How to Create Healthy Organisations that deliver Sustainable Value

Keywords: #sustainable #measurement #wellbeing #health

Author: Dr Anna-Rosa le RouxDate 10 May 2024, Worklife Digital

In a world of complexity: fast innovation, continuous change, information overload and pressure to deliver shareholder value, it is easy to become ‘fixed’ on profit. Organisational leaders are pressed to deliver value, however investors are increasingly asking for sustainability in that value, whether sustainable is the ‘S’ in ESG, social impact imperatives, culture and wellbeing in the workplace or achieving climate goals.

In this article, we highlight the levers that are available to leaders and organisations to be intentional around creating workplace environments to deliver the sustainable value that investors are looking for.

The focus on wellbeing as a new frontier (for individuals and organisations) has been an accelerated trend in talent management, enhancing productivity, retaining employees, catering for new generational diversity and achieving business performance. Various well-known publications have published widely on the topic and have all begun focusing on the importance of wellbeing at work - Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, CNN, Harvard Business Review, McKinsey, Deloitte and the list goes on …

This makes sense on a practical level too as when everything is in flux, and organisations are not building resilience (aka wellbeing of their people), the result would be the heightened stress levels that we see, hampering innovation, creativity, talent attraction and ultimately a decline in profit and shareholder value.

Not only is investing in wellbeing a key differentiator in Best-Company-To-Work for indices, but large scale data studies indicate a link between investing in wellbeing and organisational financial performance that delivers a 2 to 3.5 times better return on investment over a 20 year period.

Talking about, and measuring wellbeing at an individual level tells us more about: their experience of identity, how stressed they are, their agency around complexity or uncertainties that comes their way. It tells us about their experience of purpose and meaning, their connection to others in relationships that provide care or allow for change and variety, their ability to adapt to difficult experiences in a way that involves healthy problem solving and coping.

The question arise: how can we build work spaces where humans can feel human and flourish? What are the levers that create such work spaces?

Emergent thinking around how to achieve wellbeing in the workplace delivers great value and helps to focus on the things that matter to move the dial forward. With things that matter, we are specifically not referring to ping-pong tables, attending talks on wellness or launching company-wide initiatives without knowing the scientific levers that are linked to impact.

Various institutions, such as Oxford University Wellbeing Research Centre, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Centre of Healthy Workplaces, Mckinsey Health Institute have all worked towards operationalising academic models into component parts or levers to build wellbeing plans scientifically within organisations.

Wellbeing enablers, i.e. aspects of work that provide positive energy such as meaningful work and psychological safety, were not only found to explain the most variance in holistic health, but were also more effective in predicting holistic health than focussing on job demands or challenges in the workplace.

Here are 9 levers, adapted from academic literature and scientific studies to intervene and proactively address these enablers of holistic health:

Purpose: Purpose is a powerful motivator for employees in organisations. Employees need to see that their roles are meaningful and supportive of the organisational mission. With clear, meaningful goals, linked to the organisation’s mission, employees feel that their work matters and that they are positively contributing to the organisation. Often purpose is linked to the values that the organisation stands for. When there's a gap between values stated and practised values, purpose erodes and motivation suffers.
Building trust: Trust in an organisation is established through the open and accurate sharing of information - being transparent. It relies on a belief that the organisation and its leaders are honest and truthful in its actions and decision-making. Trust is reinforced when employees feel confident that the organisation's values and principles are consistently upheld across all levels and departments.
Leadership: Leaders hold a key lever for wellbeing within the organisation as they bring about positive change in organisational culture and performance. Their style contributes to the development of a positive and inclusive organisational culture where employees feel valued, heard and empowered.
Supportive growth: Supportive growth is about employees learning and developing within their roles, engaging in opportunities that are linked to their personal values. Not only will this type of growth boost employee purpose and fulfilment, it will also encourage continuous improvement and professional development that enables meaningful contributions to the organisation's objectives.
Manager development: Continuously investing in manager’s learning and development ensures that they are well-equipped with knowledge and skills to support their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of their teams. Effective managers manage in such a way that employees feel valued, understood and motivated to excel and flourish, personally and professionally. Recognizing good work, supporting employees through challenges, and providing constructive feedback are essential skills to master.
Inclusion and belonging: Inclusion is the degree to which all groups are heard and involved in organisational processes and decisions - being an integral part of the organisation. In cultures of belonging, employees feel accepted, secure and that they can be authentic to collaborate and contribute to the organisation's goals.
Team psychological safety: Team psychological safety is about team members feeling that they can freely express their ideas without fear of judgement. It is about feeling: ‘I am heard’, ‘I am seen’ and ‘I am valued’. It includes mutual respect, support during difficult times, and caring about each other's wellbeing and success.
Rewards and recognition: Rewards and recognition includes both monetary compensation and non-monetary rewards like praise, awards and recognition for contributions. Rewards and recognition is a critical lever to drive financial stability and the feeling of being valued and appreciated within an organisation.
Sustainability: Sustainability refers to an organisation’s actions towards minimising environmental impact, with accurate performance information. It involves engaging stakeholders in decision-making to ensure benefits for present and future generations.

What do leaders need to do?

Companies that are getting it right invest in scientific-based practices around measurement, analysis and implementation of interventions.

1. Measure: Measure properly and utilise new technologies to enable you to act upon your measurement quickly. Consider how to scale quick measurements throughout your organisation.
2. Make sense of your data: Know what you are measuring and understand what is really going on. What is driving wellbeing in your organisation? What is the wellbeing status for various groups of people (age, gender, types of employees, etc.) and what is important to them?
3. Evidence-based interventions: Lastly, implement evidenced-based interventions that really work. Think beyond wellbeing. What are the levers that create a great employee experience?

In conclusion

In a rapidly changing world where complexity reigns and pressure to deliver shareholder value is relentless, it's easy for organisations to fixate solely on profit. However, as investors increasingly demand sustainability in value creation, it's clear that a broader perspective is necessary. This article has highlighted the critical levers available to leaders and organisations to intentionally create workplace environments that deliver the sustainable value investors seek.

To be a resilient and credible People-First organisation, it is critical to measure, to conduct the analysis and implement evidence-based interventions to address the wellbeing gaps existing in the organisation.

References

Cunningham, S., Fleming, W., Regier, C., Kaats, M., & De Neve, J. (2024). Work Wellbeing Playbook: A Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Interventions to Improve Employee Wellbeing. World Wellbeing Movement.

Brassey, J., Herbig, B., Jeffery, B. & Ungerman, D. (2023). Reframing employee health: Moving beyond burnout to holistic health. McKinsey Health Institute.

WorkLife Digital is a global mental-wellbeing consultancy driven by the mission to improve the sustainability of businesses. Our psychological wellbeing tool, Worklife Quotient (WL-Q), is modelled on cutting-edge scientific research and provides organisation-wide measurement and intelligence on the mental wellbeing levels and psychological resilience of staff. WL-Q also assesses the impact of organisational practices (i.e. people and culture, leadership styles, organisational purpose and values, social impact) that have a direct influence on staff wellbeing and provides strategic recommendations on addressing risks and promoting strengths.

For more information, get in touch at anna-rosa@worklife.digital