Safety and health pros have surveys galore to see how they compare to their peers. Safety magazines survey their readers every year. Associations survey their members. Gallup offers up a variety of surveys. Safety tech firms ask pros about tech uptake. I recently came across a wellbeing survey by MetLife with interesting results. So in my small sampling of safety-related surveys, let’s see what’s happening on the frontlines of the wellbeing movement.
First impression is that I’m struck by the gap between employers and employees:
• 88% of employers believe it’s important to demonstrate care for employees, but only 58% of employees feel cared for. There is a 30-point gap here. Someone is not being truthful. Most likely almost 90 percent of employers are saying the right thing – of course it’s important to demonstrate caring – but many don’t walk the wellbeing walk. The result: a far lower percentage of employees feel cared for.
• Embracing diverse work setups is crucial, but 75% of employees are unclear about their benefits. Many companies have yet to finalize policies for who can work from home (and how many days per week) and who must come to the office every day. Without clarity there is confusion.
• Almost one in two employees (47%) connect worsening mental health with financial problems.
Much has been written about deteriorating mental health in the workplace. Are companies doing interventions more innovative than recommending an employee go to the employee assistance program (EAP)s. EAPs have been around since the late 1930s, created mostly to deal with workforce alcoholism. Plagued with low utilization, limited care options, and poor care quality, many organizations are supplementing or replacing their EAPs with more effective options. Many EAPs fall short in these areas:
- Easy access to high-quality care, where and when employees need it
- A network of providers providing high-quality evidence-based care
- Comprehensive care offerings to meet the needs of the entire workforce
- Measurable outcomes that show care is helping people get better
- Tools to build a work culture that promotes mental wellness
• Only 58 percent of employees are satisfied with the affordability of benefits provided by their current employer. No surprise here. Many companies have been scaling back the bennies for decades now.
• Authors of this survey state that a holistic wellbeing approach should include: 1) Physical well-being; 2) Mental/emotional well-being; 3) Financial well-being; 4) Social well-being; 5) Occupational well-being; 6) Spiritual well-being; 7) Intellectual well-being; and 8) Environmental well-being. This holistic model, if adopted, will have many companies treading where they have not gone before. Many see it as going beyond the purvey of corporate interests– mental and emotional needs; social needs; spiritual needs and intellectual needs. How many CEOs will claim they are being dragged into touchy-feeling New Age activities?
A stressed-out workforce
A Gallup Poll backs up the need for a broader array of wellbeing services:
• 43 percent of employees experienced stress a lot during the previous day.
• 14 percent of employees say they were not treated with respect all day on the previous day.
• 24 percent of employees experience daily anger.
• 25 percent of employees experience daily sadness.
• 41 percent experience daily worry.
• With these negative emotions so prevalent every day, it is no surprise that only 20 percent feel engaged in their work.
• What is surprising given the prevalence of daily stress, worry, anger and sadness, is that Gallup reports 32 percent of employees are thriving – almost one in three. This percentage arises from the number of employees who feel they are living their best lives now and the number who expect the best future life in five years. Chill-out Nordic countries have the highest life evaluations in the world -- Finland (85%), Denmark (79%), Iceland (76%), Sweden (71%) and Norway (69%) — and the Netherlands (76%)
Employees alienated from their company culture
Gallup surveys show employers have their work cut out for them in boosting wellbeing initiatives. And getting employee buy-in for company culture values and benefits. According to Gallup, only two in ten employees feel connected to their company culture. Employees say 20 percent of their coworkers are committed to their organization’s cultural values. Only one in five employees say their manager explains how the organization’s cultural values influence work, And only 28 percent say the leaders of their organization are committed to cultural values.
One bit of good news – organizational leaders are much more likely to feel connected to the organization’s culture. 42% connect to the culture compared to 21 percent of managers and 20 percent of individual employees.
Of course, leaders are most likely to have created the company culture, which could explain why they take pride in their product.
Safety pros can be wellbeing advocates
Safety and health pros naturally have more day-to-day contact with workers than leadership, putting them in a good position to talk up the culture’s benefits and values. Pros are well positioned to know employees’ day-to-day mental and emotional states of mind, and steer them to wellbeing services.
The days of safety work preventing physical injuries and patrolling for compliance are fading, at least in companies that take wellbeing seriously. Many more companies need to be brought into the fold. Safety pros on the front lines are good barometers of the workforce’s moods, attitudes and honest feelings about the company. These insights need to be communicated to leadership for wellbeing to gain more traction.
