How 2020 turned a spotlight on employee happiness

While the social chal­lenges of 2020 com­pound­ed by the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic have high­light­ed the joint respon­si­bil­i­ty both par­ties have for employ­ee wel­fare, research car­ried out by employ­ee expe­ri­ence plat­form Perk­box reveals the true extent of the mis­match between lead­ers and their staff.

More than a third (36 per cent) of employ­ees felt less con­nect­ed to their col­leagues and 32 per cent felt lone­li­er than ever before, yet only 20 per cent of boss­es saw main­tain­ing emo­tion­al well­be­ing as a sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenge to be addressed, com­pared with 45 per cent of employ­ees.

As organ­i­sa­tions emerge into a new work­ing world, where the lines between work and life have blurred, they must find new ways of con­nect­ing with employ­ees, and which ulti­mate­ly improve their well­be­ing and the suc­cess of the busi­ness.

Perkbox’s Head of Peo­ple Mona Aki­ki explains: “To suc­ceed, a busi­ness needs employ­ees who per­form at their best and for this to hap­pen employ­ees need to be men­tal­ly and phys­i­cal­ly healthy. The new work­ing world has meant some organ­i­sa­tions are no longer in the office and as a result man­agers are no longer able to notice warn­ing sig­nals. Iron­i­cal­ly, this also holds true for essen­tial work­ers who may be phys­i­cal­ly present, but whose sole pur­pose is to main­tain the well­be­ing of oth­ers.”

Many are pre­dict­ing the events of 2020 will bring about a per­ma­nent new norm for busi­ness­es. Employ­ers should, there­fore, be focused on pro­vid­ing a pos­i­tive employ­ee expe­ri­ence, which in itself has evolved dur­ing the cri­sis. Pre­vi­ous­ly focused on perks with­in the phys­i­cal office space, employ­ee expe­ri­ence is now being reset to cre­ate a more mean­ing­ful and last­ing emo­tion­al con­nec­tion between employ­er
and employ­ee.

Perkbox’s research found 60 per cent of busi­ness lead­ers recog­nise the emo­tion­al well­be­ing of their employ­ees has suf­fered more since COVID-19 and, while 36 per cent now plan to invest more in well­be­ing ini­tia­tives, 24 per cent clear­ly see the prob­lem, but have no plans to invest in improv­ing it.

“Employ­ers need to be more cre­ative and build var­i­ous types of sup­port sys­tems,” says Aki­ki. “Apps like Zoom help staff feel less lone­ly and more con­nect­ed, but that isn’t enough. If employ­ees are to per­form at their best, they need to know where to turn when things get tough, as well as how to cel­e­brate wins. It’s as sim­ple as cre­at­ing com­mu­ni­ties with­in the organ­i­sa­tion and mak­ing it easy for employ­ees to reach out.”

Stronger con­nec­tions are also need­ed to encour­age bet­ter, more reg­u­lar inter­ac­tions between employ­ees and man­agers to sur­face any con­cerns before they become obsta­cles. The COVID cri­sis has made peo­ple re-exam­ine pri­or­i­ties and that includes feel­ing val­ued at work. Peo­ple are still will­ing to work hard, but they want to do it for an organ­i­sa­tion that cares about them as an indi­vid­ual and val­ues their con­tri­bu­tion to busi­ness goals.

“Well­be­ing is no longer just a perk, but an expec­ta­tion, in life and at work. With­out it, peo­ple will ulti­mate­ly burn out and leave,” says Aki­ki. “Employ­ers that fac­tor well­be­ing and employ­ee expe­ri­ence into how they do busi­ness will have a more dri­ven, pro­duc­tive, healthy and hap­py work­force.”

Learn how Perk­box helps com­pa­nies improve their employ­ees’ expe­ri­ence at perkbox.com

Pro­mot­ed by Perk­box