[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/11\/04\/employee-well-being\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/11\/04\/employee-well-being\/","headline":"Employee well-being and productivity: Striking a balance","name":"Employee well-being and productivity: Striking a balance","description":"More paid time off, free mental health counseling, and regular check-ins via surveys: The focus on employee well-being has never been better - or more important.","datePublished":"2020-11-04","dateModified":"2021-07-15","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/laurie-ruettimann\/#Person","name":"Laurie Ruettimann","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/laurie-ruettimann\/","identifier":460,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/29057434eb12993625044c37714336f1f5e443ad81a89fa02d764ed13ec90c14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/29057434eb12993625044c37714336f1f5e443ad81a89fa02d764ed13ec90c14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/FCEE036_HXM6_HB.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/FCEE036_HXM6_HB.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/11\/04\/employee-well-being\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-experience\/","name":"Customer Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_experience","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q984142"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-experience\/employee-engagement\/","name":"Employee Engagement","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Employee_engagement","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q14937678"]},"Employee Experience & Engagement","HXM: Human Experience Management","HXM: Human Experience Management",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/intelligent-enterprise\/","name":"Intelligent Enterprise","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Intelligent_enterprise","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q6044119"]},"Real Talk: Mental Health, Well-Being, and Laughter"],"wordCount":1299,"keywords":["Employee Advocacy","HXM"],"articleBody":"The rise of modern HR tools has propelled us into what many HR professionals call the \u201cage of productivity.\u201d Employees can work more efficiently and accomplish more, from their office or home, and that has certainly created valuable benefits for many companies. But in a chaotic, unpredictable year like 2020 \u2013 in which people are facing nearly unprecedented levels of disruption and stress \u2013 HR and business leaders must rethink the balance between productivity and employee well-being.Until now, too many companies have offered an ad-hoc, inconsistent, and reactive response to these employee needs. \u201cI rate it on a spectrum of inadequate to very bad,\u201d states Dr. Tanvi Gautam, CEO of Leadershift Inc.\u201cHistorically the relationship between employee well-being and the workplace has been fractured. We don\u2019t really have a template for normal times, much less in a pandemic. There is so much more that can be done to make sure companies offer an integrated, strategic response to the challenges facing employees.\u201d      HXM: It’s about the people who power a business\u00a0to success                Human Experience Management (HXM) provides the tools and technology to enable the personal employee experiences\u202fthat drive business results.      The good news: With the right insights, HR leaders can make it better\u201cWe have a unique opportunity right now to figure out what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not,\u201d offers Minda Harts, Founder and CEO of The Memo, LLC, and Adjunct Assistant Professor at NYU. \u201cWe should ask ourselves whether innovation is thriving in our environment.Do our procedures and processes meet the demand for the future of work? Are we communicating in ways that work for everyone? In today\u2019s environment, we have a chance to be really intentional about employee well-being.\u201dTechnology \u00a0plays an important role. Modern human experience management (HXM) solutions can help improve both individual productivity and employee well-being. \u201cThere is an incredible number of tools across the landscape of HXM,\u201d agrees Lars Schmidt, founder of Amplify and cofounder of HR Open Source.\u201cNudging tools that prompt managers to check in with workers can really help.\u201d Tools that facilitate routine employee-manager one-on-ones can drive more meaningful interaction and dialogue. In addition, tools that provide mentoring and professional development opportunities can support employees in navigating their career journey and focusing on the bigger picture.But making empathy central to company culture is also essential.It\u2019s important to recognize that many people \u2013 especially those who have shifted from the office to remote work \u2013 are burdened with extra responsibilities and stress. Allowing employees to create buffers, including spaces for them to do deep work or no work at all, is in everyone\u2019s best interest. \u201cUltimately, those employees will be more engaged and productive in the long run,\u201d says Schmidt.This topic was just one of the issues recently discussed as part of our LinkedIn Live series, The Rise of HXM, in collaboration with SAP SuccessFactors. This week we talked about finding the balance between employee well-being and productivity. You can watch this week\u2019s whole replay or read on for the highlights and comments from the audience.Make the effort to build community and connectivity to boost employee well-beingMost companies use multiple communication tools \u2013 everything from e-mail and LinkedIn to Slack and WhatsApp. HR provides these tools to support human connectivity but remember that real communication requires asking the right questions.