A focus on sustainability. Doing well and doing good are not mutually exclusive. And more and more people are wanting to work for an organization that makes a positive impact. They want to feel good about where they work.
The pandemic pause brought us to a moment of collective reckoning about what it means to live well and to work well. As a result, employees are sending employers an urgent signal that they are no longer willing to choose one — life or work — at the cost of the other. Working from home brought life literally into our work. And as the world now goes hybrid, employees are drawing firmer boundaries about how much of their work comes into their life. Where does this leave employers? And which perspectives and programs contribute most to progress? In our newest interview series, Working Well: How Companies Are Creating Cultures That Support & Sustain Mental, Emotional, Social, Physical & Financial Wellness, we are talking to successful executives, entrepreneurs, managers, leaders, and thought leaders across all industries to share ideas about how to shift company cultures in light of this new expectation. We’re discovering strategies and steps employers and employees can take together to live well and to work well.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Joanna Swash.
Joanna Swash is Group CEO of Moneypenny, a business which employs over 1,000 people globally and supports over 21,000 clients through telephone answering, live chat, switchboard, and multi-channel services. Joanna is well known for her commercial acumen and hands-on leadership style, and she is passionate about developing people and creating a culture that breeds success and innovation.
Thank you for making time to visit with us about the topic of our time. Our readers would like to get to know you better. Tell us about a formative experience that prompted you to change your relationship with work and how work shows up in your life.
Before joining Moneypenny as one of their first employees, I ran my own small business. I knew firsthand the importance of people in business, of customer service and purpose, without really knowing the leadership theories surrounding it!
I also knew that it would be difficult to work for others yet I really believed and respected what our founders, Rachel Clacher and Ed Reeves were looking to achieve. It blew my mind that what they were telling me in interview wasn’t just a sales pitch, they truly believed in the power of a people-centered business model, in creating a business where they themselves would want to work. They gave me the respect and flexibility to grow and trusted me without proof. I feel so lucky. From day one, it felt like a family environment, so enabling and gave me the same freedom and ownership, and the environment as having my own business.
What is my takeaway? The importance of hiring the right people, with the right attitude and values, over what is on the CV. The real power of authenticity, of walking the walk and talking the talk. And how it is people and connections that really fuel an organization.
Harvard Business Review predicts that wellness will become the newest metric employers will use to analyze and to assess their employees’ mental, physical and financial health. How does your organization define wellness, and how does your organization measure wellness?
For us at Moneypenny, it is about putting people at the center of all that we do. Our culture is all about our people and has been since our founders created the company back in 2000. The center of their vision was to create a place where they would want to work. Today, it remains at our core.
My belief is that awesome people do awesome things. But you need to value them as the whole and unique individual that they are. They have a life outside of work and that is what makes them who they are, those experiences, interactions and learnings. It is part of why you employed them in the first place and contributes to a diversity of thinking that equips the organization to be agile, responsive and innovative.
So, back to the question. Wellness is as unique as each individual that you employ. Being in good health mentally and physically, in other words, how their wellness is defined is equally unique and should be treated as such. There is no point paying wellness lip service, asking how people are, if you are not going to listen to the answer. And there is no point only asking the question at the annual review.
At Moneypenny it is something that is the forefront of our daily routine, formally it is something we monitor and discuss at 8-weekly reviews. Happy people equates to happy clients.
Based on your experience or research, how do you correlate and quantify the impact of a well workforce on your organization’s productivity and profitability?
The wellness of your people is inextricably linked to the health of an organization. If your people are in good health, then so is your business. It is about more than offering yoga in your lunch hour. It is about valuing your greatest asset and harnessing the immense power of a well workforce. Yes, by its very nature, it leads to increased productivity but it is also the right way to do business, setting up for long-term future success.
Everyone has suffered in some way during the pandemic and it has thrown wellness into the limelight, which is one good thing. However, the organizations that were already people-centric fared much better than those who were not. With wellness comes resilience, that agility we all speak of. At Moneypenny, we were able to go from thrive to survive and right back to thrive sooner than many other businesses and we put that down to our people.
Even though most leaders have good intentions when it comes to employee wellness, programs that require funding are beholden to business cases like any other initiative. The World Health Organization estimates for every $1 invested into treatment for common mental health disorders, there is a return of $4 in improved health and productivity. That sounds like a great ROI. And, yet many employers struggle to fund wellness programs that seem to come “at the cost of the business.” What advice do you have to offer to other organizations and leaders who feel stuck between intention and impact?
People do business with people. Full stop. They are your greatest asset and should be treated as such. In fact, there is an argument that they are even more important than your customers. Stop and think for a moment. It all begins with your people. The people within your business make business possible, so they should at the very least be considered as important as your customers, if not more so.
Support your people to be the best that they can be and the ROI will be immeasurable. This begins with authenticity and compassion, in fostering a culture of openness and transparency, in which people understand their value and do not fear the implications of being judged. In doing so, you are accepting who they are, warts and all, as they say, providing them with no excuses not to be who they are. NB: clear boundaries are required (there is no carte blanche to be inappropriate, for example).
