Work and Wellbeing
There is a lot of dissatisfaction and lack of wellbeing in the world and in the world of work.
These are not exceptions to the rule. No, the rule itself is under pressure.
What is the rule as it relates to work?
In many organizations the rule is that you have to put work at the top of your priorities. Work is supposed to be more important than your life, your family, and your health & wellbeing. Wellbeing is something that you need to pursue outside of work.
Today’s workers are no longer accepting this rule. Work is part of life, not life itself. Workers are responding to this gap (the gap between the view of employees as resources versus the view of employees as human beings) in different ways.
When someone is quiet quitting, they are actually not leaving their job. Instead, they are choosing to stay in their role, but saying goodbye to the unnecessary stress that has been added to their lives from consistently going above and beyond by taking on responsibilities that do not fall under their job description.
How can employers address quiet quitting in the workplace?
Employee wellbeing needs to be prioritized. "This starts with organizations not just caring about their employees as workers, but as people—people with complex stories, families and friends to care for—all with goals of their own.
Almost 47 million people left their jobs voluntarily in 2021.
In a Harvard Business Review article, experts proposed that what we see as the Great Resignation is likely triggered by five Rs, including retirement, relocation, reconsideration, reshuffling, and reluctance, with each factor associated with a cascade of outcomes responsible for the current labor market trend: Older workers are retiring at a higher rate, WFH has afforded skilled workers the opportunity to relocate, more people have begun to re-contemplate their professional identity, negotiation power has increased as workers switch jobs within the sector instead of leaving the labor market altogether, as well as hesitation of returning to in-person work.
This lack of wellbeing in work is emphasized in Gallup’s state of the global workplace 2022:
⁃ If we spend so much of life at work, how is life at work going? According to the world’s workers, not well. Gallup finds 60% of people are emotionally detached at work and 19% are miserable.
⁃ Engagement and wellbeing interact with each other in powerful ways. We often think of engagement as something that happens at work and wellbeing as something that happens outside of work, but Gallup’s analysis suggests that’s a false dichotomy.
How people experience work influences their lives outside of work. Employees
who consistently experience high levels of burnout at work say their job makes it difficult to fulfill their family responsibilities. They are also 23% more likely to visit the emergency room.
Overall wellbeing influences life at work. Employees who are engaged at work but not thriving have a 61% higher likelihood of ongoing burnout than those who are engaged and thriving.
⁃ "Living for the weekend," "watching the clock tick," "work is just a paycheck." These are the mantras of most global workers. With only 21% of employees engaged at work and 33% of employees thriving in their overall wellbeing, most would say that they don't find their work meaningful, don't think their lives are going well or don't feel hopeful about their future.
⁃ Stress among the world's workers reached an all-time high -- again. Whether employees are stressed because of work, or their stress is carrying over into work, one thing is clear: The world's employees are feeling even more stressed than they did in 2020 (the previous all-time high).
Forty-four percent of employees experienced a lot of daily stress in the previous day.
⁃ Employee wellbeing is the new workplace imperative. Wellbeing and engagement interact with each other in powerful ways. When employees are engaged and thriving, they experience significantly less stress, anger and health problems. Unfortunately, most employees remain disengaged at work. In fact, low engagement alone costs the global economy $7.8 trillion. The relationship between wellbeing and engagement is vital because how people experience work influences their lives outside work, and overall wellbeing influences life at work.
Organizations need to think about the whole person, not just the worker. Leaders should add wellbeing measurements to their executive dashboards
prioritize employee wellbeing as part of their employer brand promise.
Wellbeing in work is no longer a nice to have or a luxury, no, it is crucial for both performing at the highest levels as for the health of people’s lives.
Now you might say that work is no social institution that should care for your health and wellbeing.
That is an outdated perspective. Except for sleep we spend most of our time at work. So, it is crucial that work adds to your wellbeing rather than diminishing your wellbeing.
High performance is only possible with high levels of wellbeing.
In the Edelman Trust Barometer 2022, the societal role of business is indicated.
⁃ While business outscores government by 53 points on competency and 26 points on ethics, respondents believe business is not doing enough to address societal problems, including climate change (52%), economic inequality (49%), workforce reskilling (46%) and trustworthy information (42%).
⁃ Across every single issue, by a huge margin, people want more business engagement, not less. For example, on climate change, 52% say business is not doing enough, while only 9% say it is overstepping. The role and expectation for business has never been clearer, and business must recognize that its societal role is here to stay.
If we are not actively working on increasing our wellbeing, we are likely to be faced with much more resistance.
According to data from the Civil Unrest Index, 75 countries will likely experience an increase in protests by late 2022. Of these, 34–predominantly in Europe and the Americas–will likely see a particularly significant deterioration – defined as a projected decrease of 0.5 or more on their Civil Unrest Index score.
It is therefore crucial that both leaders and workers actively recognize wellbeing as an integral part of both life and work.
You can have high wellbeing and high performance by actively working on your brain fitness (in addition to body fitness).
Are you ready to work on wellbeing?
