Want to fight employee burnout? Focus on well-being
Employees with higher well-being are more likely to be productive, energized and engaged in their work. Read this blog post to learn how you can fight employee burnout by focusing on well-being.
Well-being can be described as feeling good and living with a sense of purpose. When employees have higher well-being, they’re more likely to be productive, energized and engaged in their work, as well as feel more committed to their organization. It’s what all leaders want for their employees. But can there be such a thing as too engaged? Can a super high level of engagement actually leave employees susceptible to burnout?
New research shows that burnout is real — and it can happen to anyone. But the saddest part is that the people it affects the most are people that care the most. In other words, your most dedicated people. It happens when highly engaged employees have increasingly low well-being due to overwhelming job pressures, work overload and a lack of manager or organizational support. Prolonged exposure to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job can lead to exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy — even for people who are all in at work. Ultimately, these top-performing, highly-engaged employees will leave — or worse, the burnout will spread to other employees causing a toxic fire across your company. The good news is that burnout is totally preventable. You just have to know where to start.
Employee burnout is actually more a problem with the company than with the person. Both the root causes and the best solutions start at the organizational level. This doesn’t mean we should stop building emotional skills like mindfulness, resilience and fitness. But it does mean that in order to solve for burnout at your company — or at least extinguish the flames — the organization is driving the bus.
Here are four ways employers can take action by focusing on well-being to extinguish employee burnout.
1. Help employees connect to their purpose. Today, more employees are looking for real meaning and purpose in their work. Whether it’s a connection to a greater mission or following personal passions, purpose-driven employees give more and feel more fulfilled in doing so. In addition to feeling an emotional connection to their work, a sense of purpose also connects them to the company and ultimately affects their well-being and engagement. In fact, according to a study by Deloitte, 73% of employees who say they work at a “purpose-driven” company are engaged, compared to just 23% who say they don’t.
Helping employees connect to their purpose is key for burnout prevention. Focus on effective communication that linearly connects each employee’s work to the company’s mission. Set clear goals to continue to support employees in not only finding their purpose but staying connected to their purpose.
2. Foster a well-being mindset. We’re all wired differently — and that’s even more apparent when it comes to the workplace. How people think about stressful situations has an impact on their ability to handle and recover from them. For example, an employee who fears conflict versus an employee who takes it head on are going to have different reactions and recovery times.
As a leader or manager, when you know how people think about stress, you can help them cope with it and prevent burnout. Avoid organizational consequences such as absenteeism or turnover by communicating and encouraging positivity, self-care and weaving well-being into daily tasks.
3. Promote social support and connectedness. At the core, people want to rely on people. Support from an employee’s peers can mean everything. In fact, social support impacts stress, health, well-being and engagement — and ultimately, people feel better and have higher well-being when they feel connected to others. It’s more than a like on a community feed or high-five in the hallway — putting social connections at the forefront of your people strategy or employee engagement program can make a real impact.
Social connections like a company community feed, women in the workplace group or lunch buddies paired up across different departments helps employees get the support they need and guards against burnout.
4. Invest in tools to combat burnout. People who push themselves without taking breaks have a greater chance of being unproductive and burning out. Recovery time from workplace stress is key. Whether physically or mentally, everyone needs a break to recover — it’s natural to need to recharge and refresh. Even small recovery times or breaks can help people deal with the symptoms of burnout. And there are great new tools to make it easy to schedule and take a vacation and “hit refresh” with the full support of your company.
Make well-being a priority to reduce stress by investing in technology that can help you spot burnout, adjust workloads and have awareness of your employees’ stress levels. Take the Limeade burnout risk indicator for example. It allows leaders to see the risk levels for specific groups, and automatically target science-based activities to improve well-being and avoid cynicism (and worse).
When it comes to burnout in the workplace — you can tackle the symptoms to prevent top performers from burning out. Don’t make the mistake of misinterpreting burnout as disengagement. It’s time to take responsibility for burnout and take action at every level.
SOURCE: Albrecht, H. (31 December 2018) "Want to fight employee burnout? Focus on well-being" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/want-to-fight-employee-burnout-focus-on-wellbeing?feed=00000152-a2fb-d118-ab57-b3ff6e310000
5 overlooked keys to attracting, retaining great workers (and keeping them beyond the holidays)
Disorganized or absent onboarding processes can severely impact how long employees stay with a company. Continue reading this blog post for the 5 overlooked keys to attracting and retaining employees.
As 2018 winds to a close, the lowest unemployment rate in almost 50 years seems like cause for celebration. But for bosses battling for talent on the front lines — particularly in high-turnover industries like retail, hospitality and food service — it’s anything but.
Rarely easy, recruiting and keeping hourly workers has become a pitched battle this frantic holiday season, with some employers going to new lengths to fill roles. Fast-food franchises are turning to seniors to flip burgers; sit-down restaurants are sending line cooks to culinary school.
