Want an Engaged and Productive Workforce? Focus on the Well-Being of Your People

I’m going to start this month’s blog with one of the least profound, yet most universally accepted statements I’ve ever written – the last two and a half years have been unbelievably tough. Like many, I added the dreaded COVID 15 pounds and at 5’3”, that is brutal! At the beginning of this year, I committed to start exercising and being more careful with my diet. I’ve started walking for 45-60 minutes most days and running a bit now that I’ve taken some weight off. I eat a lot more vegetables (but I of course am still making my famous sourdough bread). I’m pleased to say that I’m down 12 pounds, but those last 3 are super hard to take off, so I’m still working on them. ?

Why are we talking about my new diet and exercise routine, you may rightfully ask? The effect that these changes have had on my mental health has been immense, and I can’t believe it has taken me this long in my career to finally be comfortable talking about my well-being at work. It has made me feel far more engaged, productive, and overall closer to the mission of SAP SuccessFactors to Change Work for Good.??

When thinking of how to engage the performance of our people – that is, guiding, inspiring, supporting, and retaining employees to achieve the goals of a company – it all starts with making everyone feel as though their health and well-being are the top priority for an organization. The effectiveness of a company hinges on a focused and committed workforce, yet companies struggle to create employee experiences that drive engagement and performance.?

In this month’s blog, we’ll look at exactly how we can create the right experiences for our people that keep them engaged, make them feel supported, and help appropriately manage performance.?

The Big Idea: Creating a Culture of Health and Well-being?

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is for organizations to listen to their people. I am lucky to work for an organization who truly puts our people at the center of everything we do. We take the feedback of our employees very seriously, so much so that we introduced a new model for our employee survey a few years back. In this new model, we ask employees to provide feedback on a regular basis by filling out a survey at multiple points in time during the year. After all, how can you truly measure progress if you don’t follow up??

One of the consistent themes we have continued to see since the beginning of the pandemic is that our employees are feeling unprecedented levels of stress. It is not enough for us to simply gather this feedback; we must actively listen and take action.?

I am lucky to have a leader in my organization who is the living embodiment of the phrase ‘take action’. Armed with the continuous feedback of our organization, Marie Trojani volunteered to lead our ambition to create a healthy environment where people feel safe to talk about their well-being, and could benefit from community conversations, experiences, and available offerings. She is passionate about making well-being a part of our culture and guiding principles. She recognized that, just like everyone else, many of our SAP colleagues have high levels of added stress and are looking for ways to take care of their mental and physical health - and this has only been exacerbated by the pandemic situation, the economic context, and war. It was time to take action.??

Marie Takes Action?

In Marie’s own brilliant words, “Since I’ve become a mum 12 years ago, I’ve started my quest for ways to be healthy and happy. I love to experience new techniques, read new books, and install new habits. I’m particularly fond of mindfulness and graphic journaling. When I started working with our small group of ambassadors, I realized that my well-being journey could have a ripple effect. So did my teammates with their own unique journeys. That together with our small group of volunteers, we could make a difference.”??

To gradually increase interest and transform our culture, Marie had the brilliant idea to gather a group of enthusiastic volunteer ambassadors across all teams in my organization. This team has become an incredible source of ideas as they contribute to raising awareness for mental health and well-being. We are very fortunate at SAP to have many global and local offerings that we can promote without reinventing the wheel. The mission of this team was simple: we must ensure our people know these resources are available and how they can leverage them when needed.??

?Soon, the team of volunteers realized that to make this initiative sustainable they needed to incorporate well-being into our employee experience. Here’s how:??

• Make it simple to find and access well-being tips and offerings through a monthly “bite-sized” newsletter. Rather than a lengthy newsletter that loses the message, Marie and team make it so that all their messages can be read in 60 seconds or less. ?
• Make it collaborative by sourcing ideas and feedback from the field, from HR, and from leaders. They have monthly coffee corners to serve as peer-to-peer conversations about relatable situations. ?
• Make it purposeful by educating colleagues and leaders on the importance of well-being and understand the positive impact of a healthy culture on business.??
• Make it inclusive: We are a very diverse and global community. Everyone experiences different types of stress, and we need to always have true inclusivity in mind.?
• Make it fun and interactive! With all the email that goes out every day, try to come up with new and fun ways to get your message out there. Here is an example of something Marie created which I love!?

?A Focus on Well-Being Makes an Engaged, and Therefore Productive Workforce ?

I read a Gallup article recently on the importance of employee well-being for workplace productivity that really stuck with me. To me, it has always been clear what the benefits are to having a workforce whose well-being is thriving – your people physically miss less time, deliver higher performance, have lower burnout and turnover, and report higher overall engagement - just to name a few. But what is not talked about enough is what the cost to an organization is if their people have poor well-being. It is estimated that a cost of $322 billion from turnover and lost productivity and 15% to 20% of total payroll in voluntary turnover costs occur globally due to employee burnout. Time for the good news! If organizations take time to foster an environment at work that puts the holistic well-being of their people first, their people will thrive.?

Gallup defines holistic well-being with five facets - Career, Social, Financial, Physical, and Community well-being. According to the research, career well-being (the idea that you like what you do every day) is the most important facet and is foundational to the other four. In other words, it is difficult for someone to have great overall well-being if they do not have a fulfilling job or career that they actually like.? Gallup also has found that the single most important element of career well-being is employee engagement. If our employees are not engaged, they will not be productive or even committed to stay. Bottom line, you can’t expect your people to be able to thrive and perform at their best if they are not engaged.?

It Starts with a Culture of Empathy?

Although there is no one-size-fits-all solution for how every organization can ensure their people are productive and engaged, I can say that it most certainly starts with a culture where everyone feels safe, taken care of, and valued. You may not know where to start, but sometimes it just takes one group of volunteer ambassadors to light the spark for the rest of the organization. This team was not trying to reinvent the wheel, nor were they asking for a million-dollar budget. Their idea was simple; so simple, in fact, that when Marie first brought it to my attention, I said out loud, “why the heck don’t we already have something like this in place?” Of course, you can’t expect a change overnight. After a year, I can certainly say that enthusiasm for well-being has risen amongst the team. New ambassadors are being welcomed regularly and the team is now looking to extend to a broader audience. It’s only the beginning!?

I think the common denominator of this group was empathy. Put simply, they each care about the health and well-being of their colleagues. But a major differentiator with this group was that they also understood that we need to say it is ok to take care of yourself as well. Just like on an airplane when they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first, you must take care of yourself in order to help others. Take your time off to explore your passions. Spend that extra long weekend with your family. Have those conversations with your manager, your direct reports, or your team members about how everyone can be better supported. And above all, we have to feel comfortable talking about how we really feel. Only then can we have a workforce who truly feels engaged, supported, and fulfilled.?