Develope Workplace Well-being with These Four Methods
What is workplace well-being? In this article, we help you understand the areas of workplace well-being and provide practical ways to enhance it.
Why Invest in Workplace Well-being?
From a business perspective, workplace well-being is an essential focus area because it is one of the key competitive factors. The impact of intangible assets, such as an organization’s employees, on the organization’s results can be as much as 50–90 percent. When workplace well-being is at a good level, employees are motivated, responsible, and flexible, which directly affects the company’s results. Workplace well-being also influences organizational communication and collaboration, so the well-being of individuals is important for the community as a whole.
In this article, we help you understand the areas of workplace well-being and provide practical ways to develop it.
Workplace Well-being, Employee Well-being and Employer’s Responsibility
From a management perspective, factors affecting an organization’s workplace well-being include:
- Employer’s management skills
- Presence
- Continuous development
- Interaction skills
- Age management
Age management means managing all ages well, considering the needs of different-aged employees.
Good management plays a significant role in organizational well-being. A good leader promotes open interaction, reduces inequality, understands different employees, continuously wants to develop in their role, and is present. When a manager has everything under control, it’s easier for them to stay on top of others’ situations too.
What Does Workplace Well-being Consist Of?
Practically, workplace well-being is visible in everyday life as meaningful work, resilience, and consistent performance. It is the sum of many factors and is created through the collaboration of the work community. A sense of purpose, confidence in one’s skills, and the ability to make decisions and influence one’s work are crucial for workplace well-being.
Workplace well-being consists of several separate areas. Understanding these areas and developing them can enhance workplace well-being, for example:
1. Workplace Well-being and internal motivation
An internally motivated employee is motivated by the work itself and by knowing they can develop. Internal motivation encourages long-term activity and increases self-confidence and efficiency. It is one of the sustaining forces of creativity, as without internal motivation, reaching a flow state is more difficult and organizing tasks is unclear.
Employees’ internal motivation can be boosted by discussing the meaning of work, their desires, and the skills they would like to develop. When an employee’s voice is heard, you can jointly promote the meaningfulness and significance of work – and thus also improve workplace well-being.
2. Reciprocity and Community
Reciprocity increases community and social capital, which are known to be linked to reduced morbidity and a lower risk of depression. Maintaining community requires effort, and with hybrid work, social contacts and non-work interactions decrease. This significant shift in work demands even more investment in community and, through it, workplace well-being.
Tips for promoting community:
1. Communal lunches – Arrange a communal lunch with the team at least once a week.
2. Take communal breaks – Take Cuckoo breaks together a couple of times a day, including those working remotely.
3. Have fun at afterwork –Have a casual after-work meeting at least once a month, either remotely or live.
4. Weekly casual meetings –Organize weekly learning and getting-to-know-you meetings within the team, rotating the responsibility weekly.
3. Promoting Work Engagement
Workplace well-being and work engagement are closely related. Work engagement is part of the positive state of workplace well-being, characterized by a positive attitude towards work. Positive emotional, experiential, and motivational fulfillments prevent becoming tired of work and the emergence of burnout.
Work engagement is linked to an employee’s perceived vigor, dedication, and absorption in work (flow state). Thus, work engagement generates job satisfaction, which can have significant and long-lasting effects on an individual’s and organization’s profitability, well-being, and health.
Additionally, an ethical corporate culture is linked to low levels of work burnout and high levels of experienced work engagement. Good management can also indirectly generate work engagement when the work atmosphere is supportive and safe, and employees’ strengths are recognized.
Work engagement can be promoted in the following ways:
1.Rewarding, developmental, and diverse work –Work engagement can be enhanced by rewarding good performance and making job tasks skill-developing and varied.
2. Organizing work – The ability to influence one’s own work, clarity of work roles and objectives, and flexibility in working hours promote the experience of work engagement.
3. Work community interaction – Clear and fair management, support from supervisors and the work community play a significant role in the formation of work engagement. Additionally, considerateness in daily interactions, friendliness, receiving feedback, and appreciation, as well as the work engagement experienced by others, affect an individual’s own experience of work engagement.
4. Job security and practices – Job security, innovative practices, the workplace atmosphere, and attitudes that facilitate the integration of work and other aspects of life.
4. Customizing Work
Today, in many companies, employees have quite free hands to customize their work to suit themselves. Especially if experiencing work engagement is difficult and an employee feels exhausted at work, customizing work is a good tool to promote workplace well-being.
Work can be customized in many ways: by increasing structural and social resources, as well as developing the significance and demands of the job. Different people benefit from different ways of customizing work: for some, increasing work pressure may only cause more stress, while for others, it creates motivation and efficiency.
There are many ways to arrange work times, places, and methods, so consider what works best for you. Individual customization of work increases the experience of work engagement, which promotes workplace well-being. When work is modified to be more enjoyable, its significance becomes more positive, and work efficiency improves.
Sources:
Inceoglu, I., Thomas, G., Chu, C., Plans, D. & Gerbasi, A. (2018). Leadership behavior and employee well-being: An integrated review and a future research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 179-202.
Summanen, A. (2019). Kuntien johtoryhmän jäsenten työuupumuskertomuksia.
Uusitalo-Malmivaara. (2015). Positiivisen psykologian voima.
Manka, M.-L. & Manka, M. (2016). Työhyvinvointi. Helsinki: Talentum Pro.
Työterveyslaitos
More efficient workdays with Cuckoo
Cuckoo is a wellbeing software where you can find over 100 break exercises, created by physioterapists. The gamified features really attracts you to take those breaks: for every break you take, you will collect points and participate in weekly raffles.
Gamified wellbeing for your workday
By collecting points you will move on our Cuckoo map and participate in competitions with great prizes, while maintaining your wellbeing. You can also challenge and follow your colleagues in the app as well as create groups within your company. Cuckoo is used by over 200 leading companies and organizations. Are you the next one?
Cuckoo is based on science.
According to research from the Institute of occupational health in Finland Cuckoo contributes to work wellbeing in many ways; social, mental and physical. Sick leave days decreased and significant amounts of money were saved. Other effects were increased sense of community and better recovery. Read more here.