But simpler — and far less costly — ways to boost recruitment and retention among hourly workers often go overlooked. Here are a few small steps that, in my experience, can go a long way in keeping workers happy and on the job this holiday season and beyond.
1. Don’t ignore onboarding.
Whether you’re running a restaurant that’s short on servers, or a retail store that sorely needs sales staff, it’s easy to throw new hires into the fray in the hope that they’ll hit the ground running. But doing so can seriously undermine their longevity in the job.
Studies show that a disorganized — or worse, absent — onboarding process can severely impact how long a new hire stays. Conversely, research from the Brandon Hall Group shows that a structured onboarding process can increase retention by 82% and boost productivity by more than 70%.
Too often, onboarding gets ignored in an hourly context — or confused with on-the-job training. Onboarding is much more than that. It’s an introduction to the company and the workplace culture, outlining expectations and opportunities for advancement. It can even include a peer mentor to help new hires with tips like where to park or a good place nearby to grab lunch. This might seem like a luxury — but in actuality, it’s this kind of onboarding that earns Whole Foods and Old Navy top employer honors year after year.
2. Crowdsource your schedules.
One of the greatest sources of frustration for hourly workers is unpredictable schedules. A recent study from Workjam found more than 60% of hourly workers said the most difficult aspect of their job search was finding a position that matched their availability, and more than half said they receive their schedules a week or less in advance.
Setting consistent work schedules around employees’ needs is an important signal that employers care about their work-life balance, family demands or school schedules.
But managing a complex schedule doesn’t have to fall solely on employers. In fact, including your employees in that process can have a positive impact on morale and retention. New platforms that allow workers to swap shifts directly with each other — without involving a manager — give hourly employees some autonomy over their time at work — something shown to boost retention even more than a pay raise.
3. Find meaning (even in the small stuff).
Research is clear: People who feel they have a purpose at work are more productive at their jobs and stay with them longer. And that goes double for millennials and Gen Z, who want to know they’re working for more than just a paycheck.
It might not be obvious from the outset, but showing hourly workers how their jobs make the world a better place can be a powerful tool for retention. It worked for 1-800-Got-Junk, whose commitment to the environment through recycling household items won kudos from its bought-in staff.
For employers who struggle to connect those dots, something as simple as adding a collection box for the food bank in your break room or regularly coordinating your team for volunteer efforts can work wonders in instilling a greater sense of purpose among your team.
4. Modernize your payroll.
We live in an instant world, but you wouldn’t know that by the way most workers are paid. Compared to our on-demand, digital existence, the traditional two-week pay cycle can seem hopelessly outdated. Not only does this hurt hourly workers who often struggle financially between paychecks — especially during the holiday season — it hurts employers competing for talent.
A survey of more than 1,000 people by the Centre for Generational Kinetics showed the majority of millennial and Gen Z workers would prefer to be paid daily or weekly. Further, more than 75% of Gen Z workers and more than 50% of millennials said they’d be more interested in applying for jobs that offered an instant-pay option.
Companies like Uber and Lyft are already updating the pay paradigm, and winning workers, with same-day pay options for drivers. Online platforms now enable any employer to offer that same convenience, in a way that’s easy to implement and cost-effective. But there’s one important caveat here: to work as a retention tool, on-demand pay needs to be free for employees. Charging people fees to access their own money just makes workers feel like they’re being nickeled and dimed.
5. Culture counts (even when you’re on the clock).
Strong company culture is a major contributor to engagement and belonging — a huge predictor of retention. But it’s too often ignored by hourly employers, as evidenced by the fact that hourly workers consistently rate their company culture to be worse than that of salaried workers.
Particularly in the service sector, where the focus is so directed at customer experience, it’s important for employers to spend time making sure employees feel just as valued. For example, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants clinched the No. 6 spot on Fortune’s list of the 100 best employers with culture-building policies like allowing employees to bring pets to work and recognizing good grades among employees’ kids.
With the U.S. job market predicted to remain tight for the foreseeable future, competition for talent will continue to be a big hurdle for hourly employers. But a few small changes can yield big returns in retention and recruitment — without breaking the bank.
SOURCE: Barha, S. (3 December 2018) "5 overlooked keys to attracting, retaining great workers (and keeping them beyond the holidays)" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/keys-to-attracting-retaining-great-workers-beyond-holidays
8 Benefits Of Measuring Employee Engagement
Are you measuring your company’s employee engagement? Measuring employee engagement helps companies attain real results and solve problems before they get worse. Read on to learn about the eight benefits of measuring employee engagement.
Employment engagement matters to achieving company success and developing employee skills and talents toward future goals. Happy employees equal a happy and prominent company. However, outdated traditional surveys used to measure engagement fail to reflect how modern employees operate and what they most desire and need to succeed.
