Zooming In and Out With the Wellbeing Lens
Manah Wellness hosted another round of riveting roundtable discussions with the HR leaders of Bengaluru in July 2024, and we’re delighted at the rich, deep, and intriguing perspectives that came up. Numerous HR leaders showed up, contributed to the discussion with their experiences and observations, and answered each other’s questions. We aimed to create a community of kindred spirits, who could act as sounding boards to test ideas, and compassionate listeners to share experiences with, and that’s exactly what we witnessed there.
Here are a few excerpts from the discussion we had.
Becoming an inclusive workforce – a potential solution to loneliness and wellbeing issues
Bengaluru is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan cities in the country and is home to a multitude of industries, and a diverse workforce. People who come from different backgrounds work together may feel alone even when they’re surrounded by a group of people. This happens especially in organizations following hybrid work cultures having people come in 2-3 days a week. It’s hard to coordinate your in-office days with your teammates, so most of your time is spent working alone, with no one to talk to or share what’s on your mind.
When accessibility reduces, people keep everything to themselves and don’t reach out for help, even if they need it. Organizations need to dig deep into the issue of ‘loneliness’ amongst employees – and get to the bottom of it, to find out what fundamental issue makes them feel estranged.
Do people get to talk to each other (not about work), at work? Do they find time to socialize, without the fear of being reprimanded, or being watched over by their boss? Do people form good relationships with each other, that run deeper than exchanging pleasantries? Do they have the emotional bandwidth to help each other? Do people feel safe?
Being an inclusive workforce goes beyond just hiring people from different backgrounds. It means bringing everyone together and creating systems that require people to interact with, and develop real relationships, be each other’s confidantes, and ensure no one feels left out, or lonely. When this happens and people can access each other’s help when needed, they’re likely to let their guard down and ask for help if they need it.
Immense need to acknowledge burnout
A lot of managers, especially those who have been promoted recently are facing severe burnout. With attrition skyrocketing, and companies not being able to hire people as much as they need, the pressure on the existing people is mounting. When people reach a limit to how much work they can take on, they voice out their concerns or show signs of stress. When this isn’t acknowledged or validated, and instead people are asked to ‘toughen up’ or ‘take one for the team’, they feel like cogs in a machine and feel they aren’t being cared for as individuals. As days go by, they start compromising on their sleep, me-time, or any downtime they get, put work before everything else and aren’t able to dissociate from work even before sleep or on the weekends.
This is where people managers, and leaders need to investigate. What’s driving people to burnout? Is it a repetitive cycle, or a cascading effect from one major concerning factor? Are people working too much because they fear layoffs, a poor rating in performance reviews, being ridiculed by managers, or being passed over for promotions? HR leaders must study the symptoms of burnout, and question them to get to the root cause, to address it, so the cycle doesn’t repeat itself.
How do you look at wellbeing? Should you think about the organization or the employees?
One major question that dazes HR professionals everywhere, and those who attended the roundtable discussion – should you bring in programs that address a broad range of wellbeing issues, or should you double down on personalization, and give each employee what they need? Which option makes more sense, concerning costs and logistics? Administratively, which option is feasible? The best answer is to bring in different options in different formats – mostly proactive measures – an array of options from which employees can avail the services they most need, at the right time.
You start by fixing issues that affect wellbeing and then create a healthier culture of trust, safety, and mutual respect. Then, you can partner with a holistic wellbeing provider who offers reactive support (counseling, crisis helpline) and proactive support (destressing sessions, expert-led focus groups for employees to voice their concerns, emotional health assessments, etc). The availability of different options and increased accessibility help employees of all backgrounds, age groups, and locations to get help as and when they need it. This way, not only are your organization’s larger wellbeing issues addressed, but employees’ issues are also taken care of.
Is your organization safe for employees to have safe conversations?
One of the most important places to start or double down on, to improve wellbeing significantly is taking a look at how safe is your organization for your employees. Not just how colorful the office setting or interiors is, but how safe are the conversations? How safe is an employee’s confession of troubles keeping them from being their best self? How safe is their request for some time off to tend to personal issues? How safe is it for them to articulate what they’re going through to colleagues or managers? How safe is it for them to ask for help?
This singular aspect, when addressed, will bring your employees closer than ever, and make access to professional help so much easier. Everyone who took part in the discussion agreed to the idea that every organization needs to be a safe space for people, to retain talent.
As people leaders, you’ll need to make changes at work – structural changes – in terms of expectations, training managers to be sensitive to non-verbal signs of distress, demonstrating how they can show support, listen, and accommodate measures to help those in need. Is there a safe, unobtrusive space in the office, where managers can talk to employees without being interrupted? If so, how can managers make the employees feel comfortable so they can open up? How do they assure them that no matter what they’re going through, they won’t be asked to leave and that support is guaranteed?
This topic was discussed at length at the roundtable, and many HR leaders emphasized the fact that building trust and making people feel safe was one of the hardest things to do, and yet, a huge responsibility for people leaders.
Creating a safe space in the organization is easier if leaders pave the way for it. If leaders (across the board) can express subtle vulnerability, and show employees it’s okay to be human at the workplace, they can slowly, but surely, improve the number of people who open up to their managers about anything they’re going through and seek help.
How can the future of work integrate wellbeing into it?
One of the concluding themes we discussed in the roundtable was how an equation was to be formed to make sure we carry wellbeing priorities into the future of work as we evolve.
The equation stands as ‘talent+leadership+culture+technology’.
Wellbeing needs to take centre stage, and work has to be designed around wellbeing, so that there’s no side stepping wellbeing measures to make room for more work. Improved profitability, in the future of work, is an inevitable outcome of the work performed by healthy minds, who can tap into their fullest potential and deliver outstanding results. The C-suite needs to deliberate on bringing wellbeing measures into their top agenda, so profitability goes hand in hand with wellbeing of the organization and the employees who help run it.
The HR leaders who participated in the roundtable empathized with others and realized there was a whole community of like-minded people who shared the same concerns they had in mind. It was a seed for a warm HR community, to open up and help each other.
Manah Wellness is planning more such roundtable discussions in the future in different cities. Stay tuned for more updates!