Walk the walk, talk the talk and build trust, ensuring that your words and actions are in sync. In developing a culture of authenticity, you create a safe environment in which people trust and are trusted, to be who they are and to become the best that they can be. And the payoff is real.
Speaking of money matters, a recent Gallup study reveals employees of all generations rank wellbeing as one of their top three employer search criteria. How are you incorporating wellness programs into your talent recruitment and hiring processes?
Attitude over aptitude. As a leader it is important to surround yourself with talented people. No argument there. Instinctively, you look for the most educated, the most qualified. But what if they don’t fit with your values? If your team does not share your values, your purpose then the impact will not be a positive one. That is why it is critical, from the very start to focus on attitude, the attributes that are most important to you and you can shape the future of your company and culture from here. Ask: Is this potential new hire going to be happy here? Will they thrive? In doing so you are setting them up to succeed.
At my interview with Moneypenny, the people-centred business model they were telling me about blew my mind. The passion was contagious, and it turned out to be more than just a sales-pitch. There’s that authenticity again. Our processes have changed a lot since then, but our aim remains the same. From day one, we want people to feel welcome and enabled. It is not just about what we say or the awards that we have won but what we actually show them, how we make them feel.
We’ve all heard of the four-day work week, unlimited PTO, mental health days, and on demand mental health services. What innovative new programs and pilots are you launching to address employee wellness? And, what are you discovering? We would benefit from an example in each of these areas.
- Mental Wellness:
Replacing annual reviews with eight-week chats. These allow us to remain connected, monitor, review and act quickly in supporting our people to be the best that they can be.
- Emotional Wellness:
We are big on the little things. Those everyday little things that make a huge difference. Whether it is a handwritten note from the CEO acknowledging a great job or taking a goat on a Zoom call, it’s not always serious but it can transform someone’s day.
- Social Wellness:
Workplace by Meta kept us connected during remote working and is something that we continue to use. A balance of team meetings and a place for our people to express themselves. With wellbeing bots, tools to keep families and kids occupied and encouraging people to take up training courses.
- Physical Wellness:
From free snacks to meditation classes, the key for us in offering a range of options that people can get stuck into. One that stands out though, is in creating a great space for people to socialize, have a drink together or even practice some yoga or just chill and read a book.
- Financial Wellness:
In recognizing that all our people are unique and also recognize that their needs will be too, we value the individual as a whole and treat them as such. We offer health insurance, dental care and 401K plan as standard.
How are you reskilling leaders in your organization to support a “Work Well” culture?
Reskilling is a continuous process. It is linked to self-awareness, a key trait for any good leader. Before you can lead others you need to know yourself and you need to own it. No one is perfect and no one expects you to be. But everyone can learn and grow.
Self-awareness is at the heart of our emotional intelligence quotient. Before we can demonstrate empathy, for example, we need to understand our own emotions. When you harness your self-awareness skills you naturally become more understanding, more compassionate because of your heightened consciousness. You will also become more adaptable. If you are tuned-in to your surroundings, your people, them you will be able to foresee reactions, avoiding negative experienced and capturing the positives.
In recognizing the importance of self-awareness and learning to nurture its value, a good leader will be able to inspire those around you, harness their awesomeness and build a legacy for the future.
Ideas take time to implement. What is one small step every individual, team or organization can take to get started on these ideas — to get well?
Make the time to listen and hear. To your leadership team, your colleagues, your people, your clients, your competition and most importantly, yourself.
What are your “Top 5 Trends To Track In the Future of Workplace Wellness?”
- The changing face of the office.
Gone are the grey walls and fluorescent lights, office should be inspiring places to work. Not only equipped with the right tech and furniture but designed for creativity, fun, and collaboration. Creating a safe welcoming space in which to work and people will flourish. Use the space creatively, a blurring of the lines between home and office design with comfy breakout areas, treehouse offices perhaps and sustainable buildings.
2. Treating your people as celebrities.
Treat your people as the individual celebrities they are. With no one-size-fits-all approach, different skills and perspectives should be respected and harnessed. Provide people with the safe space in which they can become the best that they can be.
3. A focus on sustainability.
Doing well and doing good are not mutually exclusive. And more and more people are wanting to work for an organization that makes a positive impact. They want to feel good about where they work.
4. A redefining of purpose.
This is the cornerstone of your business, it is the reason that you exist and unifies your people. Organizations need to invest time in uncovering their purpose; their core values and strengths. In placing purpose at the heart of your decisions, you are also putting people at the core.
5. A recognition of the power of authenticity (and kindness).
Authenticity leads to trust. Do what you say you are going to do. Lead with authenticity and a clear purpose and you will gain trust from all stakeholders and in doing so open up trusted partnerships and relationships.
What is your greatest source of optimism about the future of workplace wellness?
We are talking about it. The discussion has begun and we need to act on this momentum in recognizing the true power in business is its people.
Our readers often like to continue the conversation with our featured interviewees. How can they best connect with you and stay current on what you’re discovering?
Thank you for sharing your insights and predictions. We appreciate the gift of your time and wish you continued success and wellness.