Since the question of workplace well-being is of particular concern to us, we attended a breakfast meeting featuring presentations by the founders of We Hobby and Bloom at Work, two start-ups specializing in well-being.
Meditation, theater, corporate sports: gimmick or performance driver?
The morning’s first question: what is meditation? Indeed, we often tend to confuse meditation with relaxation or yoga. Yet meditation has no intention, unlike other exercises. It is simply a practice of presence.
On paper, it looks great, but a question remains. So, a fundamental trend or merely a fad? In reality, the issue of workplace well-being is somewhat both. On one hand, there’s a “corporate trend” effect, just like table football or coffee corners, but we also notice that it’s part of a deeper trend. We see that people are very sensitive to their well-being, with the growing popularity of alternative medicine and the ever-increasing number of specialized books.
So, what exactly is workplace well-being?
Today, we can see that much more attention is being paid to working better than to working more. And moving in this direction, companies have realized that the best teams are those that work best together and get along best. Meditation can help create bonds between members of the same group, since it is first and foremost a collective activity, and we connect more easily with others when we are connected to ourselves.
We must be aware that there is not just one vision of well-being. The first step is therefore to define the one that best suits the company. Well-being is indeed a very subjective and personal vision.
But it is nonetheless essential, particularly for the new generation. According to an Ipsos study from 2016, 84% of millennials rank well-being as criterion number one in choosing a company. Salary, on the other hand, is important to only 46% of them.
Is workplace well-being a threat to the company?
Following the Ipsos study, companies understand that they risk losing their talent. Moreover, 1 in 2 young people say they would prefer to start their own business rather than join a large corporation.
But it is up to them to seize this opportunity to put in place systems that increase employee well-being. Because while well-being is good for personal health, it is also beneficial for company health. Workplace well-being actually increases productivity by approximately 43% and reduces turnover rates, as well as reducing absenteeism. This virtuous cycle then becomes a lever for value creation. Investing in well-being also improves recruitment.
How can companies implement sustainable and effective solutions?
Companies must therefore develop new habits. People should be able to work where and when they want, as much as possible.
Managers must also participate in activities provided in this framework. Yet often, while they are willing to propose them to employees, they do not wish to participate alongside them, preferring to do them with other managers. This divide produces the opposite effect of the one originally intended. Furthermore, when managers are involved, we notice that employees are all the more so.
In some large groups, when these solutions are implemented, it is important for the boss to speak directly to his employees.
But we must keep in mind that implementing these solutions takes time, and results are not immediately visible. Moreover, we remain fundamentally human, so not everything is necessarily quantifiable.
The main thing is that in this story, everyone wins!