Today, workplace well-being is a major concern for companies wanting to attract candidates and retain employees – happy employees are engaged and productive.
Well-being is also important in tackling employee disengagement, as they question their future professional lives.
Learn how important workplace well-being is and the keys to creating a productive and motivating work environment!
What is “well-being” at work?
“Well-being at work” is subjective – it doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing for every professional environment and every individual’s personality. Today, certain companies can even obtain “great place to work” certification if they wish! To gain this certificate, an internal assessment of the employee experience at the company is carried out.
In general, well-being at work is synonymous with the “professional fulfilment” of employees in a team. It means that there is a balance and harmony between employees’ skills, needs and ambitions.
Well-being at work can also be defined with two approaches:
- mental and psychological well-being
- physical and material well-being
Although they are quite different, these two needs are often complementary.
How important is well-being for a company?
What it can prevent
While we agree that well-being at work is essential for employee investment, we should also be aware of the risks of an employee who is unhappy within their team.
Employees who are anxious at work increase their volume of everyday stress. This stress can then increase the risk of absenteeism if they take time off sick, and heighten the risk of burnouts and high turnover within a company – factors which limit overall growth. Stress at work cannot be maintained over the long term.
By limiting employees’ fatigue and not overburdening them, we can protect their physical and mental health.
Its benefits
There are many advantages to promoting well-being in the workplace! The better employees feel at a company, the more satisfied and committed they are, and they want to do things well.
Of course, an environment filled with kindness will boost everyone’s motivation, making the company more attractive thanks to the values it reflects.
How can you create an environment that promotes well-being?
There are a number of ways to improve quality of life at work. Firstly, appointing a “chief happiness officer”, someone who is responsible for ensuring happiness at the company, is a good solution. In general, this individual supervises the employees’ work conditions with the mission of finding good alternatives to create the best possible work environment.
Another idea is to implement team building activities which help create real social interactions between employees and good time spent together outside of work.
In addition, it is important that the manager and the entire team are kind, listen and take others into consideration. This will help the workforce feel they truly belong to and are understood by their company. What’s more, a manager who sets realistic, attainable goals for their colleagues tends to boost motivation and engagement.
Next, implementing professional training for employees and offering to help them develop their skills will ensure they are more motivated: they will feel as though they are taken into consideration and listened to.
You can also give employees the option of flexible working with remote work, which can maximise their work-life balance, and with more balance, employees are more motivated to reach their goals.
Giving employees the opportunity to do some physical exercise, for example by installing showers on your premises, can really improve their mental health at work. It gives them the chance to put their work commitments aside momentarily, before getting back to them after clearing their mind with a sports session.
A final point that you mustn’t forget is that managers should show real recognition for the work their employees do. This will make the missions and tasks they are assigned more meaningful.
Well-being at work is a key issue for companies today. Particularly since the COVID pandemic, employees are increasingly looking for a stable, positive work environment to engage with and motivate them in their missions.