\u201cI recently found that only 40% of employees who work from home feel they have what they need to do their jobs,\u201d says Harts. \u201cWe\u2019ve given them Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other tools. But maybe we need to ask these workers, \u2018what do you need to do your job?\u2019\u201dWorking in a pandemic has also disrupted employees\u2019 sense of social connectivity \u2013 the impromptu conversations people have in the break room or company hallway. \u201cHow can you continue to build your social capital if you\u2019re not having these organic interactions?\u201d asks Harts.Recognizing this issue, some organizations are beginning to create new opportunities to build community. Scheduling virtual hangout hours at the end of the work day, bringing teams together to do an online Zumba workout, or offering a virtual tour of an executive\u2019s home are just a few ways that businesses are trying to address employees\u2019 cravings for connection.Follow your professional instinctsSurprisingly, there is very little academic research on managing employee emotions in the workplace. \u201cWhen I moved from the corporate world to academic 15 years ago, I was shocked to discover this gap,\u201d says Gautam. \u201cPeople have long believed that emotions should be kept out of the workplace.\u201dTraditional HR approaches and HCM models were built to emphasize systems of efficiency management, not systems of emotional management. \u201cYet in the world we live in, emotions are front and center,\u201d she adds.\u201cEmployees are dealing with the trauma of caregiving and losing loved ones \u2013 and often they can\u2019t even attend their funerals. I don\u2019t need ROI and research to tell me that we need to show up for our people.\u201dThis recognition seems to be more common among younger, more progressive CHROs. \u201cLegacy HR leaders needed to look at the research to validate their strategy,\u201d says Schmidt. \u201cModern professionals don\u2019t need research to tell them that employee well-being is important. It\u2019s just a given that employees who feel safe, supported, and heard will be more productive, loyal, and impactful.\u201dWhat can employers do to improve employee well-being?Look to industry leaders to get ideas for new approaches that address employee needs while still supporting productivity. Starbucks, for example, offered its employees 20 complementary therapy sessions to better cope with the stresses of 2020.Twitter encouraged employees to take more days off outside their scheduled holidays and vacation time. Unilever launched a 14-day mental health resilience training program for its 62,000 global employees, and some companies paid for meditation apps for their workers.Companies across the globe are tapping into their learning management systems to provide well-being courses to employees, for example, to increase mindfulness and improve resiliency.Viewers of our LinkedIn Live series offer some additional advice. \u201cThe areas that I believe organizations need to dedicate more resources to are in the purpose, social, and community components,\u201d says Sharlyn Lauby, president of ITM Group and author of HR Bartender, a popular blog on workplace issues. \u201cTechnology can help with each of these. If organizations create initiatives related to each component and employees do the same, it would generate a win for all of us.\u201d      The future of work after COVID: Employees spur Great Resignation                The future of work after COVID demands that employers rethink their approach to the employee experience, as The Great Resignation proves.      Learn what employees really wantNot every program or tool is right for all employees, though.\u201cIn Asia, 60% of employees are suffering from depression, anxiety, or stress, but only 4% are willing to take advantage of the available mental health services,\u201d says Gautam. They worry that using the services could be seen as a sign of weakness that might cost them their jobs.\u201cSometimes we have to drop beneath the surface of the technology and ask whether there are cultural issues or stigmas associated with a particular service,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe need to prioritize our responsiveness to the end user over everything else.\u201dOne increasingly popular practice is to survey employees on a regular basis using employee experience management tools such as Qualtrics. By finding out how employees are feeling and discovering what\u2019s inhibiting their wellness, growth or engagement, for example, HR teams can learn how employee needs are evolving and adapt programs as necessary.\u201cEmployers have lots of options if they want to take employee mental health more seriously and make tangible commitments to employee well-being,\u201d says Schmidt.  HR, better.Employees, happier.Businesses, healthier.It’s time to modernize the employee experience."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2020","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"11","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/11\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"04","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/11\/\/04\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Employee well-being and productivity: Striking a balance","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/11\/04\/employee-well-being\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]