Chasing An Elusive Butterfly

Recently India successfully hosted the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. This also coincided with the festive season in the country. As the festivities and celebrations peaked, one newspaper headline that caught my eye was “For companies, cricket World Cup's now a KRA”. Departing from the traditional emphasis on festivals like Diwali for workplace joy and wellness, the cricket World Cup provided a fresh avenue to organizations to elevate employee engagement.

In another example, stepping away from the traditional focus on business performance, a global company recently held a mid-year town hall that centered on fostering wellness and joy in the workplace. The unconventional agenda culminated in a surprise performance by a senior executive singing and playing the guitar, accompanied by the regional president dancing to the lively tune.

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Amidst The Hustle

In the competitive realm of contemporary business, organizations are increasingly acknowledging the pivotal role of employee well-being in fostering productivity, engagement, and retention. Many have instituted comprehensive wellness programs encompassing physical fitness initiatives, stress management techniques, and mental health support etc.

Some pioneering examples in this paradigm include Google, introducing "Nap Pods" for designated power naps; Salesforce, offering a spectrum of wellness resources from fitness classes to mental health support; Atlassian, providing on-site childcare, unlimited vacation days, and an employee stock purchase plan; Accenture's "Global Wellness" offering diverse programs from health screenings to financial counseling; and HubSpot, presenting varied training programs and opportunities for professional growth.

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All Is Not Well

Despite the growing body of research supporting the link between employee well-being and organizational performance, challenges persist. The effectiveness of many wellness programs remains unclear, with research findings yielding mixed or ambiguous results. An article in The New York Times, titled "The Myth of the Happy, Healthy Workplace," highlights persistent issues like sagging morale, reduced productivity, increased cynicism, and heightened employee turnover. Many wellness programs are critiqued as superficial, failing to address underlying issues contributing to stress and burnout, such as long hours, unrealistic targets, and a lack of work-life balance.

Another article "What Wellness Programs Don't Do for Workers" by Harvard Business Review highlights that most wellness programs focus on individual behavior change like encouraging employees to adopt healthier habits, such as exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet; without addressing underlying factors that contribute to stress and burnout, such as unrealistic workloads, tight deadlines, and a lack of control over work.

Workplace Wellness Paradox

Corporate philosophy is based on the assumption that achievement is good and a source of one’s satisfaction and happiness. All corporate incentive programs encourage us to achieve more, delay gratification, on the assumption that once one achieves more everything will be ok. The great corporate disease is - it will all be fine if I win.

However, this fixation with achievement has made work-related stress a pervasive issue in today's workplace. This chronic stress can manifest as burnout, often characterized by symptoms such as fatigue, decreased motivation, cynicism, and reduced productivity.

Unrealistic performance targets, often imposed to drive productivity and achieve ambitious business goals, exacerbate work-related stress and contribute to employee burnout culminating into sagging morale, reduced productivity, and elevated turnover.

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Beyond Beanbags and Smoothie Bars

Since school we are programmed to win, to prove that we are smart. This continues through at work and we always think happiness is a dependent variable based on achievement. Happiness and achievements are independent variables - one realizes it eventually, mostly quite late in the day. You can achieve a lot and be happy, and you can achieve a lot and be miserable. Same thing applies if you achieve nothing.

Marshall Goldsmith, famous executive coach, was asked by HBR what the biggest problem of all successful people he coached over the years was. His answer - winning too much. If it is important, we want to win; it is critical, we want to win; its meaningful, we want to win; if it is trivial, we want to win; and even if it is worthless, we still want to win. This constant urge to win and to achieve more, no matter what, is the root source of work-related stress and burnout. Any employee wellness program that fails to address these root causes is deemed to fail.

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Office Zen

So is an effective wellness program a will-o'-the-wisp that organizations have been chasing?

I don’t think so. However, organizations will have to bring about a culture defining change of mindsets that is counterintuitive to corporate philosophy.

Building a culture that drives and encourages these essential employee behaviors will lead to better outcomes:

• Loving the process and how you do it.

The true joy of work lies not just in achieving the final destination but also in savoring the journey itself. Embracing the process of how you do your job, immersing yourself in the present moment, can transform your work experience into a source of fulfillment and satisfaction.

• You do your best and let it go.

While striving for goals is commendable, fixating on the outcome is a futile endeavor. Indian philosophy offers valuable insights on this dichotomy. Sakam Karma, or attached work, involves pursuing actions with an expectation of rewards. Nishkam Karma, or detached work, entails engaging in actions without any attachment to outcomes. Sakam Karma often falls short of achieving lasting results or true mastery due to the underlying egotistic consciousness that drives it. In contrast, Nishkam Karma conserves energy and promotes inner harmony as it is devoid of any sense of loss or attachment.

• Connect to a higher purpose in life.

Ever since humans began to organize themselves into groups and societies, the need to motivate individuals has become an essential aspect of human interaction. While corporate theories of motivation often focus on satisfying basic needs, privileges, and rights; Indian philosophy proposes a fundamentally different approach, one based on the concept of giving. This 'giving model' emphasizes the notion that true personal growth and fulfillment lie in developing the ability to experience the joy of giving. Thus, to work hard and with dedication is imperative, not because an individual needs a promotion or recognition. Instead, it stems from a sense of gratitude for the opportunities and blessings one has received, coupled with an understanding that these gifts carry an inherent responsibility to give back to the world. This philosophy encourages individuals to transcend their own self-interest and work towards the betterment of the collective good. While the 'giving model' may seem counterintuitive, it holds the potential to transform individuals and companies by fostering a spirit of selfless service, compassion, and interconnectedness. By shifting the focus from personal gain to collective well-being, we open ourselves up to a deeper sense of fulfillment and purpose.

A thriving workplace is not merely about achieving corporate goals; it is about nurturing the well-being of the individuals who drive those goals through a well-designed wellness program that factors aspects beyond just physical health.

The assumption that once one achieves more, everything will be ok, and all will be fine if one wins, is a fool’s game. The type of book that always ends with 'and they lived happily ever after' is called a fairy tale.