All sources prove that actions aimed at improving the well-being of employees are also associated with enormous benefits for the company that implements them. These include increased efficiency and productivity and significantly reduced costs associated with sick pay.

Needs as a guideline

What are the universal needs of people? Some of the basic ones are: having food and shelter, feeling safe and being in lasting relationships with other people. In the background, but no less important, is the need for self-realization. It's about both discovering our strengths and feeling that what we engage in matters.

An organization whose mission, in addition to its typically business objectives, is social responsibility, should include in its values and internal culture actions that will support employees in satisfying their desires.

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

• feel that their efforts and efforts in the field of professional work are appreciated by the employer,
• have confidence in their superiors 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 core values of the company, are guided by them and consider them legitimate and relevant.

Areas of support

What, then, can you specify the areas that the employer should address in order to build a good atmosphere in the workplace and at the same time take care of the employees? Here are the ones, especially worth the effort:

• Communication

Communication is essential for each of us, both in private and professional life. Using it consciously can improve all processes. At the same time, it is a skill that can be improved all the time. That is why it is worth making communication training available to employees. In this way, we take care not only of them and their mutual relations, but also the interests of the organization. Properly selected communication facilitates the implementation of all matters, minimizing the phenomenon of insufficient understanding and difficult emotions that may arise when there are any disruptions in this regard.

Implementing and educating about communication strategies, such as introducing a culture of feedback or principles of communication based on empathy into the company environment, will therefore be a decision that has economic justification, and at the same time will help employees develop their own competences related to communication. This, in turn, can make it easier for them to communicate not only at work, but also in private life situations, which can translate into an increase in their quality of life and level of satisfaction. The result - increased efficiency, motivation and commitment to professional duties.

How can employees be supported in this area? Education is important, but above all training in communication skills. Properly selected trainings will work here, but above all it is crucial to actually use the tools developed through them on a daily basis. It will also be a good practice to stimulate employees as often as possible to improve their competences in this area, for example by giving them access to Psychoeducational app Foculsa, where they will be able to learn about communication techniques and the reasons why they should be used.

• Relationships

Scientific studies prove that a good relationship with other people is something that gives us the most sense of satisfaction and happiness. Since we spend most of our time performing our professional duties, which often require contact with other people, it is very important to take care of the quality of our relationships. It is worthwhile for the employer to use this knowledge and not to ignore the smoldering conflicts between team members and other situations that usually escalate after such neglect, translating not only to a slowdown in the implemented projects, but also to the general atmosphere in the workplace.

It should be realized that the climate associated with difficult relationships between people and the accumulation of mutual grievances and resentments, which are only nurtured, without seeking to solve such problems, will never be conducive to good cooperation and the achievement of business goals.

How can employees be supported in this area? Here, too, appropriate training and the implementation of the tools learned thanks to them as often as possible will come in handy. Mindfulness to oneself, but also to others, which is the basis of deep and long-lasting relationships, can also be learned with mindfulness course. Stress, which often prevents us from establishing contacts, can also be alleviated by techniques of conscious breathing. It is worth giving your team the opportunity to choose between a variety of services, among which everyone will surely find something for themselves.

• Cheers

For many decades, the belief has been cultivated that in the context of professional work, the personal affairs of the employee, including his state of health, do not matter. Actually, they did, but only if the employee for health reasons did not show up at work. Currently, the way of thinking about this area has changed. Increasingly, we understand that a person who comes to work does not leave behind the door either the problems that bother him or his health condition. On the contrary, it can be said that all his stresses, inconveniences or ailments, accompany him at work constantly and will, to a lesser or greater extent, affect both his relationships with colleagues, as well as the quality, efficiency and way of performing his job duties.

The manager in a wise and conscious organization does not displace this fact and understands that this is simply the case and even if everyone has made great efforts, it is simply impossible to separate us as people from our professional roles with a thick line. Therefore, the health status of workers should be covered by measures based on health protection and prevention. Increasingly, companies are therefore beginning to offer their staff not only standard health insurance, but e.g. access to specialist preventive examinations (such as allergy or oncology packages).

We have faced a mental health crisis in recent years and it is therefore particularly important to take steps to support workers in this area. How to implement such a postulate? You can, among others:

1. Facilitate and enable employees consultations with psychologists or other mental health professionals,
2. democratize access to proven content on psychological topics by enabling employees to access applications supporting the preservation of mental health (of the type already mentioned above Focusly),
3. and above all, it is worth opening up to conversations about it and not treating it as taboo.

Research conducted by the World Health Organization indicates that spending on mental health support can pay off as much as four times. With them, productivity increases and the costs associated with workers' illnesses are significantly reduced.

In order to wisely take care of the people employed in the organization, it is worth remembering that the sphere that has rarely been combined with the subject of professional work, namely leisure, is also of great importance. The quality of rest affects both our efficiency and our state of health. Therefore, it is worth educating employees, as well as facilitating interesting and welfare-supporting choices about how to spend their free time. The solution can be sports cards, purchased for employees access to applications with music (e.g. GO ON) or even those that are intended to support in the feeling of relaxation, teaching meditation or an approach to life based on mindfulness.

Benefits

Does the inclusion of employee care issues in the organization's values have only an ethical dimension? Or is it rather an activity that is beneficial for all parties involved, both for the company and for the entire staff? A variety of studies show that an approach based on caring for employees in key areas such as communication, relationships, health and leisure brings a number of benefits, including economic ones.

Lower costs associated with sick leave, lower employee turnover, greater efficiency and quality of work are just some of them. Therefore, it is worthwhile for business to deal with the perception of employees in a holistic way, covering all important spheres of human life, which also have a huge impact on professional work.

After all, doesn't everyone dream of working with people who like and respect each other? Taking care of good form, well-being and relationships among the staff means that we gain not only a group of motivated people, but a real Team.

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.