With the recent pandemic affecting the world due to the rise of COVID-19, there is no doubt that people almost all over the world are truly affected may it be regarding health worries, financial concerns and stress levels. This stress impacts the overall productivity and well-being of an individual and even the ability of the people or organizations to achieve success.
In connection to this, employers should step up in finding ways on how to cope with these difficulties and find ways on how to improve the well-being of their employees despite the recent situation. Good to know that there are certain ways that could be considered by most organizations today.
The burden of doing so lies on most managers who are considered on the front line when it comes to motivating their employees. Managers have the responsibility to promote employee well-being in the team. Once the workforce is stressed, demotivated, and not building positive relationships, the efficiency and productivity of the would suffer as a result.
So, there are few ways wherein managers could improve the well-being of their employees, at the same time encourage effective communication within the workplace in order to ensure that each member feels healthy and happy in their role.
For some management tips, consider the following to help you promote excellent employee well-being in the workplace:
- Offer purpose for the job.
Most employees have mundane jobs which could feel like there is no benefit to what is being done. Nevertheless, every job has its purpose. As a manager, it’s best to take the time to help employees to understand why what they do really matters and connect the dots in order to show how it impacts the people which the organization serves.
It is also crucial to clarify the guiding vision and mission and help these employees to see how what they do helps in fulfilling that purpose. Managers should help employees to see the big picture no matter what the job is.
- Make work social.
In most cases, we would spend more hours at work than spending it with our families. With that, it is important to enjoy the people we are with. To improve both productivity and engagement, having friends at work helps a lot.
Managers should encourage social interactions through creating an environment which fosters teamwork, water-cooler moments and relationship building. Managers could create a lounge or lunchroom which is inviting and makes it a lot easier for employees to have a meal together, hang out or chat. In fact, there are various benefits out of having a well-stocked and inviting office for these employees.
- Enable financial literacy.
For many people, playing the bills can be one of the sources of stress. Managers may create an environment which fosters financial literacy by rendering support, education and counseling for everything about finances.
Managers can host lunch and learn events and even highlight speakers which help employees to get out of debt, save for their future and plan for their retirement.
Taking the barrier out of the retirement savings can be considered by automatically enrolling your employees to the company retirement plan.
- Promote healthy lifestyles.
Indeed, wellness programs have become the norm as an attempt to improve the health of the employees. Managers might encourage healthy lifestyles through:
- Offering incentives for those employees who have lower their cholesterol, increase physical activity or quit smoking.
- Offering educational programs on food preparation, diet and portion control.
- Creating activities which get employees up and moving around.
Managers who encourage their employees to live a healthy lifestyle are effective leaders particularly in terms of promoting and improving the overall well-being of the employees. Thus, healthy employees means productive and successful organization as well.
- Sponsor an organization in the community.
Managers may get their employees involved in the community by creating a corporate volunteer program. Conducting a focus group with employees and brainstorming organizations which rely on volunteer help might also be a great move. Simply develop the program and put the employees to work.
Managers may as well offer paid volunteer opportunities to get the employees out of the office and to their community. This engagement would help them feel like they are making a difference and supporting a very important mission as well.
These ways must definitely be considered by managers to help the employees improve their well-being. The goal with all this is to simply support the whole employee of getting them completely engaged at work. And we all know that it might cost a lot if you’ll have unhappy employees.
So, now might be a great time to sit down with the leadership team and make a plan to improve the overall well-being of the employees by considering some of the mentioned ways above!