Well, we are being forced to attend to well-being! Organisations are diverting resources, putting in place processes and systems, and training employees on areas including mental health and emotional intelligence
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STORY
By Clinton Wingrove
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e have known for decades that employee engagement is key to enhanced performance. Many organisations also knew that paying attention to employee well-being played a part in sustaining engagement. But, the pandemic has thrown a whole new light on the issue. That light has proved to be a searing laser beam, burning
| november 2021
deep into the consciences of executives. They now preach the importance of employee well-being. Why? Because they can see the bottomline impact, not necessarily because they care. Executives now see that the route to a sustainable organisation is to focus on creating healthy and ethical workplaces; environments in which employees are equipped, encouraged and supported to look after their mental, emotional, physi-
cal and financial health. Resources are being diverted to it, processes and systems are being put in place, and training is being conducted in all manner of related topics such as mental health, emotional intelligence, yoga, pilates, mindfulness, resilience, and meditation, …the list grows by the day. ‘Life is about being made to do something and then being glad you were made to,’ Anon. Are these efforts admirable? Of course, they are. Do the companies that are implementing these amazing schemes deserve the accolades, praise, and PR they are getting? Frankly, that is questionable. Why were they not doing it before they were forced to? We should all have been doing much of this work decades
