The concept of “employee well-being” was once a fringe topic that only the most forward-thinking employers addressed in their business models. However, employee well-being is now a well-established concept that directly connects to staff productivity, organizational health, and profitability.
As a result, modern businesses are investing countless resources into well-being initiatives in hopes of helping their staff reach their optimal performance potential.
Even though this concept has become a mainstream topic, many initiatives still overlook one key component of staff well-being. This missing link is employees mastery of what is now referred to as “power skills” but is more commonly known as “soft skills.”
This introductory guide provides a clear employee well-being definition to help you understand what this concept encompasses. Additionally, we identify some common tactics that you can use to improve the well-being of your staff. Finally, we examine the connection between skills and employee well-being so that you can maximize the success of your employee screening and training initiatives.
Employee Well-Being Definition
Depending on who you ask, the definition of “employee well-being” will vary slightly. However, this phrase typically refers to the state of an employee’s economic, emotional, physical, and mental health.
Even though everyone defines this concept slightly differently, everyone agrees that improving employee well-being yields several significant benefits. Specifically, improving staff well-being can boost morale and increase productivity.
Investing in well-being initiatives can offer major benefits for the organization as well. Companies that have a reputation for protecting their employees’ well-being will find it easier to attract top talent. The most skilled and experienced professionals want to work for companies that care about them.
In addition, securing the well-being of employees can lead to less turnover, better retention, and higher profit margins. This development can bring much-needed stability to an organization and yield a higher quality customer experience. These benefits will strengthen the organization’s brand image and help it differentiate itself in today’s wildly competitive marketplace.
How Employers Can Enhance Employee Well-Being
There are four components to employee well-being. Therefore, well-being initiatives must leverage a multi-faceted approach. Otherwise, they will be minimally effective.
Physical Well-Being: Many businesses provide employees with nutrition education resources and connect them with local gyms to address their physical health. They may also encourage their employees to sign up by partnering with gyms to obtain employee discounts.
Businesses can invest in their staff’s physical health by purchasing high-quality office equipment. Examples include ergonomic chairs, standing desks, and floor pads.
Mental Wellness: Businesses can connect their staff with counseling opportunities on the mental wellness front. Because every person experiences challenges, making mindset and mental well-being a priority is important. Organizations that ensure that the work environment is diverse, inclusive, and free from unnecessary stressors also spur well-being.
Creating an office environment that incorporates natural lighting, relaxing décor, and other modern touches can improve mental health. We recommend reviewing this McKinsey report for additional guidance on improving mental wellness.
Economic Well-Being: Addressing economic health can be challenging if a company’s financial resources are tight. However, for best success, businesses should offer competitive wages, compensate employees fairly for hours worked, and provide reasonable accommodations for time-off requests.
Leadership: The fourth pillar of employee well-being is the most important. This difficulty persists because day-to-day interactions with other employees or leadership can profoundly impact a staff member’s emotional health. If an executive or department leader lacks empathy, emotional intelligence, or communication skills, they will cause friction. Over time, this can severely diminish the emotional health of employees and may even prompt them to resign.
Fortunately, you can effectively remedy many emotional health concerns by focusing on developing soft skills across the organization.
How Skills Impact Employee Well-Being
Soft skills have a direct impact on both mental and emotional health. If you carefully select your staff to ensure that all team members have essential soft skills, you can protect employees’ emotional and mental health. Conversely, you may inadvertently diminish employee well-being if you focus on technical talents alone when hiring new employees or making promotion decisions.
With that in mind, you must measure individuals’ soft skills before hiring or promoting them. Doing so will go a long way in promoting employee well-being. To gauge soft skills, you need to leverage skills tests. There is a wide range of skills tests available for measuring soft skills, including Emotional Intelligence, Logical Thinking, Verbal Reasoning, and Leadership Skills.
Each skills test will provide invaluable insights into the participant. You can use these insights to make informed hiring and promotional decisions and carefully select candidates that will be a good fit for your organization. This approach will increase the effectiveness of your employee well-being initiative.
Develop Soft Skills to Foster Employee Well-Being Across the Organization
Do you want to learn how to improve employee well-being by screening for soft skills? Contact us to request a demo.