Employee Engagement and Well-Being
“Employees,” “staff,” “team members” … No matter how you describe the people working within your organization, they are all still people. So if your company, organization, or workplace is dealing with issues related to the staff, you don’t really have “staff” problems. You have people problems.
Fortunately, there is one vitally important, yet surprisingly simple way of resolving people-problems in the workplace: ENGAGEMENT
However, before getting into the best method on how to engage employees to help them become healthier and more productive, it’s necessary to first discuss on what to engage them.
Gallup conducted research on the makeup of healthy, functioning human beings, and found that there are actually Five Essential Elements of Well-being that need to be addressed for each individual.
- The first element is about how you occupy your time or simply liking what you do everyday: your Career Well-being
- The second element is about having strong relationships and love in your life: your Social Well-being.
- The third element is about effectively managing your economic life: your Financial Well-being
- The fourth element is about having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis: your Physical Well-being
- The fifth element is about the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live: your community Well-being
According to the Gallup researchers, “Career well-being is arguably the most essential of the five elements.”
Reason being, people closely link their personal identity with the activities they do. The Gallup findings suggest that everyone innately wants/needs some role to fulfill, some task to do, some job to accomplish.
Gallup found that when people don’t have the opportunity to regularly do things they enjoy, that not only affects their career wellbeing, it also directly impacts (in a negative way) the other four elements of their total wellbeing.
So to support a person’s wellbeing holistically, organizations must first look at the tasks a person has done and is doing at work. Do they like what they’re doing on a daily basis? If not, then it’s important to identify which actions in particular that employee doesn’t love doing and then compare those actions with the actions they indicate they do love doing. This is where strategic engagement comes in. By partnering with a well-being company, organizations can quickly pinpoint where and how each individual employee’s actions are affecting the organization and then work with the employee to resolve any personal problems (if there are problems). Whether action is being taken to address personal problems or to enhance a recognized talent, engagement with and analysis of a person’s actions is where to start positively affecting a person’s overall well-being.
The key takeaway here is: Help your people do the things they love.
Helping organizations manage their people, and people manage their lives is something we love to do.
So if you need help getting started, contact us.
