There’s a crisis developing in workplaces everywhere. According to an annual survey by Gallup, employee engagement dropped to a seven-year low in 2022. Only a third of workers reported feeling engaged at work, while almost a fifth (18%) described themselves as “actively disengaged.” Source: Forbes Gallup’s measure of engagement is made up of several elements, which employees are asked to rate. Those that have declined the most include: clarity of expectations, opportunities to learn and grow, connection to the purpose of the company, opportunities to do what employees do best, and feeling cared about at work. Employee engagement began to fall in 2021, the same year the “great resignation” was coined as […]
If HR leaders had to choose one word to define their focus over the last year, “wellbeing” likely would rank near the top. And, according to several experts, that trend is poised to continue well into 2022. Source: HR Executive.com As news of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant threatens to upend back-to-the-office plans and prolong a pandemic many had hoped would have been behind us by now, employees will continue to need support, says Christine Deputy, chief people officer at Pinterest. “We thought, coming into 2021, that we’d be in a year of recovery and recuperation and getting past what happened in 2020–but we’re seeing now this will be at least a two-year […]
Zillow founder Rich Barton offers advice for helping work-from-home teams maintain work-life balance. Employees working from home are likelier to suffer burnout than they were when they worked in the office. This is why you should watch for burnout signs in your remote team, and take action to help them avoid burning out before it happens. Source: Inc. That advice comes from Rich Barton, founder of Zillow, Expedia, and Glassdoor. Barton took part in a recent GeekWire virtual event where he talked about the burnout dangers Zillow’s more than 5,000 employees face while working remotely. Barton tweeted in late April, My personal opinions about WFH have been turned upside down over the past two months. In the same tweet, he […]
“Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something can be done rather than saying it can’t be done.” Bo Bennett “To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all.” Peter McWilliams “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Anais Nin Source 1. Find the optimistic viewpoint in a negative situation. One of the simplest but most effective ways to build a more positive outlook has in my experience been to ask more helpful questions as often as possible. When I am in what seems like a negative situation – maybe I have been lazy, made a mistake, […]
In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, it might be easier to overlook the severity of the flu, but in reality, the two aren’t that different. This article will remind us just how important it is to keep our immune systems healthy. Here are top three tips, which emphasize both the mind and the body, to help improve immunity naturally. Source 1. Reduce stress. Stress can affect everything from brain health to body weight, and of course, immunity. Kesh said when her patients are otherwise doing everything right but continue to get sick, “It’s almost always because of stress.” This is because when cortisol levels aren’t kept within their normal range, whether in […]
Organisations are beginning to understand the direct connection between employee health and wellness and business performance. But the definition of employee wellness, or wellbeing, has evolved dramatically over the past few years, and corporate wellness programs must adapt to changes in society. Source Here are 5 new trends in employee wellbeing and corporate wellness programs: 1) Employee wellness programs are about more than just physical health. What began as a focus on counting steps, tracking sleep, and logging water intake has expanded to include social and emotional—or mental—health. This means taking a more holistic view of employee wellbeing. Rather than just considering physical fitness, best-in-class corporate wellbeing programs now prioritise […]
Employee wellness programs seem to offer obvious benefits. There’s general well-being of course, plus health, happiness…and the pursuit of more happiness? In other words, it can be surprisingly hard to articulate any concrete benefits of employee wellness programs, especially from a business standpoint. However, that’s exactly what you need to do if you want to make a solid case for a program you’ve been thinking about implementing. Source Fail to make a solid argument as an HR Professional, and your proposal to key decision makers could merit responses like these: “Sure, wellness programs for employees looks fun and sounds like a good idea, but do they really offer any benefits?” “Wellness programs don’t […]
If there’s one wellness trend that stands out from the last couple of years, it’s mindfulness. Not only is it wildly popular, with a legion of dedicated fans across the globe, but it has also become a billion-pound business. Source: Independent So can taking time out of your day to concentrate on yourself really help to increase your health and happiness? The NHS says yes. According to its website: “Paying more attention to the present moment – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you – can not only help improve mental wellbeing … but can help help you enjoy life and understand yourself better.” Thanks to the boom, there […]
It’s normal to feel stressed at work from time to time. But for some people, the stress becomes all-consuming, leading to exhaustion, cynicism and hatred towards your job. This is known as burnout. Burnout used to be classified as a problem related to life management, but last week the World Health Organisation re-labelled the syndrome as an “occupational phenomenon” to better reflect that burnout is a work-based syndrome caused by chronic stress. Source: World Economic Forum The newly listed dimensions of burnout are: Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job Reduced professional efficacy (work performance). In the era […]
How toxic is the workplace-maybe even yours? In Dying for a Paycheck, Stanford professor of organizational behaviour Jeffrey Pfeffer documents loads of evidence suggesting that the workplace is literally killing people. Sixty one % of employees said that workplace stress had made them sick and 7% said they had actually been hospitalized. Job stress, according to Pfeffer, may cause 120,000 excess deaths each year. Source: Inc. I’ve documented toxicity in the workplace as well, with head-shaking statistics. To raise awareness of the profundity of the problem in hopes of safeguarding our children’s future when they enter the workplace, I offer you six commonly found toxic behaviours. 1. Passive aggressiveness. Research has discovered that most toxic […]