taken to encourage good health among the staff:

  • Blood tests can be regularly organised by the companies for the employees.
  • A doctor can be called upon to talk on issues related to health care.
  • Yoga classes/camps can be conducted.

 

  1. It is important to give employees a vitality boost every now and then

The firm needs to do all to keep the moral high in the work place to spread the business further. Occasional remodelling of the work place will light up the employees’ moods and inspire them to work more efficiently; let’s face it everyone wants something new in the daily grind.

  1. The all purpose office will realise dream

The people nowadays are fitness aware but restrict themselves to equipment exercise like gymming, swimming, aerobics, cycling etc. The offices providing these facilities along with recreation centres and nutritional yet good meals as amenities will definitely get cent percent dedication and efforts from their employees, catapulting the firm to the next level.