Measuring employment engagement in real-time helps companies achieve real results, just as the importance of measuring finances and sales regularly do. Here are eight benefits of measuring employee engagement — much like taking your company's work culture temperature.
1. Solve Problems Before They Worsen
When you have a deadline, what can you do with issues that only now reveal their consequences? You have to deal with the issue quickly, and that often means putting a tourniquet on the problem and moving on. When you keep checking the temperature, you address issues — and their roots — before escalation occurs.
Problems only get big when you let them. Don't wonder why your employee retention and sales suddenly plummet.
2. Employ Empathy and Build Trust
Both employees and leaders need ongoing feedback to keep growing and improving. Make feedback a two-way process and communication that also stems naturally out of conversation and connection. Ongoing, open feedback allows leaders to pose better questions — especially those that relate to the company mission and vision.
When leaders ask good questions and connect, they build trust among employees and workflow improves as a result.
You may think your human resources department handles the human side of things, and that's that. However, thinking that way leaves your company out in the cold. It creates a negative communication gap between leader and employee, leading to #1 and risking you losing a talented individual.
Employ empathy and get the whole story when you see a struggling employee, whether their obstacle is personal or work-related. Everyone is human.
3. Make Morale #1
When employees disconnect, engage them in a meaningful conversation. It doesn't have to last the whole lunch hour — even a brief chat to check in will show you care. You’ll learn more about your employee's concerns, as well as their promise for the organization.
Make morale a top priority in your company, and you will reap the rewards. Productivity increases and you retain employees longer when their morale moves upward.
4. Share Insights Transparently
Back to those metrics. Use the analytics reports regarding workforce trends and finances to motivate your mission and, thus, your employees. Your employees need to be an active part of positive change-making. Employees feel more involved and valued when they know how and why they contribute to an organization and seeing the results drives them to push even harder.
5. Opportunity for Improvement
Surveys provide a snapshot of employee activity and thinking in a single moment in time as they struggle to think up thorough answers and complete the questionnaire to get back to work — or select variations of seven to nine on a 10-point scale to get it done. What does that measure exactly?
Snapshot surveys provide results that develop game plans months down the road. You can also measure social activities and interconnectivity at work to increase the ability to find meaning at work.
Encourage employees to keep track of their thoughts and feelings weekly and speak up. Better measurement tools — especially employee-preferred ones — increase opportunities for improvement and engagement.
6. Take Action When it Matters
Leaders can take action in small, cost-effective ways to engage their employees and improve morale, such as through conversation and opportunities to balance work and life.
Around 99 percent of meetings waste time, so take action as needed. Allow employees to think aloud in conferences and even be a little late, but start the session. When you have a strong work culture, employees and leaders collaborate and co-create to produce real-time, meaningful results.
7. Look for Trends
Technology allows employers to spot trends and take immediate action when used correctly. Does your website measure user experience for the customer? What about your employee's "user experience?"
When you identify trends, you can impact engagement in the day-to-day doldrums of routine. You make work meaningful and help the entire staff take responsibility for trends, as well as their engagements levels. Platforms like Slack allow employees to develop activity-based work styles that boost satisfaction scores, and engagement doesn't always equal productivity. So, deepen your definition of engagement.
8. Keep the Positive Flow Going
What chain reaction would you rather have — a negative one where issues worsen due to disengagement or a positive one where employees feel engaged and value their performance beyond getting a paycheck? Monitor your initiatives for employee engagement regularly, and keep what works going to maintain the positive flow.
Human resources don't begin and end in one department. Every department requires a human touch — your workers aren't drones or robots. They have real needs that, when met, can improve morale and lift up the company to success.
SOURCE: Craig, W. (18 September 2018) "8 Benefits Of Measuring Employee Engagement" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamcraig/2018/09/18/8-benefits-of-measuring-employee-engagement/#5b9bf20a7c55
How to Build a Motivated Workforce
Are your employees motivated? Getting an engaged workforce requires employers to focus on nurturing motivation. Read this blog post to learn how to nurture motivation in your workplace.
There’s a lot of buzz and conversation happening around the importance of employee engagement to a successful organization. But I believe that engagement is an overused or at least misused term. Engagement, to me, isn’t a process but rather an end-state where your employees are “all in.”
Engaged employees work hard on today’s priorities, and when they believe what they do matters and know that you’re invested in them, they will stay with your business for the long term and help you solve the challenges of tomorrow. But getting to this state of engagement requires focusing on nurturing motivation.
Simply put, motivated workers are more productive and efficient, and stretch themselves to do more. When employees are motivated, they get their work done faster and with greater levels of collaboration, creativity and commitment. A motivated workforce goes above and beyond to do what is in the best interest of the organization and, ultimately, the bottom line. So, what are ways you can truly motivate employees?
