Businesses are experiencing an upsurge in employee requests for wellbeing
According to a survey conducted in US and UK companies, employees regard their employers more when they take steps to enhance their health. A similar percentage of workers said their existing working arrangements did not foster a healthy work-life balance, while just under half of those surveyed said their managers should focus on improving employee wellbeing.
Nearly all employees in offices in the UK and the US agree that business leaders’ objectives need to change in the present economic environment, according to new research conducted by United Culture. In this regard, the majority of employees—93%, who rose to 98% among those under the age of 25—agreed that managers had become out of touch with the socioeconomic reality.
To that aim, 43% said that managers should give greater attention to employee wellness, compared to 36% of respondents who continued to subscribe to the conventional wisdom that managers should devote more of their time to fostering business growth. The latter stance has grown more challenging to defend in the ongoing talent wars, as years of high turnover and a competitive labor market make it challenging to quickly fill critical positions.
In fact, 37% of those polled made the specific suggestion that leaders should be involved in stepping up efforts to attract and keep talent. They went on to say that in order to preserve essential abilities within the company and prevent their loss, executives should concentrate on how staff members feel going forward, including welfare, diversity, and empowerment.
Today’s leaders are subject to a lot of pressure, said Victoria Lewis-Stephens, the managing director at United Culture. Commercial success alone won’t suffice to keep employees employed. People’s expectations have changed as a result of the lockdowns’ necessity for new leadership styles. Top-down leadership methods are being replaced by traits like empathy.
Over 1,000 office workers were surveyed, and 48% of them stated that the pandemic-related traits of boldness, agility, and decisiveness would still be crucial to leadership. However, 46% of respondents believed that empathy, communication, and listening abilities were the most important three qualities a leader should possess.
Although many pandemic-era working methods are still in use, there is still a clear disconnect among employee expectations and the actual situation. People value the flexibility and work-life balance that working from home offers, and half of them claim that allowing employees to work remotely has improved their company culture. However, firms have still not changed how they do business to reflect the new method of working.
A little less than a third of those surveyed thought they did not clearly distinguish between their personal and professional lives. Only 58% of participants said that their present work schedule provided a work-life balance at the same time. Business need to think more carefully about how they can help employees to benefit from hybrid working in the future.