Most socially responsible organizations understand that one of their most important assets is their staff. The well-being of the employees is paramount for the proper functioning of the company and its ability to not only maximize its potential, but also minimize its costs related to absenteeism and staff replacement.
We live in a hectic world filled with demands and distractions. Many of us experience a time famine: too much to do and not enough time in the day to finish everything.
So how can we take greater control of our time and workloads? It might help to start by looking closer at our working relationships. Work demands and time pressures can come from all directions: from ourselves, our bosses, our colleagues, our clients or elsewhere within the system. Each source can be managed, but not always in the same way.
One essential way is to build more meaningful relationships between managers and staff through well-being and quality-of-work/life efforts. Turnover statistics show that people quit managers, not necessarily employers. Middle managers have the biggest stake on a personal level. Ultimately, their own workplace well-being is determined by the level of satisfaction within the teams they supervise and those with which they interact on a regular basis.
The relationships between colleagues and teams in a company are of utmost importance for the company's working climate overall and its relations with external parties. The better the people work together, the more efficient and productive they are for the company and the more attractive the image of the organization.
Younger generations are less willing to settle for situations their elders grew to tolerate, and so it is clear that young talents are attracted to organizations which have a good reputation on the market and support health and well-being initiatives.
Although it is clear that the company's values and the support regarding the work/life balance have to come from top management, middle managers are the people that can initiate the changes as they best understand the volume and complexity of work per employee. They make the day-to-day decisions that affect employees and have to push back when expectations from senior level are unrealistic.
For the front line manager, the real challenge in promoting well-being is to figure out who is responsible for what and where to get started. Does improving well-being start with the individual, as a matter of personal choice? Or is the organization responsible for giving their employees support to live a healthier and more fulfilled life?
The short answer to these questions is that well-being is a shared responsibility. The truth is that personal lifestyles that embrace well-being do not involve the compromises that many assume.
However, a supportive work environment is required, one that provides employees with the flexibility and training to organize their work more effectively and create more room for work/life balance arrangements.
It's time to get focused, save our energies and concentrate on those things that really matter to us.
What are you waiting for?
Claudine Schmitt, 
Managing Director
Wellbeing at work Sàrl
Tel: 26594787
info@wellbeing.lu
www.wellbeing.lu
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More and more managers are waking up to the benefits of workplace well-being. Not just because it makes people feel better, but because it's simply the right thing to do.
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