A Healing Workplace: Is It Possible?

As the business world is gradually coming out of crisis mode towards “how do we prepare for the post-CV19 environment”, there is a growing consensus that the world will not be the same once the pandemic is over.  There are numerous thought pieces and articles in various media relating to this and referencing words like Retool, Reboot, Reset, Restart, as CEOs and Exec teams are likely to be pondering questions such as:

• How is our customer base likely to evolve?  How do we pivot the organisation for the uncertain new world while “keeping the lights on”?  How do we spark more innovation?
• How do we re-engage with our people and move forward sustainably?  How do I retain, or rebuild, trust and hope after difficult changes?

While no one can predict how all the intertwined trends and forces will play out, we can be certain that some things will change.  But whatever exact scenario comes to pass, I believe that improving people experience at work will unlock the biggest source of value for organisations in the next few years. In any scenario, it is very likely that two main things will need to change:

• Heightened attention to employee wellbeing and health;
• Sharpened focus on building organisational resilience to future shocks.

The two elements are intrinsically linked, and I would argue that the current situation presents a unique opportunity to adapt company cultures to create a truly “healing workplace”: a workplace where people can re-adjust back from the shocks of recent events, improve their wellbeing, while using their creativity to significantly improve company results.

Heightened attention to employee wellbeing

At the moment, governments and international organisations are focused on arresting the contagion as well as treating those who are affected – from a public health as well as economic perspective.  But once the crisis passes, governments are likely to shift the lens towards building more resilience into the health service and general immunity of the population as a way to build a buffer into the system to deal with future, as yet unknown contagions.

While CV-19 is a health emergency, the fact remains that 80% of current world illnesses are lifestyle driven, absorbing 75% of global health spend. Unless the trend for the growing impact of lifestyle illnesses is reversed, the health system will become unaffordable.

There is an increasing body of evidence that lifestyle illnesses can not only be prevented but also reversed with sustained, and seemingly small (but difficult to sustain! – at least, now) behaviour and mindset changes – such as diet, sleep, attitude to stress, etc. – something that can be nudged and encouraged via community and place of work and can be relatively inexpensive compared to traditional medicine.  While this evidence is not new, the crisis may push this to the fore.

Given the astronomical levels of government debt, it is likely that employers will either be directly legislated  or encouraged via other means to provide a better prevention and early intervention support for workers (e.g. tighter HSE regulations, additional tax incentives or penalties, or more innovative approaches) for stress and mental health, thus making it a decree or an incentive for companies to create a better workplace.

The population (i.e. employees) is not getting healthier, and this affects business directly through higher absence and lower productivity.  Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey indicates that an average UK employee loses 38 days a year to absenteeism and presenteeism, and this number has grown over the last few years (in 2014, it was 23 days).  Mental health has been climbing up the agenda for some time, and the trend is likely to be exacerbated by the pandemic, lock down and increased unemployment and job insecurity.  Before the crisis, there were estimates (by the John Lewis Partnership as part of the Working Well campaign) that combined with musculoskeletal conditions, ill mental health will cost businesses c.£87Bn in lost productivity by 2025 (or c.£2.6K per employee).  The current situation will make the need to do something proactive and preventative within a company more acute.

Following the lockdown, there will be a need for a stronger focus on employee engagement, as well as mental and emotional health – which have been really tested in recent weeks.  Payroll is always a very significant portion of total costs, so items like sickness absence and recruitment costs have a big impact on the bottom line (albeit not visible as a separate line on P&L).  Furthermore, engagement level and happiness impact on people’s decisions, which in turn impact other costs as well, leading to “leaks” in costs beyond payroll – higher wastage, higher recruitment costs, less effective spend on L&D, etc.  There are also numbers we can’t even track – such as lost revenue due to lack of staff engagement, lost clients, and other costs.

Sharpened focus on building organisational resilience to future shocks

Customer behaviours will change and evolve, and there are competing trends which are well articulated in many articles. On the one hand, a drive towards cheap goods due to economic uncertainty, job losses and general feelings of insecurity, and on the other hand, a drive towards personal wellbeing and health, as well as a fundamental desire to connect and find authenticity and common good attitude in brands (recent consumer poll featured in HBR indicated that brands which behaved in the most human, compassionate and giving way as the crisis ensued gained significant brand equity).

Some recent publications also pointed out that current events are only a dress rehearsal for the CEOs, with the climate emergency, threats of another pandemic, and other big issues bubbling up to the surface. No one knows how these, as well as other trends, will play out, therefore introducing growing levels of uncertainty.  As a result, organisations will need to fundamentally change their approach to running their business from managing risks to dealing with uncertainty.

Dealing effectively with uncertainty requires resilience, agility, and reserves.    In her recent book Uncharted Margaret Heffernan argues that the world is becoming more complex, rather than complicated, and urges change to the way we run businesses – from efficiency and planning to preparedness, which requires a different management practices and mindset, and places clarity, trust, autonomy, multi-skilled, highly engaged and empowered workforce at the centre.

So, it seems likely that, in the aftermath of the crisis, the business world will re-balance the approach to governance from primarily looking at short-term financial returns, to prioritising resilience and sustainability over a long term.  While there will be a lot of different issues to deal with – changing customer preferences, supply chain overhaul, financial and investor expectations, etc. – arguably, the most important issue to address will be culture and people’s experience at work, which needs to be at the heart of all the changes.