In my last blog post, I talked about the need to address work related stress before it becomes an illness. While more people are experiencing stress at work, it is encouraging to know that interventions that promote mental wellbeing in the workplace have been found to reduce the rate of absenteeism due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety by between 5% and 46%[1].
Importance of engagement
Research shows that 71% of the global workforce is not engaged[2]. Engagement and wellbeing are inextricably linked, and we know that a disengaged team member is less likely to be productive and connected to their employer, as well as more likely to miss workdays and to leave.
However, there are some practical steps that you can take to engage your workforce and avoid sickness absence from stress:
· Identify the disengaged and explore why they are feeling this way.
· Ensure a regular rotation of challenge and performance recognition & reward.
· Identify individual differences and adapt your approach to them.
· Appreciate different character traits and work with, not against, them.
· Match the attributes of your team to the demands you make on them.
In an ideal world, these steps will address any problem before it’s too late. But ensuring that an employee is able to access the services they need, such as a GP, psychologist or psychiatrist is the responsibility of every organisation.
Macro and micro management
There are ways that organisations can manage change earlier in the process that make it less likely that stress will lead to illness. On a macro level, this means always assuming that change will have an impact on employee engagement, and trying to quantify the likely impact. Equally, assess overall employee loyalty and resilience before introducing any change project, and before being seduced by the latest tech or gadgets make sure you consider the impact these changes might have on the people who use them.
On a micro level, increased individual participation in decision making and change adoption has been shown to have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing at work. And make sure you pay attention to the engaged as well as the disengaged employees, particularly the thinking and feeling types who may not be vocal but still have concerns.
Perhaps the most important step that organisations can take to help their people cope and even thrive in the current change climate is to give them as much control as possible. I agree with Mark Hemming that we can learn a lot from nature but we are, after all, only human and we are programmed to want to feel in control.
This blog is based on James’ presentation at our recent ‘Are you an ostrich or an eagle?’ experience at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Hampshire. To hear more from James, register for our next event in March 2020.
[1] An Economic Analysis of Workplace Interventions that Promote Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace. Institute of Occupational Medicine, 2013.
[2] Western Europe findings in Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2017.