It didn’t surprise me several years back when the latest edition of Maclean’s, a current affairs magazine from Canada, landed on my doorstep with the headliner, “The New Worry Epidemic”. It seemed the pressure to perform was hitting everyone, including our children. Unfortunately, little has changed for the good. Within the corporate realm, there is no mystery why people continue to carry increasing amounts of worry and anxiety. For the last ten years all we’ve heard is the clarion call to do more with less. Ad nauseam. In North America, we now have 40 million people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. All the more compelling reason why corporations need to promote wellbeing in the workplace.
Waking Up & Smelling the Coffee
The simple, unwavering truth is that businesses with tired, anxious and stressed out people are less productive, innovative and competitive Increasingly, people are feeling overwhelmed at work and home. This ain’t no lie. So what if you could help make sure that your people weren’t stretched to the breaking point? What if you could assist them so that their lives felt ‘in control’ instead of ‘out of it’? They’d work better, right? Absolutely, and numerous studies have shown this to be the case.
When is Enough Enough?
How many more body bags do we need to see by the roadside to realize that the way that we do business is not working for anyone? With a multitude of studies and stats showing us the hellish impact of the status quo and conversely, the pro’s of shaking things up, what more do we need? Wellbeing is directly linked to knock out business results. They are not mutually exclusive.
What Needs to Happen
You need to take action. To really improve the wellbeing of your people, you need to target whats actually affecting them. Like many employers and senior leaders, taking the time to personally deal with this is impossible. However, throwing all of your support dollars at very general things like health benefits, or a few random perks – maybe a subsidized gym membership or a trendy perk like onsite massage or yoga – simply doesn’t go deep enough. You need a program that uncovers where their life is hurting their ability to produce solid results, like the Propel Program.
So how many more warnings do you need? At what point do you act? When is enough enough?
