Ways to support employee wellbeing when home and work stresses collide
This time of year can often be incredibly challenging in terms of employee wellbeing, and this year even moreso than most. Juggling home and work commitments, with an ever-increasing pressure on finances can take its toll on individuals and therefore their performance. By supporting those in your team, not only can it help them personally, but it can have a dramatic impact on the functionality and performance of the team or organisation as a whole. Here we have discussed 5 ways in which you might be able to support members of your team and organisation through this busy period.
1 Employee Health and Wellbeing
This includes both physical and emotional health. With so many changes in the way we work, these factors need to be thought about from a whole-life perspective. The impact of remote working may be relevant for some, both in terms of physical and emotional well-being. Regular contact and check-ins with colleagues can be helpful. Some teams have introduced “Netwalking” conversations, where team members are encouraged to check in on the phone whilst walking and getting some fresh air. Balancing home / work life and ensuring time is set aside to support physical and emotional well-being has never before been so important.
2 Workplace Environmental Wellbeing
The impact of environmental challenges have long been evidenced as vital to a range of factors. At the moment, home working and hybrid working models are presenting new challenges to individuals as the energy crisis starts to bite. In addition to ensuring appropriate equipment and environment is available, encouraging regular breaks for fresh air can be extremely beneficial.
3 Social Wellbeing
This relates to the importance of an individual’s ability to form and maintain positive, mutual and meaningful relationships with those around them. This can be both in a home / social context or at work. Strong positive mutually respectful relationships within a team or organisation can have a dramatic impact on both performance and staff churn. In addition, positive relationships outside of work can also enable individuals to successfully “switch off” and de-stress when they leave the workplace. This is incredibly important in the current socio-economic environment.
Through the pandemic we all came to realise the importance of daily social interaction. This was particularly important in those working from home or being asked to work from home. Whatever an individual’s preferred way of working is, it is important for the employer to have an understanding of what helps that individual to work most effectively. For many, the office or external work environment gives people a framework and structure to work within. People with some personality preferences for instance, may like to have some structure and may miss that from their office environment.
4 Sense of Purpose/ Professional Wellbeing
A shared set of values and sense of purpose is key to any team or organisation. The core reason “why” the person invests their personal time and energy into their work. Shared vision and values can be crucial to an individual’s sense of purpose and job satisfaction/motivation. Clarity and openness around this can harness loyalty and can support individuals to be more resilient when times get tough.
Support for employees’ personal and professional development can also be powerful way to retain and develop the very best.
5 Financial Security / Wellbeing
This maybe job, contractual, financial security or personal safety. Transparent, honest and open communication about both the challenges and successes of the team can be incredibly helpful. Employees may be motivated and encouraged to celebrate their successes as well as rise up to the challenges. A lack of openness may lead to insecurities which can have a significant negative impact on performance and engagement. Financial security can be supported through a number of creative ways including looking at the full benefits package.
Key messages
Employee wellbeing is more pertinent than ever before. Some key things you can do to support the wellbeing of your team/employees may include:
- Encourage regular contact and check-ins with all employees. Consider holding “netwalking” conversations where home workers call in whilst walking and getting the benefits of a bit of fresh air.
- Ensure all aspects of a physical environment are suitable and appropriate for employees to carry out their work in.
- Work to understand and provide the social context that best facilitates each individual’s working style. This may involve providing more structure or contact than you might anticipate.
- Provide relevant opportunities for personal and professional growth.
- Engage in transparent, open and honest communication around financial stability.
Some of the key themes underpinning all of these areas include communication, understanding and trust. Whether an employee is a home worker, office worker or hybrid worker, these features remain relevant and could be universally applied.
Not only can you work on becoming more aware of the needs of your team, but supporting the personal self-awareness of individuals can be extremely beneficial.
How do you support this in your organisation?
If you would like additional information about how we work with individuals and teams to develop their self-awareness and support their ongoing development journey, please contact: sarah.banton@deardenassessment.co.uk 07966 330310.