Set Clear Expectations and Goals, and Communicate Frequently
It’s a strange truth, but many employees simply don’t know what is expected of them at work. Workers are more motivated and engaged when they are given clear objectives, understand how they will be evaluated, and see how their efforts contribute to the bigger picture. Isn’t that what we all want anyway; to contribute to and be a part of something bigger than ourselves? When HR teams help create this clarity for our employees, they experience a greater “purposefulness” or “meaningfulness” which in turn contributes to motivation. So how do you ensure organizational alignment and foster this sense of meaningfulness?
One critical step that HR leaders can take is working with managers to increase the frequency of communication around performance and goals. When employees work with their managers to set goals and then check in on progress on an ongoing basis rather than treating them as ‘set and forget,’ it can help improve employee motivation, elevate performance and benefit organizations overall. By increasing the frequency of conversations between managers and employees around progress towards goals, HR teams can take a huge step towards creating an effective performance management program for today’s workforce.
This ongoing endeavor isn’t easy. There are time and commitment involved, and it only works when managers and employees are both invested in open and ongoing dialog about goals and expectations. But the more often managers talk to their employees, the more motivation and performance increases within the workforce. Even quick, informal check-ins, or “managing in the moment” to address priorities or give feedback boosts an employee’s sense that someone is invested in them, and drives motivation.
Spend Time Talking About Career Development
Motivation is tied to a future outlook. One critical way to boost motivation is to move away from ineffective, backward-looking annual performance reviews, and start coaching your managers around having more frequent conversations with their employees that focus on career development. By focusing on development, these conversations become more constructive, forward-looking, and connected to both personal and business objectives. Now you’ve motivated an employee because you’re actually talking about their future and showing you are invested in them!
Implementing performance management processes that are rooted in continuous conversations that center on coaching and career development is vastly more effective for motivating the modern workforce. Focusing on ”performance development” rather than “performance review” shifts the conversation around the process to a more forward-looking, positive and employee-focused stance. This can have a huge impact from an employee motivation perspective, rather than feeling like their managers are micromanaging them or questioning their work, workers feel invested in and motivated to get to the next level in their career, which translates to increases in employee performance.
Provide Timely and Relevant Feedback
Almost half of employees receive feedback from their managers only a few times a year or less. Not only do employees want clear expectations to be established, they also want to know how these are mapping to their larger career goals. Managers need to provide feedback in a timely manner to promote career development. Feedback can be tricky to deliver, and many don’t like delivering or receiving it. So managers need to normalize the feedback by making sure it is timely and is relevant to the employee and their work.
There are many approaches to delivering feedback, but delivering all feedback all the time isn’t the right answer. Managers need to be thoughtful about evaluating all the feedback they receive about their employees and select those items that are most relevant to the employee and those items that they are ready to hear, all in a timely manner to assist the employee in their career.
So, for many reasons, a quarterly review cadence, vs. an annual review, enables managers to align employees’ individual career goals with the organization’s top priorities, ensuring the employee has a sense of purpose and business goals are met.
This is what motivating your workforce is all about. There is no silver bullet to motivate your workforce, however, HR leaders and managers can make a big impact by having frequent and continuous conversations with employees that focus on career development, communicating clear expectations and providing timely feedback. It’s an ongoing process and won’t happen overnight, but by focusing on motivation, both employees and organization at large are better positioned for success.
SOURCE: Strohfus, D (27 August 2018) "How to Build a Motivated Workforce" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://hrexecutive.com/how-to-build-a-motivated-workforce/
5 Tips to Improve the Employee Experience from an Employee Happiness Director
From SHRM, here are some helpful tips to improve happiness within your workplace.
Gone are the days of delighting customers at the expense of employees. Organizations today understand the value of employee happiness and are increasingly looking for ways to attract and retain top talent. This includes delighting employees at every touch point along the way from orientation and beyond.
And while this may mean something different for every organization, the following few tips may help to improve the employee experience, and if your employees are happy, your investors, customers and clients will follow.
Find employees who follow your north star. Hire employees who align with your core values. Our organization is mission-driven and focused on transforming lives. As a result, we look for good eggs who are driven by doing something for the greater good and leaving the world a better place. Big egos need not apply.
Prioritize happiness. Happiness means something different to every employee. Encourage your employees to find what makes them happy and prioritize that. Employee happiness is our CEO’s number one priority, so we held a workshop to design our culture of happiness together with input every single employee. We now measure employee happiness monthly and look for ways to delight our employees at every turn.
