Tower’s Watson is an American professional services firm which specializes in employee benefits and HR consulting. Its Global Workforce Study 2012 has several key findings which I found to be extremely relevant in the context of wellness in the workplace.
Firstly, the study emphasizes that “engagement” is critical for drawing out discretionary effort from employees. (Discretionary effort is the level of effort that employees could give if they wanted to, which is above and beyond the minimum required.) However, the report shows that efforts by companies to improve employee engagement are “beginning to fall short.” If companies are not proactively and continuously working to address the deeper needs of its employees, these companies will find it more and more difficult to retain key staff, attract new staff, or simply get staff to show up and work and be productive throughout the entire workday.
Secondly, the Global Workforce Study 2012 identifies gaps in the traditional engagement model. The first gap is enabling workers with internal support, resources and tools. The second gap is particularly relevant for workplace wellness. It suggests that companies should create an environment that is energizing to work in because it promotes physical, emotional and social wellbeing. It then goes on to state that “In such an environment, you can see and feel the pulse of activity — the intense discussions, lively video- or phone conferences, the groups working a project plan on an online whiteboard in real time. There’s stress, but it’s often what we call positive stress because it’s intellectually and emotionally rewarding and exciting.” At ALMA Wellness, we believe in the same philosophy. Only with physical, mental and emotional wellbeing can we achieve peak performance.
Click here to download the Towers Watson Global Workforce Study 2012.
Also check out our blog articles specifically targeted to workplace wellness.