The Impact of Employee Well-Being on Experience and Performance
Employee well-being comprises employees’ physical, mental, emotional, and economic health, all of which are directly impacted by a multitude of workplace dynamics, relationships, resources, decisions, and other elements.
That said, employee well-being affects employee experience and performance significantly. How so? What are the aspects and components of employee well-being? And what are the benefits of staff satisfaction and employee happiness?
Employee Well-Being: Aspects Explained
As mentioned above, there are a few aspects to employee well-being, each of which has a significant role in the overall employee experience and satisfaction. Below is a brief exploration of these aspects and the components at play under each one:
- Physical Well-Being
Simply put, employees’ physical health refers to their bodily well-being, including energy levels, sleep patterns, workout routines, diet and nutrition, and even posture—a concern for those who have desk-bound jobs with little physical activity throughout the day.
To achieve employee physical well-being and promote better health, employers must create a comfortable and convenient work environment and a healthy work culture. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as:
- Creating convenient and practical workspaces by providing comfortable desks, chairs, and designated areas for lunch breaks.
- Giving access to green spaces, fresh air, and natural light.
- Offering health insurance and perks like gym memberships, yoga classes, or meal subscriptions to promote a healthier lifestyle.
- Making arrangements and initiatives that encourage work-life balance. This can translate into flexible work hours, work-from-home days, and others.
- Emotional Well-Being
Emotional well-being revolves around employees’ emotions in regard to their work environment, tasks, growth, rewards, colleagues, managers, and everything in between. Employers aim to make the employee experience positive, promoting feelings of contentment, fulfillment, and happiness.
Emotional well-being in the workplace can also encompass feelings of anxiety and stress, especially when facing challenges or changes at work, and the ways in which employees manage, cope with and regulate these feelings.
To achieve excellent employee engagement, performance, and a fulfilling employee experience, employers must provide employees with emotional well-being, and it can be done in the following ways:
- Creating a positive work culture that encourages feedback and expression through surveys and open communication.
- Offering resources and tools for stress management.
- Providing team and managerial support during tough spots, changes, and challenges.
- Work-life balance initiatives can also help employees regulate their stress levels.
- Mental Well-Being
Mental well-being is concerned with employees’ mental health, similar to how physical well-being focuses on their physical health. It is worth noting that mental health encompasses emotional well-being but is not limited to this singular aspect. So, employee mental well-being includes the following:
- Employees’ ability to cope with stress and challenges and recover from setbacks.
- Cognitive functioning manifests in employees’ abilities to think clearly, remain focused, solve problems, and resolve conflict.
- Having high self-esteem and confidence in one’s abilities.
- Autonomy and control over one’s work which can be achieved by practicing suitable leadership styles and avoiding micromanagement.
- Employees’ sense of achievement and progress through learning and career advancement.
Based on these components, employers must provide a positive work culture that promotes better mental health to maintain high levels of employee engagement and customer satisfaction.
That can translate into offering professional mental health support, training managers to recognize signs of distress, recognizing and rewarding employees, providing learning and growth opportunities, and initiating policies for better work-life balance, which is significant in setting boundaries and maintaining good mental health.
- Economic Well-Being
This aspect of employees’ well-being is in regards to their financial wellness and stability, so it includes their income level, raises and promotions, job security, rewards, retirement savings plans, and other elements contributing to their financial security.
Employees with poor economic well-being may struggle with debt, financial insecurity, and instability, and daily stressors related to finances, potentially resulting in low employee engagement and performance, while the opposite is true for those with better economic well-being.
Achieving economic well-being involves offering competitive wages, financial education, paid time off, health insurance, retirement plans, career growth opportunities, raises and promotions, debt management programs, and other financial tools and resources.
Employee Well-Being: Effects on Experience and Performance
Positive well-being leads to better performance, as employees feel well in all aspects and are more passionate about their work, they are more engaged in their tasks; they are motivated and driven to achieve their KPIs and the desired business outcomes, and they tend to invest more time and effort than employees experiencing negative well-being.
Well-being in the workplace also translates into a satisfying employee experience since employees with high well-being feel appreciated, valued, supported, and connected to their organization and its goals, resulting in better performance and various business benefits.
Employers meeting the well-being needs of employees are likely to witness higher levels of productivity, creativity, and innovation, employee retention, staff happiness, and less absenteeism, all of which lead to reduced training costs for new employees, better customer satisfaction, and a more positive brand image.
Zenithr for Staff Satisfaction and Employee Happiness
The Zenithr platform has a user-friendly interface that allows employees to easily fill out their carefully designed well-being surveys. Since employee well-being is crucial to a positive experience and excellent performance, Zenithr provides well-being surveys, covering its various aspects, and it offers valuable insights and recommended action plans for higher employee well-being. Additionally, Zenithr utilizes the 6Cs to measure employee happiness, which are: culture, compensation, connection, conditions, career advancement, and consistency. These are the pillars of staff satisfaction, which Zenithr aims to achieve and make possible for all employers and employees.
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