More and more companies are making wellbeing a priority instead of just paying lip service, especially after the pandemic and resultant lockdowns. Fully remote or not, it’s hard to focus on work when you don’t have balance. By prioritizing wellbeing and putting programmes in place for mental health support will pay dividends in more ways than one.
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 Lorena Perez.
Lorena Perez is a highly qualified senior Human Resources specialist with broad international experience in helping companies to scale globally while maintaining an unique culture. She holds a Business Management degree, an MBA and a Masters degree in Human Resources Management. As Chief People Officer for Novakid, a fully remote Edtech business with over 500 staff in 20 countries, Lorena leads the team of 9 HR Business Partners and Training Specialists.
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.
When I worked at Cabify, it was my first experience of working for a tech startup, a dynamic and fast-paced sector! It was the first time that I felt as though my work life was encroaching on my personal life. I worked all hours of the day, even over weekends, as it was what was needed at that time in the business. I was working on Operations while building an HR department for a global business from scratch, which included time differences with staff in various countries while we were expanding the teams. I asked myself if this was the way I wanted to lead my life and realized that I needed to focus on more of a balance between my work and personal lives. Something needed to change, so I took a step back in my role. In agreement with the CEO, instead of focusing on global HR activities and growth, I focused on Europe only and recruited a team to take on the role in other regions. This worked very well for me personally, and at a later stage, I took up an opportunity to join Talent Garden. This European-based HR role was easier to manage when compared with the time differences with a global company.
Work is important in my life, but it’s not my entire life. I like the quote from Dolly Parton, “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” This epitomizes my view to work-life balance and I try to remember this when I am going through a stressful time at work.
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?
I would define wellness as a person’s best state of mind — both physically and mentally balanced. In a workplace, employees should enjoy an equilibrium of physical and mental balance by being supported by their employers and team members.
While the way we work has fundamentally changed, the need to craft and nurture an engaging corporate culture remains fundamental to an organization’s success. Especially in a fully remote business, it is more important than ever to foster connection and promote collaboration between physically distanced employees while redesigning the ways in which people work (so as to promote balance) and feel supported.
Novakid’s staff complement has grown quite rapidly in the past 18 months, so we are currently implementing measurement techniques to assess employee wellness, namely ENPS and staff satisfaction surveys.
ENPS is an Employee Net Promoter Score — which is similar to the NPS term used in marketing. Through surveys, we will measure how likely our staff are to recommend us to others and how they rate our business. In the surveys, we ask questions that relate to working hours, task allocation, KPIs etc so that we can garner a clear understanding of what people are happy with and the areas that need improvement.
HR Business Partner Open Talks sessions are another method we use to gauge satisfaction levels.
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?
In my view, if staff are achieving their KPIs and goals, then we have a well workforce. Because of the way our company is structured i.e., fully remote, flexible working hours and open management structure, I believe we offer our staff the best opportunity to complete tasks and achieve their objectives in a way that suits their working styles. I am of the opinion that our way of working leads to increased productivity and in turn, profitability.
Besides achieving KPIs, this can be measured by improved scores in ENPS surveys and it can be correlated with the achievement of sales targets/KPIs or increased productivity.
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?
It’s important to present the data to the executives first. Bring all the relevant research and outcomes to the table to make a case for your initiative. Saying that staff will be happier is not enough! The CEO/co-founder/executives need to understand the data in such a way that they understand the impact on the business. If you can monetize the value of the initiative i.e., improved profit margins, talent retention etc, they will be more likely to approve the project.
Once you have the buy-in of the executives, ask for a small investment to run a pilot programme with a few staff members and ensure there are clear measurement parameters in place: How did the team perform? What was the impact on KPIs/performance? If the programme achieved the desired outcomes, present these findings to the executives and ask for further funding to roll it out across the company.
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?
Our vacancy posts include details on the fact that Novakid is a fully remote business so our employees have flexible working hours (dependent on their role — client service or social media teams may have shifts) and unlimited PTO. We find that this in itself (although not unique) is a big advantage, especially after the pandemic. Most companies are either asking staff to go back to the office, or are offering a hybrid working structure, whereas we are fully remote and always have been. We offer psychological support and financial support that can be applied for through various company policies.
In addition, we offer unlimited training to all staff, with either internal — our ‘League of Experts — or external providers such as online universities. We find that this approach of trusting staff to be responsible for their own careers, empowering them to ask for assistance when needed and encouraging people to extend their knowledge through training or short courses is very much appreciated by our staff (based on feedback we receive).
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: We have a therapy platform that staff can use to book time with psychologists. In particular, we saw a noticeable increase in use of the platform when the Ukraine conflict started. We have staff in over 20 countries across the globe, with a percentage of the team based in Eastern Europe. staff when the Ukraine conflict started, and people needed support to deal with the impact on their families and colleagues.
