If Covid-19 has shown us anything it’s how quickly businesses have managed to adapt in the face of crisis. But among the complex challenges CEOs and MDs have faced since March, keeping the workforce safe, happy and productive is one of the most important.
Why is employee wellbeing critical to your business right now?
Employees anxiety and stress levels have reached an all time high during the pandemic and everybody has had life disrupted in one way or another. Some of your workforce have had to adapt to working from their bedroom, whereas others may have undertaken additional childcare responsibilities or are recovering from illness.
The UK workforce has never experienced a collective worry like this and the effects have rocked all levels of organisations. As a result, anxious and disengaged staff are unable to apply themselves to their usual standards, and productivity and quality of work has fallen.
CEOs and MDs are investing in employee wellbeing
UK CEOs have shown an overwhelming dedication to the wellbeing of their employees during the last eight months. Many CEOs recognise the struggles their employees currently face and have taken active steps towards keeping staff safe and happy – with 90% of UK CEOs conducting wellbeing initiatives.
While this is a step in the right direction, not all employees have felt its benefits. Just 52% of the time managers felt free from worry according to research conducted by WeThrive. This indicates a startling gap between the wellbeing efforts of CEOs and the results in practice.
So why could this be? Well, without truly listening to employees your wellbeing strategy is likely to fall short.
Listening through data
Really listening to employees sends a positive message that their voice matters. It gives your managers the confidence to understand and ease the pain points in their teams. In addition, it shows what your organisation is doing well.
You need to know how your staff truly feel to make a lasting impact on wellbeing. For instance, Stephanie in Customer Service might not have enough headspace between tasks and Paul in Finance may not have the resources to manage his workload. But often these concerns can be buried under a multitude of anxieties that block your employees from performing.
Accurately gathering employee data must be at the heart of measuring your wellbeing initiative’s success. Change will only be surface level without these deeper insights – and blocks to wellbeing and happiness will continue to hinder productivity and success.
Uncovering exactly where your employees sit on that scale is the key to improving wellbeing and ensuring individuals feel happy and engaged at work.
Data-driven workplaces are undoubtedly the way forward. The digital transformation of core business operations and processes is a top three priority for 59% of UK CEOs – and employee wellbeing must be firmly positioned here too.
How WeThrive can help
Create a long-term plan for business success by using actionable insights from your people’s data. Uncovering the specific stressors and needs in your organisation keeps you in the driving seat of your organisation.
WeThrive gives you everything you need to quickly launch company-wide or specific team employee engagement surveys followed with concise actions to help managers follow-up quickly post-survey. The actions are linked to bite-size learning and training content for managers. Try it today and in just 7 days you’ll be working with real data on employee needs.
About WeThrive
Employee Engagement, Evolved
WeThrive is the agile employee engagement platform that uncovers how your people truly feel, enabling managers to create highly effective teams, increase employee retention and employee wellbeing and deliver better business results.
Try the survey to learn more.