Ask and you shall receive. We constantly ask our employees about what’s working, what’s not working and how we can come together to build a culture of happiness through weekly, anonymous surveys. This provides leadership with valuable insights and empowers employees at all levels to help create an environment where we will thrive. Commit to delivering on employee suggestions that impact happiness when you can. You may not always be able to implement a suggestion but always ensure that the employee’s input is valued and was heard by leadership.
Be culturally relevant. While some may appreciate yoga breaks during all company meetings, others may want time off to volunteer with family and friends. Get to know your employees and understand what is truly meaningful to them. And always check back - life moves fast and personal priorities shift. Make sure your benefits and perks evolve to keep up with your dynamic population.
Give that gold star. It’s not all about perks. Offer work that’s challenging, acknowledge a job well done and reward employees in creative ways that are motivating to them. A company that successfully fosters a positive employee experience reaps the benefits in the form of enhanced engagement, happiness, productivity and retention.
Read the original article.
Source:
Andrade C. (4 December 2017). "5 Tips to Improve the Employee Experience from an Employee Happiness Director" [Web blog post]. Retrieved from address https://blog.shrm.org/blog/5-tips-to-improve-the-employee-experience-from-an-employee-happiness-direct
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Ongoing training about job descriptions can drive employee engagement
Originally posted on HR.BLR.com on November 26, 2014
Ongoing training about job descriptions is “essential, since no job remains exactly the same from year to year,” say Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, business, marketing, and corporate training experts and co-authors of The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your People.
In fact, since “job descriptions are typically out of date when the job is filled,” the authors recommend that employers “ask every employee every year to rewrite his or her job description and tell the employer what kind of training they require to stay up with the technological and procedural changes they have witnessed during that year. Involving them in this process gives them ownership of the job and will fully engage them in the training they requested to do a better job.”
“Engage employees with questions like, ‘What kinds of skills do you need to do your job better?’ When they have a hand in the training program, they will put the most into it and get the most out of it,” Harvey says.
The offering of bonuses based on overall company performance also can drive engagement in training. “Once in place, these incentives will provide a powerful consideration to learn the job, learn the company, learn the market, and become a sponge for any training that will help them achieve that bonus,” says Houlihan.
Cross-training provides another opportunity to engage employees. “We believe in know-the-need rather than need-to-know,” says Harvey. “Many companies feel that certain subjects are not necessary for the individual to do their job. They put them on a need-to-know basis.”
However, “training in other departments, together with the challenges facing those departments, provides employees with appreciation for those functions, and they are more likely to identify with them as part of the same team,” she says. “Cross-training can provide big picture thinking and reduce silo isolation, which can have a very positive impact on interdepartmental cooperation.”
Know the Secrets of Successful Employee Engagement
Originally posted April 16, 2014 by William Taylor on https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com
The emotional commitment an employee has toward a company and its main goals is called employee engagement—employees being more focused on helping the company thrive. This emotional binder has nothing to do with financial compensation but with the personal feelings of that employee for the workplace.
Let’s not confuse engagement with happiness. Being happy at work doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re working hard to help that organization succeed.
Engaged employees initiate better business results. Research shows that organizations with engaged workers can easily reach higher profit margins of up to 6%.
Motivated employees often lead to:
- Better customer satisfaction
- Better quality of services
- Enhanced productivity
- Higher profit levels
- Increased shareholder returns
Switching from THE Company to THEIR Company
Ownership is the heart and soul of employee engagement. Your people must feel that they own the company for which they’re working. It’s paramount to treat them like partners and make them feel like CEOs (even if deep down they are employees and nothing more). Once you’ve accomplished that, allow them to make important decisions, share vital information with them, let them take part in important meetings to keep them motivated. Engagement soars when employees feel like leaders.
How do you maintain employee engagement long-term?
Engaged employees are both happy and motivated people. They feel appreciated by their bosses, they feel valued, and they’re willing to go to extreme lengths to help THEIR Company flourish. However, it’s vital for organizations to make sure the engagement is permanent. Here are some important aspects you might want to look at to make sure your people stay engaged for as long as necessary.
- Consistent expectations—whatever you do make sure your expectations are clear and consistent. Tell your employees exactly what you want from them, but make them feel comfortable and safe in your presence.
- Value their work—employees want to feel that their work is being appreciated; if you must criticize, do it, and do it constructively.
- Leave room for advancement in their career—the goal of every engaged employee is to climb up the ladder; the more some advance in their career, the harder they will work to please their superiors.
Constructive Criticism Keeps Engaged Employees Alert
Feedback is important for engaged employees who want to be sure that their actions are good enough. These people are willing to accept criticism and do everything in their power to turn an observation into a goal. Communication is equally important between managers and motivated workers. As boss, CEO, or supervisor, it’s your job to foster that motivation by asking questions and challenging their potential.
Criticism should be constructive; it should be meant to add value to a company. Engaged people are not afraid to be criticized. On the contrary, they strongly believe that the only way to nurture their potential is to give them challenges that are difficult to achieve.
