Employee Well-Being: The Paramount for any Business

Employee engagement is one of the most important metrics for any business. And it starts with providing a happy and healthy work environment. Employee well-being includes providing sufficient rest, timely breaks, sufficient water intake, comfortable temperature in the office and a healthy food environment. Every metric that matters to an organization starts with employee well-being. Studies have shown that happy employees are more productive, use fewer sick days, and are less likely to quit their jobs.

In a business, the only thing that matters is the employees. The people who make up the company and what they do every day. That is why it’s crucial to improve their well-being and create a good work culture.

This will not only make them happy at work but contribute to better results in any metric that matters in a business: retention, production, recruitment and customer satisfaction.

The idea of workplace culture is not new. However, it has become an important topic in recent years. A good work culture can contribute to the happiness at work of employees and make them more productive. Such a workplace will also boost companies’ profits and productivity.

A study by Digital Strategy Institute found that the most popular perk among workers is free access to coffee or tea. Other benefits that American workers rank highly are flexible working hours, on-site gym membership, on-site healthcare providers, free snacks and drinks, childcare services, pet-friendly policy, company shuttle service and paid time off for volunteerism.

Companies should focus on what matters in their business to improve employee well-being and increase the happiness at work levels of their employees.

With the right employee engagement in place, any company can achieve amazing results. The most successful businesses in the world are those that invest heavily in their employees and invite them to collaborate on problem-solving. A happy work environment also attracts more potential hires, making for a healthier talent pool.

When we talk about well-being, we’re talking about three different things:

1. Happiness – having a positive outlook on life and being able to experience a sense of joy and pleasure about something.

2. Engagement – your drive and motivation to accomplish a specific goal or set of goals. This is sometimes referred to as “job engagement” or “work engagement”.

3. Meaning – feeling connected with oneself, others, humanity as a whole as well as the larger world as a way of creating value in the world. In other words, your work impacts how you feel about yourself and others in ways that matter.

The most important thing to take away from this article is that well-being is more than just the absence of negative emotions. This might be intuitive for you but it’s not necessarily intuitive for everyone else, including your co-workers and your bosses. So you need to help them understand with clarity what matters in your organization with regards to well-being.

How to measure the three components of well-being?

First, there are different ways to measure each component of well-being separately. It’s up to you, or your organization, to decide which metrics are most relevant for each component.

1. Happiness

There are many ways to measure happiness at work, including using well-being scales that are derived from well-being studies in the academic world. There are also self-reported measures of happiness in the workplace. Self-reporting is not ideal because it’s easier to lie, but it can be an effective way to get a starting point when you’re trying to figure out what kind of survey or questionnaire would be most accurate to conduct in your organization.

2. Engagement

To measure employee engagement at the workplace, it is important to look at employees who are satisfied with their work environment and say whether they prefer being part of a team or individualized. It is important that you don't have employees who feel compelled to do what they shouldn’t. A person's willingness and ability for one particular task determines how productive he/she is. Some people think being highly engaged means someone has done something good – but in fact there isn’t of course zero correlation between engaging others and making any kind-of long term difference on anything other than superficiality. At some level you'll want to be able play out your best ideas because by doing so all sides will benefit from them and grow even further as part or all members go along with learning more about themselves.

3. Meaning

To measure employee meaning at the workplace, it is important to ask how much each person has achieved in her/his career. Some people report being very pleased with their work while others are disappointed or bored by this process of achievement. Those who reported high satisfaction for them said that they would continue working and give more attention if given opportunities elsewhere. Such expectations can lead some employees into unrealistic plans which leads not only back onto lower pay but also down from potential promotion prospects. Therefore, staff members should be educated about professional development activities such as training programmes on leadership skills as well tips regarding making better decisions when choosing partners.

How does employee well-being affect the business industry?

Employee well-being is a key determinant of morale and employees' ability to deliver high quality work. Many companies conduct workplace surveys that measure job satisfaction, productivity or customer service performance; data about how people feel at their company's headquarters also are collected. Research shows that when workers have better access into these areas, they report higher levels in positive emotions – feelings of joy, pride (compassion), achievement motivation, optimism etc.

The implementation of these well-being programs can benefit employees in a way that they feel more comfortable and motivated in the workplace.

Employers should provide their employees with structures that allow them to work from home when they want to. They should also allow flexible working hours and encourage their employees to be creative which will make them feel like they are in control of their work and hence, not stressed.

There are many ways for companies to improve their employees’ well-being, some of which are more achievable than others.

Workplace satisfaction is an important indicator of employee well-being, and employers should make sure that they promote happiness in the workplace through these tips:

1. Maintain a centralized repository of all company benefits

2. Allow employees to work remotely one day a week

3. Provide a better balance between work and life

Companies should make sure that their employees can take care of their mental health. This includes training managers to recognize the warning signs and offer support.

They should also create a culture of self-care, by encouraging their employees to take breaks and offer training on mindfulness.