Being part of a winning team is usually a good feeling, particularly in the workplace. In a global survey of 554 executives, there is a striking correlation between businesses that are performing well relative to their peers and their relative levels of employee happiness. One in four of respondents from high-performing firms say their colleagues are “very happy”, and more than 80% are either “reasonably” or “very” happy. Just 2% regard their colleagues as unhappy.
By contrast, executives at firms performing worse than their peers show much higher levels of unhappiness. Well over one-half of respondents in those organizations describe their colleagues as “somewhat” or “very” unhappy. Only one in five are seen as “very” or “reasonably” happy. The only big question is whether happier employees are more productive, and help their firm outperform the market—or vice versa.
There is one area, however, that organizations typically do not seem to get it right: stress. The most common organizational health and wellbeing initiatives are those that are most likely to be mandated by policy or legislation, such as paid sick leave. But more direct intervention, such as stepping in when employees display signs of being over-stressed, is far less common. Nearly all (98%) of respondents admit to being stressed at work to some degree—one-quarter of them constantly. But at nearly all organizations, respondents are simply left to deal with the problem themselves.
Fortunately, examples of firms that are taking concerns about stress more seriously are cropping up. One is Creativ Company, a Danish crafts firm. It considers its employees’ mental health to be the most important factor in creating a financially sustainable business—and has grown on the back of this belief (see case study). Meanwhile, Proctor & Gamble’s Belgian division coaches line managers to talk openly to staff about stress-related concerns and provides suggestions on how to cope. Keep calm and carry on.
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