A Different Type of Reward
We mentioned that employee engagement is not based on financial compensation. While that might be true, motivated employees should be given constant rewards for their hard work. Promotions, free training sessions, better working hours, and paid vacations, are just some incentives companies can offer to their committed people to make them feel esteemed. There are so many things you can offer to satisfy their needs without breaking the bank.
After working hard on a project for over a month you can take them out for a festive dinner. People love to socialize and the best way of making them feel good about themselves is to integrate them in your executive group. Appeal to their social side, have a good time, and interact with them on a human level.
The key word for successful employee engagement is RELATIONSHIP. Nothing matters more for employees than a good working relationship with their superiors and teammates. Satisfaction and engagement are deeply connected in a company. Let’s call it a marriage where two parties enter this “relationship” with extremely high hopes, best intentions, and great aspirations. In time, the relationship can become unbreakable; however, for that to happen—employees and company workers must value each other equally.
Social Media, New Technology Drive Healthy Behaviors
Originally posted March 04, 2014 by Kathleen Koster on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
Employers and wellness vendors can elevate worker engagement to new heights by reinforcing healthy behaviors through the seamless application of emerging technologies. From using big data to identify and manage at-risk employees to combining biometrics with the social health version of Facebook, EBN looks at three areas of new technology that can help spur wired employees toward well-being.
Virtual trainers and clinics
According to the National Institutes of Health, users who have a weight-loss coach are 214% more likely to lose weight than those without. However, for most employees hiring a personal trainer is not financially feasible. Yet the interest is there: 74% of American adults want, but cannot afford or accommodate, a “traditional” personal trainer, says David Joseph Aguayo, regional vice president of sales at Anthem National Accounts.
As an alternative, Anthem provides a trainer-centric approach to wellness that doesn’t break the bank. The health insurer partnered with online trainer FitOrbit to provide virtual fitness and real-time, Internet-based coaching. Members begin by answering short questionnaires covering their dietary needs, exercise habits and preferred coaching styles. Based on their individual responses, they are matched with a list of nationally certified personal trainers. After selecting a trainer, the employee electronically receives a customized fitness and nutrition plan and ongoing coaching – the latter via the modern miracle of unlimited texting, plus a weekly personal exercise plan – to support their goals.
In an independent 20-week study, active FitOrbit users consistently lost an average of 1.3 pounds per week. Over three years, the tech platform’s own data shows 0.83 pounds per week of weight loss across all users.
Anthem also delivers the robust benefits of onsite clinics to employers who could otherwise not afford them, using similar technology.
“For employers that want to provide easier access to care or have onsite clinics, but don’t have the financial resources to invest in a brick and mortar facility, online care is way to explore that,” says Aguayo.
Using a new Anthem app, employees can seek medical advice through a live video chat feature that was launched late in the fourth quarter of 2013. Thereby, the employer can drive primary care access for employees without the major cost burden. The white-glove concierge service for health, as Aguayo describes it, gives members access to qualified and very experienced care professionals who can help assuage health issues and prescribe medicine for primary care needs, such as headaches or fever. The best part is the app engages employees where and how they want to be engaged, using text, instant messaging or phone.
The app also helps to keep employees going over the long run, in programs and resources they would ordinarily not participate in. For example, if a member calls in with a question about their health, the customer service advocate uses that opportunity to connect them with a coach or nurse.
“We’re leveraging our technology and investing in our people and trying to engage and create a whole new health experience that’s just in time [for the consumer]," says Aguayo.
Instead of “dialing for dollars” outreach, which most vendors employ to reach as many people as possible, Anthem advocates let members know what’s available at the point in which they’re actually asking for it, when they call in for help on their own.
Aguayo points out that 27% of people Anthem is trying to outreach to and engage with will call customer service in next three to six months to ask a question. That’s a great opportunity to tell them about the resources, capabilities and incentives available.
“We look at every possible pathway to engage people,” says Aguayo, emphasizing the role that technology and, in particular, mobile outreach has in today’s workplace.
Target outreach with big data
Another wellness vendor, Healthstat, implements patient engagement and behavior modification outreach via its electronic health records system, Pro-change Behavior Systems. The behavior change technology and coaches can identify employees’ level of readiness to change their behavior as well as how to best engage them.
“It’s not enough to know their risk profile, you need to know where they’re at, mentally and emotionally, and their readiness to change,” says John Kaegi, chief corporate strategist of Healthstat, Inc.
The system derives information from e-clinical employee health records to channel employees toward healthy living by combining behavioral science and employees’ risk assessments.
On the provider side, the technology prompts the coaches or trained clinicians to ask their patient the right questions, based on the patient’s risk analysis and their readiness to change. They can also proactively reach out to clients before they visit the clinic.
