A common first discussion with an organisation about workplace wellbeing goes like this.

𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴?

𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 employees are struggling, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴?

𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘴, they have many bad habits. W𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘱, so they are tired.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀?

𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘴𝘮. 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 can’t seem to 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Do you know how much these challenges are costing your business each year?

It’s hard to put a figure on it. There are some worrying indicators.

• Our medical insurance loss ratio was high last year, so our premiums went up significantly. We actually had to reduce the package and it was still more expensive.
• Our voluntary staff turnover has increased to 29%, which we calculated to now cost us about $1.8M per year.
• We’ve lost some of our best talent, so this creates an issue with moral, productivity etc. I’m not sure how you quantify the cost of that.
• Absenteeism and sick leave is up. That costs us about another million dollars per year now.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀?

𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘏𝘙 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 and 𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘱𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘵𝘤. We’ve been doing some soft skills training on prioritization, delegation and time management.

Do you think these investments are paying off?

Not really. Some employees really like them. We’ve had good feedback. But, the indicators are still not looking good.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗶𝘁𝘃𝗲𝘀?

𝘓𝘰𝘸. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 4-8%. 𝘞𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Is your organization facing similar challenges and frustrations?

Workplace wellbeing is a relatively nascent profession, and as such many organizations are experiencing the frustrations outlined in the discussion above. They want to get this right, but they simply don’t know how.

In my next two WiseTalk newsletters, I will be providing information on how to create a workplace wellbeing strategy that works, and what skills, knowledge, and expertise you need to ensure it delivers on it’s objectives and drives positive bottom-line impact.