“We need to understand the impact on health within our workforce to be a strong organization.”

Employee wellness is often look at as an employee issue that if companies provide employees with resource such as HRA or stress management sessions that employees will improve their health. I wish it was this simple. When I set out to improve employee wellness I quickly realized employee wellness was so much more than an employee issue often times this is just a small piece of the puzzle.

“Employee wellness is an leadership and organizational issue.”

Stress is a health hijacker, not only is stress a key player in every health condition it effects every area of our health from the foods we eat to the energy to workout and even our relationships at home and at work. Stress also plays a key role in our management of existing health conditions like high blood pressure, diabeties…ect.

Remember the old saying “sh*t rolls downhill”? Well, that is exactly how stress works. If your leadership teams are stressed it will affect the entire organization.

Leadership issues

How stressed is your leadership?

If someone is stressed they are normally not making good decisions? Do you enjoy being around people who are stressed? Of course not! If you are around people who are stressed you yourself are naturally stressed and when people are stressed they become snappy and make poor decisions. I once had a team leader so stressed that a server went down he went over to the rack and unplugged them all. In his haste instead of rebooting one server and it taking 5 minutes he took down a bunch that took hours to correct. No one wants to work with a leader who is snappy and stressed out. We want to work in an environment where we are heard, supported and valued.

Unfortunately the people who are the most stressed in our organization are often our top performers. If you where a top performer and stress was affecting your health and relationships would you stay if something better came along? Chances are you would leave.

Talent Management

We know how important talent management is for the manufacturing industry. Your top employees will more often leave due to poor management than better pay? Are you having issues with your top performers leaving? The stress that comes down from management will make a job they enjoy a job they hate. And not only does this affect their mental well-being but stress is a major factor in high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic health conditions.

Productivity

This hits right in the wallet. If your organization is stressed physically or mentally this is effecting your wallet and the productivity of your organization. Remember the old saying “like a well oiled machine” if your organization is stressed it is not running like a well oiled machine, its more like running on prayers and duct tape. Do you think you can be at optimal performance running on prayers and duct tape?

How are you supporting your workforce?

Employee wellness has never been so important and we need to provide the support for our employees to be at their optimal health. We have seen first hand the impact pre-existing medical conditions had on our health when it came to COVID. Its time we take a holistic approach to employee wellness, it needs to be addressed from an employee, leadership and organizational stand point. If you are only addressing employee wellness from an employee point of view you are only addressing one-third of the issue and will never see the full potential.

If you would like to discuss how you can improve your employee and leadership well-being email me at Laura@LauraTimbrook.com.