“It’s a lot easier when you have all the information at hand...to change behaviors,” says Kaegi.
The health risk assessment survey includes questions on readiness to change along with their risk profile. Straightforward questions (and some indirect ones) help triangulate their information to gauge a patient’s consistency. The program also culls data from the employee’s biometric screening results so the coach knows their data, even if they fail to mention that they smoke or have a certain health issue.
For example, the survey may ask how many times they tried to diet in the last 12 months. If the individual is not mentally ready to change, they may not have dieted before or have just tried brief stints at losing weight.
The Pro-change Behavior System uses a trans-theoretical model on how people change health behaviors and what spurs them to change. Based on decades of research, this model asserts that people fall into five stages of behavior change: pre-contemplative, contemplative, preparation, action and maintenance.
Kaegi says that 80% of Americans are stuck between pre-contemplation mode, meaning they don’t think they need to change, and contemplation, which means they wish they could change, but don’t know how.
Based on this model, the Healthstat program uses a different approach than what doctors may use. If a morbidly obese person sees a doctor, that professional likely advises them to diet or they will suffer greater health risks and eventually die prematurely.
“Sharing information and warnings just doesn’t work with people who are in [high risk] categories. What does work is an understanding, listening and caring coach who can walk them through the change at their own pace,” says Kaegi. Doctors don’t have time for this type of approach, he adds.
If a pre-contemplative obese person is targeted by Healthstat’s process, their coaches suggest the individual schedule an appointment at the clinic by a certain date. If they don’t make an appointment, then the coach is prompted by the electronic health record. A trained coach calls the individual and convinces them, kindly and patiently, to go to an appointment the coach will schedule. Once at the clinic, their staff can treat patients for health complaints like a sore throat or ear infection and then spend the remainder of the 25 minute appointment helping them begin a journey of personal health.
For this program, the employer would need access to an onsite clinic or they could combine with other smaller employers who can’t afford an on-site clinic to participate in a near-site location.
Sharing biometrics online for social support
In their new platform, online wellness facilitator Keas combines a social media front end with biometric integration to offer employees a fun, social and supportive environment to improve their health while building camaraderie in the workplace. Companies such as The Cheesecake Factory, Pfizer and Salesforce.com are customers of the platform, which offers employees customized content specific to their individual health needs. Safeway and Target have recently signed on as well.
When not working or watching TV, adults spend a great deal of time on Facebook and other social media platforms. Keas has created a “Facebook for your health,” says CEO Josh Steven, where employees can share healthy meal ideas and exercise routines in an online community where their peers can like their posts and exchange comments. Comments bring people back into the platform, increasing engagement and making health a two-way street.
Participants can also join groups for challenges and goals as well as enter company-wide challenges to take more steps or eat more greens. Since the platform is fully integrated with quantifiable data from their personal measurement and accountability devices, such as FitBit bracelet trackers, employees can upload their results and receive actionable advice or feedback on how to achieve their daily fitness goals.
A longitudinal health profile that gives employees a basic overview of their individual well-being and health risks provides them with a visual representation of how they are improving their health over time. In addition, quizzes, challenges, weekly goal setting and healthy breaks will be tailored to address high risk issues such BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, and pre-diabetes. The platform sets small goals to teach users how to accomplish weekly objectives no matter where they are in their personal health journey.
“Give them information that they can use, that’s actionable and not too medical,” says Steven.
The program requires employees use their names because they behave better, says Steven, though he says those taking part have few qualms because “the tone and quality of participation is positive and encouraging."
While employees can share their biometric information (after agreeing to a pop-up that ensures they are fully aware of the risks sharing their private information), most people instead share examples of how they’re improving their health. For example, individuals will post, “how I reached over 12,000 steps a day” or “how I managed my stress.’”
"Users’ stories are not medical in nature, but they relate to medical conditions that carry high risk factors and drive up health care costs. We approach it from the ‘how to’ or a ‘what you can do’ approach, rather than from hard data," explains Steven.
All too often, a person with high risk factors will stop attending coaching sessions because they fail to do their homework. They feel guilty so they stop participating. This program, which can integrate coaching, suggests manageable and fun goals from which the participant chooses three each week.
"Tech has to be presented in a way that it's not technical. Employees don’t want to know about what tech is used; they want it to be easy, fun and social. We look at technology as an enabler and a tool that makes health fun and social and allows integrated data," says Steven.
Steven believes that the more people are social about their health, the more they can be proactive and make changes like improving their diet and exercising.
“When communicating with peers about losing weight, improving your diet or reversing metabolic screening rates, as long as you’re not alone and have colleagues to share with, collaborate and encourage you, that really drives behavior change,” he says.