- Emotional Wellness: Open Talks with HR Business Partner (HRBP). Our staff are able to set up time with their HRBP to discuss issues with someone other than their team lead. Staff can ask for advice on how to deal with difficult situations or get clarity on the business policies.
- Social Wellness: We host quarterly online team building sessions and regular ‘virtual coffee’ dates. In addition, we recently implemented the Buddy programme for staff to encourage workplace relationships, achieve onboarding goals sooner and raise levels of Employee Engagement for new and existing employees
- Physical Wellness: As mentioned, we have an unlimited vacation time policy and we are looking into a wellbeing app for our staff. Offering flexible working hours and acknowledging the bank holidays in each team member’s country help employees to prioritize their time and work tasks. We encourage staff to switch off during their vacations, as we feel that checking emails or the Slack channels while you are on holiday is not conducive to resting!
- Financial Wellness: We work closely with our finance department to ensure that our staff salaries are adjusted when needed for inflation and exchange rate fluctuations. We offer company loans and have a comprehensive relocation policy that assists staff who would like to relocate to a different country/area. Our staff only need to get approval on business expenses that exceed $100.
Can you please tell us more about a couple of specific ways workplaces would benefit from investing in your ideas above to improve employee wellness?
Although unlimited PTO and flexible working hours are not unique concepts, Novakid has successfully implemented both since the inception of our business in 2017.
People ask us — how do you know that your team is working? It’s easy — those who aren’t will quickly be shown up by those who are working, as they won’t deliver. We set strict deadlines, KPIs are clarified and consequences for non-delivery are highlighted upfront. People are given the opportunity to ask for further information or assistance so that no one has the excuse of ‘I didn’t know what to do or when to do it by.’
We conduct regular training sessions with our team on time management to motivate our employees to regularly apply proven time management techniques to increase their productivity and improve work-life balance!
Company values are everything. They not only shape the kind of company you want to build but attract the kind of people you want inside the company. If you want vibrant, honest, trustworthy and curious people focused on taking your business forward, then you need to put those qualities down on paper and define them as your values. For remote companies, this is particularly important.
We treat our employees like adults. By trusting our team to do what they do best, we build trust in the hearts of our employees — they know we truly have their best interests at heart. In a remote company, you can’t see what people are doing. You don’t know if someone is watching TV or watching their inbox. If they’re typing a love letter or collaborating with a client. Put honesty upfront as a value and communicate with honesty and this will soon create a culture where everyone trusts one another, and themselves.
Overall, these measures result in employee satisfaction which in turn leads to increased productivity and profitability.
How are you reskilling leaders in your organization to support a “Work Well” culture?
Leaders should lead by example. If the executives aren’t showing work/life balance, our team members won’t feel comfortable to exercise their right to work flexibly. This must be addressed with managers/leaders who for example, reply to emails when they are on holiday. It sets the wrong example for staff and leads to discontent.
Leaders also need to realize that they don’t need to be available at all times. They are allowed to switch off and use tools like scheduling emails or turning off notifications at the end of their working day.
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?
We recently launched the ‘Working Well Together’ policy that promotes work-life balance and a respect for everyone’s time. The policy discusses how best to respect people’s time, your own time and how to raise concerns.
This being said, these policies only work if the individuals in the company implement them. If people don’t set their own boundaries, policies don’t help! Managers can assist their team members to prioritize their work tasks, but people must put their own limits in place. There is always work to do, but you must rest at some time.
It’s important to keep in mind that some employees may not be as motivated as others and do need additional support. While remote working is seen as beneficial in many ways, it can lead to working longer hours and feeling isolated, so it is key to make sure staff are managing their time efficiently.
Can your people really say that they’re allowed to take responsibility for their mistakes? For their problems? Make the answer to this question a resounding ‘YES!’ by giving people the space they need to be brave. Courage is hard to come by and difficult to retain so nurture it in your employees.
If your people are scared to make decisions or problem-solve, then it will be hard for them to work in a remote environment because there won’t be anyone sitting next to them saying, ‘Here, let me do it.’ They have to do it.
But you need to help them do it.
Give people space to take risks, to pioneer new ways of thinking, to solve problems boldly. Let them be curious and search for new things, new ways of working, new methodologies. Remote and hybrid working environments are still relatively new for many companies which is a wonderful excuse to experiment, invent and explore. Then, give them the space they need to talk about their ideas and share their stories — communicating bravery is as important as having it.
Communication is key, especially in remote companies because people don’t see each other. You need to multiply your efforts to communicate in the right way and keep repeating things so you’re absolutely sure you are getting your message across.
