Even as many Canadian companies were decimating staffs and hacking away at their operations to survive the recession, most maintained their worker wellness programs and many actually beefed up their employee assistance programs, according to organizational consultant Graham Lowe.
And he sees a great lesson in this for leaders.
‘They know they need to keep their employees healthy, because they need all their capabilities coming out of the recession. But many have not applied the same thinking and effort toward maintaining their organization's long-term health,” says Mr. Lowe, president of Graham Lowe Group Inc. in Kelowna, B.C.
In his new book, Creating Healthy Organizations: How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees to Achieve Sustainable Success, he writes his prescription for how leaders can restore workplace well-being.
How has the current economy made workplaces less healthy?
When we talk about healthy people, we use words such as vigorous, robust, thriving, resilient and fit. Those same words should also describe healthy organizations.
But in many organizations, long-term health has received little attention lately because the focus has been on immediate survival and creating immediate results with reduced work forces. Managers have lost sight of the importance of doing regular check-ups to simply ask: How healthy and sustainable is the organization? If you are not able to provide a work environment that is healthy and supportive of performance, you overload people and end up burning them out, which makes them less creative and less productive. And because the work force is aging, that is going to mean you will have more turnover and people dragging themselves in to work and not contributing.
Why should workplace health become everyone's priority?
For employees, benefits come in terms of overall health and wellness, better work/life balance, professional development and personal growth. For the organization, the benefits are greater financial performance, operating efficiency, reduced human capital risks and costs and future sustainability. And there are social benefits as well. The organization is reducing the burden on publicly funded health care and developing ways of thinking that individual employees can carry into their personal, family and community activities
What are the elements that need to be monitored in a healthy workplace checkup?
In my consulting with organizations large and small, I've identified several key factors that contribute to making a workplace healthy and sustainable. They are:
Inspiring work:
Employees have the autonomy to direct their own work, which they find both challenging and meaningful, and they have the opportunities to learn and develop and know how their work fits in and makes a difference.Strong relationships
: Mutual respect characterizes the working relationships among co-workers and between employees and managers. People trust each other and are committed to a shared vision and mission. This creates a sense of belonging because the workplace is a community.Collaboration
: The work is based on teams and co-operation.Communication:
There is a premium on two-way communication throughout the organization. Employees have meaningful input into decisions affecting them, and their contributions are valued and recognized by management.Supports
: Supervisors encourage employees to succeed in their jobs and develop their talents. Employees have adequate facilities, equipment, tools and other resources they need to do their job well.
How do you do assess organizational health?
Involving employees in making the organization healthier is vital to the process. A lot of organizations still do things from the top down. If you get both employees and management involved in the analysis, you create a consensus of shared goals and answers.
Start by asking employees what's missing in their work lives and what kinds of things, such as communication, teamwork or recognition that they see as good, and what they believe need to be improved. Ask employees how their work pressures are mounting and about their aspirations and how they think managers could enable them to meet their goals. The input can come from opinion surveys, focus groups, town hall meetings or individual discussions with employees.
