Empathy and Care as Organizational Superpowers, Wellbeing as a Business Imperative and Team Sport, and more.
Insights from the Wellbeing at Work Summit in New York
I was thrilled to attend the Wellbeing at Work Summit in New York in March of 2023. There might be some speculation that – with the COVID pandemic no longer at the forefront of our minds – wellbeing isn’t as much of a priority for organizations, but insight from the conference indicates otherwise.
A few themes that particularly resonated with me given my experience included:
incorporating the full life-work spectrum of an employee
empathy and care as organizational superpowers
wellbeing as a business imperative and team sport
the concepts of predictive flexibility and focus
the evolving role of the manager
navigating the return to work with engagement in mind, and
experiencing and incorporating the benefits of mindfulness
In this post, I share insights on these themes, but first let’s set the scene.
Setting the Scene
Three points immediately got my attention at the start of the Summit. Shared by Robin Bouvier, VP Health President of Aon, these included:
Employee wellbeing and attracting and retaining talent are the top 2 priorities for companies globally for the next 5 years. The two are indeed interconnected: improving employee wellbeing is a path to attracting and retaining talent.
Improving employee wellbeing factors can enhance company performance by at least 11 per cent and up to 55 per cent. Factors include cultivating a sustainable working life, defined as having workforce resilience, agility, and belonging.
The connection between wellbeing and Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging is becoming clearer. They amplify each other. Resilient workers feel a deeper sense of belonging. Also, individual wellbeing improves when employees feel a deeper sense of belonging, psychological safety, and trust - a virtuous cycle.
If you are interested in more detail, I refer you to AON’s 2022-2023 Global Wellbeing survey.
Themes from the Wellbeing at Work Summit, 2023
Incorporating the full Life-Work spectrum.
This idea of incorporating the whole spectrum of what is important to an individual across all areas of their life, and not limiting their identity and experience to just their work life was highlighted throughout the day. The term work-life balance, now used less frequently by organizations has evolved to life-work integration, life-work navigation, life-work alignment – this idea that supporting the whole person experience and what each person values helps to attract and retain talent.
Empathy and Care as Organizational Superpowers.
Whether you are a leader, manager or colleague in the workplace, the importance of building a culture of care and demonstrating empathy in the workplace is being viewed as a superpower.
Alexis Brown talked about the value of incorporating “kindness” into email messages, so that others feel valued and seen as a human being on the other end. It is about valuing others not just for what they produce but for who they are.
Jeanette Bronée talked about how care is the most important attribute we own. If we wish to express our gratitude for this quality in others we can start saying “Thank you for your care”, rather than “Thank you for your time”.
The role of empathy was also talked about in the context of listening carefully to employees about what they want as opposed to looking at data to extrapolate what they need. The idea of having different policies for different populations was also put forward, as different populations may value different benefits.
Did you know a day of multi-tasking lowers your IQ by 15 points
and is worse than being intoxicated or not sleeping for 24 hours?
Wellbeing as a Business Imperative and a Team Sport.
This was illustrated compellingly by Frank Giampietro, Americas Chief Wellbeing Officer, EY. In 15 months, with leadership buy-in, an integrated strategy, co-creation and buy-in from employees, a culture of wellbeing is steadily being built at EY. Getting back to commitment and connection through relationships are viewed as most important. EY’s approach starts with deep listening to employees and teams, developing new social norms, piloting new initiatives, tweaking them based on feedback, and holding senior leaders accountable through a Wellbeing Index. EY has micro practices, content, and programs that are available and discussed at the team level to sustain and perpetuate wellbeing.
One of the concepts Frank discussed was this idea of “Predictive Flexibility” which is having the conversation at the team level on how to account for the flexibility individual team members require while honoring the work deadlines that need to be met. Sounded like a win-win to me.
Another concept discussed was “Focus” and the importance of creating 90-minute blocks where emails/messages are not answered and time to focus is created. It was important to be reminded of the cost of multi-tasking: Did you know a day of multi-tasking lowers your IQ by 15 points and is worse than being intoxicated or not sleeping for 24 hours? We are not multi-tasking, we are task switching; it takes us time to regroup on the original task we were focused on when we switch tasks, not to mention the stress and anxiety of unfinished work which continues to build up.
The Evolving Manager role.
Much has been and continues to be talked about with respect to the importance of the role of the manager in the individuals’ desire to stay. Christin Merkel, Head of Global Talent at Wella, reminded us of Workforce Institute of UKG’s recent survey, which revealed that 69% of an employees’ mental health is influenced by their manager, on par with their partner. She also talked about the value of developing managers as coaches to build a culture that retains employees, as part of their focus.
Other speakers also expressed the importance of getting coached from someone other than your manager, and having the review process incorporate others besides your direct manager as ways to address this outsized influence a manager has on an employees’ development.
Navigating the Return to Work with Engagement in mind.
There are a lot of nuances around the topic of return to work, hybrid work forces, and inspiring engagement which organizations are delicately managing, and no one size fits all.
What drives engagement ultimately? One view backed by research was that engagement is driven not by where a person physically works but rather the control they have over their time. We need to change the way we manage people and give them back agency for their work and how it is done. Too often we still reward the number of hours people appear to work, rather than the quality and impact of the work.
While remote work is certainly a possibility for many, what might be the benefits of going to work in person? The value of building relationships, which are important to further collaboration, learning and teamwork, may be more conducive to an in-person structure. In some cases, permanent remote work may make sense for part of a work force, but while employees may be performing in terms of productivity and outcome, there is a question around if they can remain engaged and connected. More work is needed to ensure these employees feel like they belong to the culture and are part of a bigger purpose.
Experiencing and incorporating the benefits of Mindfulness into your culture.
One of my favorite sessions of the day was led by Alice Kim, Co-Founder of Mindful on Wall Street and Executive Director, Morgan Stanley. We not just intellectually understood the importance of and examples of organizations that have successfully built mindfulness interventions into their culture, but also experienced many practices first-hand.
We started with the “shake” which is any free-flowing body movement to literally shake off the day. Backed by research, shaking helps to calm an overstimulated nervous system down and release any stress holding you back. We also experienced the “physiological sigh”. To practice the physiological sigh, inhale, but before you get to the top, pause, sip in some more air and inhale to your full capacity. Then, expel all your air with an exhale. This is helpful to alleviate stress and anxiety. We ended with a 10-minute full body scan and focused meditation which calms the nervous system so that we are more able to see opportunities and solutions, moving from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest”. These practices are an important reminder of how pausing through micro practices and turning your awareness to your body, breath, and movement can amplify your energy and focus, benefiting you and those you interact with.
In closing, you may wish to consider 3 questions:
What is one insight that resonated with you?
Why is this insight important to you?
What will you do with this insight in terms of integrating it into your knowledge and experience?
I would love to hear your insights on any of the themes that resonated with you. Feel free to send an email to lalita@invitingintegration.com if you would like to share with me.