Cloud-based HR revolutionizes employee engagement
Originally posted January 27, 2014 by Henry Albrecht on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
It’s undeniable – cloud-based technologies have fundamentally changed how businesses operate. As employers transition from on- to off-premise for HRIS, they are seeing increased productivity and profitability in the obvious ways: lower up-front costs, faster innovation, easier integration, and no nasty upgrade hassles. It’s quite possible, however, that a less-obvious HR cloud revolution may prove to be even more meaningful – one that is more about people and culture.
This revolution, led by firms who bring a consumer-like experience and an understanding of the value of social connections at work, is helping build employer brands, improve engagement, and increase productivity and profits. It is ushering collaboration, innovation, and transparency in new ways. Here are three ways this revolution can change company culture:
1. The cloud allows for employee-driven collaboration and innovation at a new scale. This is particularly powerful with new tools like Brainstorm, created by financial software company Intuit. Brainstorm fosters employee innovation by allowing employees around the world to collaborate on new ideas, from small changes in process to large-scale, innovative business ideas. First created to spark innovation and cross-team collaboration, the tool helped Intuit generate a 1,000% increase in documented new ideas and a 500% increase in innovation in only a few short years. Within this new frontier for employee engagement and innovation, HR teams can also now easily identify the most innovative employees and support their growth.
Since its development a few years ago, the tool has expanded as a way for Intuit to foster inter-company collaboration, such as solving shared problems between themselves and the Red Cross. And after a partner asked Intuit to license Brainstorm, the company realized how valuable the software could be for other enterprises. Now, companies like General Electric and Lockheed Martin are using the tool with great success.
2. The cloud increases executive visibility of employee happiness.Historically, layers of reporting and infrastructure hindered executive visibility of everything from finances, operations, and even employee satisfaction. While financial and operational reporting does exists, (albeit expensive and often on-premise due to security) gauging employee morale at regular and consistent intervals has proven to be much more difficult.
Cloud-based technologies now allow for a new layer of instant visibility and transparency. TINYhr, a Seattle-based company, createdTINYpulse to collect employee feedback in one-question (i.e., “tiny”) weekly surveys. The instant feedback gives company leaders a constant pulse on employee happiness, so they can quickly (and cost-effectively) identify major issues along with superstar employees who can lead morale.
3. The cloud elevates the social power of community. Traditional employee wellness programs have been limited to one-time biometric screenings, sporadic events, or one-to-one or one-to-many communications.Cloud-based solutions open the door for many-to-many connections, fostering broad, social employee engagement versus individual task completion. Gamification, points systems, and both individual and team challenges energize the experience while still addressing compliance-based elements. By tracking goals, issuing challenges, and aligning engagement, health, performance, culture, and talent strategies, cloud-based products and technologies help HR departments think bigger, build internal brands faster and reach new engagement heights.
As the cloud-based revolution unfolds and newer technologies come to market, it’s imperative for HR and executive teams to adopt tools that align with business goals and will actually be used. And while these tools allow for a new layer of transparency, they will shine a light in the darkest corners of your company. So be ready to act on what you learn. Democracy is floating on a cloud.
Co-worker relationships more important for employee engagement
Originally posted December 12, 2013 by Amanda McGrory-Dixon on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
When it comes to having an engaged workforce, who your employees work with — rather than who they report to — is an increasingly important factor, according to a recent survey.
The survey from TINYpulse reveals that relationships among co-workers are more responsible for their happiness than their managerial relationships by 23.3%. This finding is supported by a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Professionals, which shows that 79% of respondents in 2012 regarded their relationships with co-workers as important, up from 76% in 2011. The same SHRM survey also shows that the importance of their relationships with direct supervisors dropped from 73% in 2011 to 71% in 2012.
Among the most desirable traits of co-workers are team play and collaboration, 44.3% of respondents say. Meanwhile, knowledge, skills and talent are considered the top traits of co-workers by only 26.4% of respondents.
"This shows that who you work with is becoming more important than who you work for,” says David Niu, founder and CEO of TINYpulse, which conducted the survey. “We often think of employee happiness and satisfaction as being manager-driven, but now as the workplace becomes more cross-matrixed, collaborative and ‘bottom-up,’ the importance of co-worker relationships continues to grow."
But the leading driver of employee engagement is management transparency, according to the survey.
"Not only are capital markets demanding transparency, employees want the same from their leadership,” says Niu. “The cost of improving transparency is almost zero, and we are seeing an increasing number of companies using transparency as an advantage when attracting and retaining top talent."
The survey findings suggest that organizations must focus on management transparency and recruiting more collaborative employees if they expect to keep employees engaged. Many respondents, however, are already practicing transparency as 82% say their managers have openly communicated their roles and responsibilities. Still, just 42% of respondents report knowing their organizations’ visions, missions and values.
The survey included more than 40,000 responses from 300 organizations.