Well-being at work - a guarantee for success

Success and satisfaction through happy employees. Not only the absence of illness, but also mental and social conditions influence well-being. Why mental health is relevant and how you can improve the well-being of employees, you will learn in this blog post.

A person's well-being encompasses their general satisfaction with life and its impact on our everyday lives. Physical health, social circumstances and mental well-being play a central role in this. Giving your best, the fit between employee and employer, as well as a degree of personal responsibility are elements that are summarized under career-related well-being. In our article, we give you tips on how you can increase and promote the well-being of your employees in the workplace.

An increase in well-being in the workplace goes hand in hand with greater motivation and performance, which in turn promotes commitment and employees stay with the company for longer. This minimizes sick days and absences and maximizes productivity, which has a revenue-increasing effect on the company. If employees' own needs can be reconciled with the demands of the outside world, this can have a positive impact on their subjective well-being. The employer can play a decisive role in this. The American Psychological Association defines factors that can significantly influence the well-being of employees. According to this, in addition to health, safety and recognition, work-life balance has a positive effect on satisfaction. The motivation of employees to actively contribute to the development of the company is summarized under the term employee engagement and also contributes to an increase in well-being within the company.

Modernization and digitalization bring many advantages, but also lead to stress and excessive demands due to the feeling of constant availability. Stress in the workplace is promoted by other factors such as time pressure, qualitative overload or job insecurity. On the other hand, there are factors such as appreciation or the manager's leadership style, which maintain psychological well-being. If stressors and resources cannot be balanced and persist over a longer period of time, this can lead to physical and mental difficulties. This in turn can have an impact on the general quality of life.

Well-being in the workplace can be increased through certain measures. An important factor is the appreciation of the line manager. Managers should be trained to convey to their employees in an appropriate manner the feeling that their own work is recognized and important. Not only sincere feedback or praise during the meeting, but also the role model function of the boss should not be underestimated. The management style plays a decisive role here. A manager with the ability to put themselves in another person's shoes will find it easier to recognize and react to overload and stress in their employees. Employees who feel noticed are more likely to be intrinsically motivated. In other words, they don't just work towards a goal because there is a reward at the end, but work on their own initiative. In our blog post "Empathy for managers" we discussed this leadership behavior in more detail.

The well-being of individual employees can be determined from time to time using various questionnaires. The question "How do you feel today?" alone can have a considerable effect. Employees also want to participate and be given a certain amount of freedom to realize their own ideas. Communication should not be underestimated in this report. Problems should be addressed in good time and taken seriously. As managers do not necessarily have to have the highest qualifications, it can be useful to allow employees to have a say in certain decisions (see blog post Agile Leadership).

If it is difficult to maintain mental well-being, internal company health management should be looked at. When the working atmosphere is right, employees are motivated and therefore more productive. Managers can also have a strong influence on this, as it is part of their job to adapt the corporate culture to constant change. You can find out more about this topic in our blog post "Corporate culture as a success factor". (Blog post Corporate culture as a success factor).

In addition to promoting occupational safety and health protection by reducing safety risks and accidents at work, workplace health promotion should also be actively organized. According to a study by Health Promotion Switzerland, around 75% of companies in Switzerland implement such measures. However, there is still a deficit in the area of raising awareness of stress and mental health. For this reason, employees should pause from time to time during work and plan in relaxation to do something good for their psychological and other health.

In conclusion, it can be said that the well-being of employees in the workplace is important for both employees and the company. Happy employees are intrinsically motivated, work more efficiently and therefore increase their productivity. Management can have a positive influence by valuing their employees, creating good working conditions, offering training opportunities and communicating clearly. Relaxation rooms can also be provided for breaks, individual benefits can be offered and team development can be promoted.

At Batterman Consulting, we integrate the team and well-being in the workplace into every project. For us, the atmosphere and the team in the workplace are just as important in selecting the right candidate as certain key data in the CV. Are you looking for a new employee to relieve your team or would you like to develop your career? Then get in touch with us!