Learn how to listen to people in a video call. Find ways of making people feel heard when they are not physically in the room with you. Connect with people on multiple levels across emails, video calls, body language, instant messages and more. Let people see that you can see them and allow them to feel heard.
To achieve this level of open communication, you need to give people the tools they need to communicate. This means you need to provide people with a forum where they can give feedback, highlight any pain points they may have, and ask questions — all without fear of reprisal or criticism. It’s important that people feel safe and empowered. Bolster this by providing several different channels for this feedback and engagement — portal, emails, chat, digital communication spaces, these are all invaluable tools that will help you to open up dialogue between employees.
This is more important than you can imagine because this, this is the step that will embed honesty, cement values, build a culture, and create a sense of trust within teams. Communicate often. Communicate transparently. And be ready to listen…
What are your “Top 5 Trends To Track In the Future of Workplace Wellness?”
- ATTRACTING YOUNGER GENERATION STAFF
Authenticity, curiosity, honesty, purpose and communication. These are the qualities that your future employees want to see in your workplace. The next generation isn’t looking to answer questions about where they will be in six years, they want to know how your company will connect with them and build a relationship that benefits everyone. Companies should be asking future employees to interview them and use the opportunity to talk about the company’s purpose and how they give employees the space to thrive. The next generation expects more from business! Have a purpose. Hire people that connect with this purpose and create a united company that puts people first.
2. CORPORATE CULTURE AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE BUSINESS
When considering the culture of your company, consider three main concepts: mission and values; people, and processes. Getting these areas right will empower employees to work the way they want, which has the potential to boost productivity and output while improving employee satisfaction.
Employees, particularly younger generations, want to feel that their work has purpose and impact beyond simply earning them an income. At Novakid, for example, our mission is to teach children the universal language of English, as this will hopefully allow them to effectively work with other cultures in the modern globalized marketplace. With this positive impact as our guiding North Star metric, employees feel inspired to work towards this goal.
3. FULLY REMOTE WORKPLACES
We have proved that being a fully remote company since inception in 2017 can work. We have nearly 600 employees and 2,700 English teachers across the world who all work well together to achieve the business goals. Fully remote workplaces allow employees to be flexible and in turn, more motivated and productive, as they feel empowered to manage their own time.
Ideally, fully remote organizations should hire employees who demonstrate values such as courage and curiosity, are transparent and honest, can work intelligently and efficiently, and are effective communicators. Fully remote companies require honesty, trust and integrity at the heart of its value system, as management no longer has direct line of sight on employees and their daily activities.
4. SELF-MANAGEMENT
The implementation of flexible working hours and unlimited PTO has highlighted that treating employees as the adults they are will result in those same employees being motivated to work hard, be more productive and in most cases, are loyal to the business.
In a remote company, you can’t see what people are doing. You don’t know if someone is watching TV or watching their inbox. Put honesty upfront as a value and communicate with honesty and this will soon create a culture where everyone trusts one another, and themselves. Give people space to take risks, to pioneer new ways of thinking, to solve problems boldly. Let them be curious and search for new things, new ways of working, new methodologies. Remote and hybrid working environments are still relatively new for many companies which is a wonderful excuse to experiment, invent and explore. Then, give them the space they need to talk about their ideas and share their stories — communicating bravery is as important as having it.
5. PRIORITIZING WELLBEING
More and more companies are making wellbeing a priority instead of just paying lip service, especially after the pandemic and resultant lockdowns. Fully remote or not, it’s hard to focus on work when you don’t have balance. By prioritizing wellbeing and putting programmes in place for mental health support will pay dividends in more ways than one.
People want flexibility and autonomy and the freedom to self-manage. They want to enjoy life and a workplace that allows for this enjoyment. The problem is that many companies think that this means no work, lots of play and zero commitment — and this is reflected in their workplace culture. The sense that you are not a team player because you have to fetch the kids or want to take a lunch break.
That has to change, especially if you want to attract the best talent to your company. Really commit to a work/life balance. Help people who struggle to manage their work life better. Give people the space they need to truly thrive.
What is your greatest source of optimism about the future of workplace wellness?
The concept of self-management makes me very excited about the future! We are all adults. Managers who spend their time asking what their team members are doing all day will hopefully be a thing of the past very soon. I’d like to see managers become mentors rather than managers in the traditional sense — not a to-do list giver.
With self-management, everyone can fulfill their own goals, manage their workload, prioritize their own schedule, where they work etc. This is what I feel positive about. The best opportunity for wellness is to manage yourself, not having others manage your wellbeing for you. HR teams can introduce policies or offer support, but it is up to the individual to implement the policies or take up the chance to receive training etc.
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?
I’m happy to connect on LinkedIn
Thank you for sharing your insights and predictions. We appreciate the gift of your time and wish you continued success and wellness.