Well-Being at work: who’s responsibility is it anyway?
Well, the short answer is both the employee and the employer have skin in the well-being game.
The pandemic and its economic effects have caused a permanent change in how we work—and how we feel about work. In their endeavors to bring people back into the office, 83% of employers say that employee well-being is a significant part of their return-to-work strategy. Yet burnout has risen by 17% while workplace happiness has decreased by 6% over the last several years.
When we think about creating work environments that better support employees’ occupational well-being, we must ensure our leaders’ occupational well-being is in balance as well. We know that leader behavior and relationships directly influence employee job satisfaction. In fact, according to this McKinsey study, interpersonal relationships represent 39% of job satisfaction, and relationships with management represent 86% of satisfaction in work relationships. And, employees experience more job satisfaction when their leaders prioritize, model, and actively support occupational well-being, and a lack of support or recognition from leadership is the top driver of burnout.
So although individuals have full responsibility for their personal well-being, and only each person can manage their own physical, emotional, and mental health, employers can ensure their leadership development efforts focus on improving leadership well-being.
Leadership development programs combining:
- Personality Assessments (i.e. the Hogan Personality Inventory, Hogan Development Survey, CliftonStrengths34, or Values in Action)
- Leadership Effectiveness 360 Assessments
- Individual 1:1 Leadership Coaching
- Group or Team Coaching
can have a tremendous impact on creating leadership teams that create environments exhibiting healthy examples of well-being, which in turn creates workplaces where employees shift from surviving to thriving.
If you are interested in learning more about creating workplace well-being through leadership development, contact me and we’ll schedule a time to chat further.