A Guide To Employee Well-Being And Development
This part of working with people has always seemed to me the hardest, from all points of view. So, the HR part is not exactly easy and not within everyone’s reach, just as management is not for everyone. However, we are dealing with managers, HR people, and companies, for which people’s development is not a priority. I know that many companies will not agree with this, but I have concluded this aspect after many interactions with, let’s say, 75% of the large and medium-sized companies that I’ve come into contact with. When I say interact, I mean one-on-one meetings, meetings at events, etc.
When I discussed writing an article that would appear to major companies, it took me some time; I almost exceeded the deadline for submitting the article to think about what I could write about, in a magazine in which the largest companies in Romania appear. Well, I think that long-term performance is a topic of interest for all companies in the world and I think that they are all interested in what else they could do to have high-performing people.
Ensuring Employee Well-Being And Long-Term Performance
The first aspect that should be ticked would be that people need to be motivated. Obviously, the discussion here is a very complex one, but I will discuss more about the deep side of things and not about financial motivation—respectively, bonuses, high salaries, etc.
Question number one; how do we survive the rhythm of life imposed by everything that happens around us, but especially, how do we manage to be motivated both personally and professionally? Well, it’s simple, if I’m personally motivated, then I’m motivated because it somehow transfers to professional motivation. Work-life balance may be the key. We talked with psychologists, coaches, sociologists, and people who could come up with some pieces of the puzzle and help us to better understand what we are going through, but especially what can help us get back to the surface. Like when you dive, and the journey to the surface is often a pleasure, often an eternity, and when we reach the surface it’s as if everything is clearer, brighter, and we are fine.
If we manage to help our people maintain a balance between their professional and personal lives, if we help them develop their passions within their companies, if we are attentive to their needs, I think the problem related to performance is almost solved. Of course, we need to help employees to be open and work with themselves for a better understanding of personal and psychological needs.
What Can Companies Do To Cultivate Long-Term Performance In Their Workforce?
What we can do as companies:
1. Foster Creativity
Create a creative environment, in which employees can create and develop.
2. Focus On Employee Needs
Let’s move from rigidity and templates to what our people need. Let’s help them personalize this balance and well-being because work-life balance is a personal concept. We know that positive and energetic people are more creative, that’s why we need to be flexible in everything we do at home and at work so that we feel good about ourselves. I propose that we discover ourselves with each passing year, with each stage of development so that we will see that this “balance” is also different depending on our evolution. This is both the company’s and the employee’s responsibility at the same time. If I think about how I was in my 20s and what made me happy then, and I look at what I want now, things have changed, and that’s not bad at all, because I’ve also evolved, and my priorities, my desires, etc. have also changed.
3. Inner Balance
Let’s help people to focus on the inner balance and less on the external one. The stress we are subjected to has more to do with the way we manage things and situations and less with the idea that one job is more stressful than another. I have worked quite a lot on this aspect and I firmly believe that our mindset is the most important and the way we relate to everything around us helps us find the answers.
4. Work Out Of Passion
Let’s support the transition from working hard to working out of passion. I warmly recommend that everyone do what they like, what represents them, and what resonates with them. Passion is one of the basic elements that lead to long-term performance. It is important to discover what we are good at.
5. Attention-Focus Management
Let’s move from time management to attention-focus management. In other words, let’s be where we need to be when we need to be. I personally think that multitasking is a myth, although it was very popular, especially in corporations. Our brain actually switches from one task to another very quickly, which causes stress and reduces productivity. Someone said that “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” I agree with them.
6. Self-Care
Let’s go from working until exhaustion to having enough rest, having fun, and feeling good, so that our productivity increases, we can function at normal parameters and succeed in performing.
7. Authenticity
Let’s be authentic! Let’s keep our authenticity, because the differences between us bring value, and diversity increases the value on a team level.
