How to take care of your employees wisely? How will your company benefit from it?

All evidence shows that initiatives aimed at improving employee well-being also bring significant benefits to the company implementing them. These include increased efficiency and productivity, as well as a substantial reduction in costs associated with sick pay.

Needs as a guide

So, what are the universal human needs? Some of the most fundamental include having food and shelter, a sense of security, and being in lasting relationships with others. Further down the line, but no less important, is the need for self-actualization. This involves both discovering one's strengths and feeling that what we are engaged in has meaning.

An organization whose mission, beyond typical business goals, includes social responsibility should incorporate into its values and internal culture actions that support employees in fulfilling these desires.

The result of such actions should be a situation in which employees:

• feel that their efforts and hard work are appreciated by their employer,
• trust their managers and are confident that they can count on their support,
• feel satisfied, happy, and healthy at a satisfactory level,
• are able to maintain a work-life balance and know that striving for such a state is important for their mental and physical health,
• know the company's key values, are guided by them, and consider them valid and important.

Areas of support

What areas, then, should an employer focus on to build a positive workplace atmosphere while also caring for their employees? Here are those particularly worth the effort:

• Communication

Communication is essential for all of us, both in our private and professional lives. Using it consciously can streamline any process. At the same time, it is a skill that can be continuously improved. That is why it is worth providing employees with communication training. In this way, we take care not only of them and their relationships with one another but also of the organization's interests. Well-chosen communication facilitates the handling of all matters, minimizing misunderstandings and the difficult emotions that can arise when there are any disruptions in this area.

Implementing and educating on communication strategies, such as introducing a feedback culture or principles of empathy-based communication into the company environment, is therefore a decision with economic justification that will also help employees develop their own communication skills. This, in turn, can facilitate communication not only at work but also in private life, which can translate into a higher quality of life and increased satisfaction. The result: greater efficiency, motivation, and commitment to professional duties.

How, then, can employees be supported in this area? Education is important, but above all, communication skills training is key. Appropriately selected training courses will work well here, but the most crucial factor is the real, daily application of the tools developed through them. It is also good practice to encourage employees as often as possible to improve their competencies in this area, for example, by providing them with access to the psychoeducational app Foculsy, where they can learn about communication techniques and the reasons why it is worth using them.

• Relationships

Scientific research proves that good relationships with other people are what give us the greatest sense of satisfaction and happiness. Since we spend most of our day performing professional duties that often require interacting with others, it is very important to take care of the quality of our relationships. It is worth it for employers to use this knowledge and not ignore conflicts smoldering between team members or other situations that usually escalate after a period of neglect, affecting not only the pace of projects but also the general atmosphere in the workplace.

It must be realized that a climate of difficult interpersonal relationships and accumulated resentment and animosity—which are merely nurtured without any effort to resolve such problems—will never be conducive to good cooperation or the achievement of business goals.

How, then, can employees be supported in this area? Here, too, appropriate training and the frequent implementation of the tools learned through it will work well. Mindfulness of oneself, as well as others, which is the foundation of deep and long-lasting relationships, can also be learned through a mindfulness course. Stress, which often hinders us from building connections, can also be reduced through conscious breathing techniques. It is worth giving your team the opportunity to choose from a variety of services, among which everyone is sure to find something for themselves.

• Health

For many decades, the belief was cultivated that in a professional setting, an employee's personal matters, including their state of health, were irrelevant. Or rather, they only mattered when an employee failed to show up for work due to health reasons. Today, the way we think about this area has changed. We increasingly understand that a person coming to work does not leave their problems or their health condition at the door. On the contrary, it could be said that all their stresses, ailments, or conditions accompany them at work constantly and will, to a greater or lesser extent, affect both their relationships with colleagues and the quality, efficiency, and manner in which they perform their professional duties.

Managers in a smart and conscious organization do not deny this fact; they understand that this is simply how it is, and no matter how much effort everyone makes, it is impossible to draw a hard line between us as people and our professional roles. Therefore, employee health should be addressed through health protection and prevention initiatives. Companies are increasingly starting to offer their staff not only standard health insurance but also, for example, access to specialized preventive screenings (such as allergy or oncology packages).

In recent years, we have been facing a mental health crisis, which is why taking steps to support employees in this area is particularly important. How can this be implemented? You can, among other things:

1. facilitate and enable employees to have consultations with psychologists or other mental health professionals,
2. democratize access to verified psychological content by providing employees with access to apps that support mental well-being (such as the aforementioned Focusly),
3. and above all, it is worth opening up to conversations on this topic and not treating it as a taboo.

Research conducted by the World Health Organization indicates that investments in supporting mental health can yield a fourfold return. They increase productivity and significantly reduce costs associated with employee illness.

Free time

To take wise care of the people employed in an organization, it is worth remembering that an area rarely associated with professional work—namely, free time—is also of great importance. The quality of our rest affects both our efficiency and our health. It is therefore worth educating employees and making it easier for them to make interesting choices about how to spend their free time that support their well-being. Solutions can include sports cards, paid access for employees to music apps (e.g., GO ON) or apps specifically designed to support relaxation, teach meditation, or promote a mindfulness-based approach to life.

Benefits

Is including employee care in an organization's values only an ethical matter? Or is it an action that benefits all parties involved—both the company and the entire staff? Various studies prove that an approach based on caring for employees in key areas such as communication, relationships, health, and free time brings a number of benefits, including economic ones.

Lower costs associated with sick leave, lower employee turnover, and greater efficiency and quality of work are just a few of them. It is therefore worthwhile for businesses to view their employees holistically, encompassing all the important spheres of human life that also have a huge impact on professional work.

At the end of the day, doesn't everyone dream of working with people who like and respect each other? Taking care of the fitness, well-being, and relationships among staff means that we gain not just a group of motivated individuals, but a true Team.

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Bibliography:

1. COVID-19 and employee mental health: what employers can do, Lori Welding Jones, 2021 https://web-1p-1ebscohost-1com-10hkp9ijn0031.waw-proxlib.swps.edu.pl/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=c065e2cb-74bf-4fa2-86ca-43b6880adc30%40redis&bdata=Jmxhbmc9cGwmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#AN=149861350&db=bsu.
2. Making the Investment Case for Mental Health: A WHO / UNDP Methodological Guidance Note, World Health Organization 2019.
3. Harder, H. G., Wagner, S. L., & Rash, J. A. (2014), Mental illness in the workplace: Psychological disability management. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-37424-000.
4. How To Support Employee Mental Health In The Workplace: Investing in your employee's well-being is the best thing you can do. Tweney, Dylan, Employee Benefits & Wellness Excellence. May2022, Vol. 9 Issue 5, p28-31. 4p.