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The need for employers to ensure their employees’ well-being in and outside the workplace has always been there. Amid the ongoing pandemic, which has had varying levels of physical and mental health implications on everyone, this need has become even more prevalent.
To delve into how different employers have been handling this issue, let’s take a look at the findings of a survey conducted by workplace culture research firm Comparably.
The survey, which seeks to explore the well-being of employees in different organizations, found tech firm Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM, ZM:US) to be the best employer with respect to how happy its staff was. Other tech giants like Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, AAPL:US), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG, GOOG:US) and Microsoft Corporation (NYSE:MSFT, MSFT:US) also made it to the top 10 of the list.
Copyright © 2021 Kalkine Media
Eric Yuan, the founder of California-based Zoom Communications, has had his own brush with burnout. In a 2019 interview, Yuan confessed that before starting his own business, when he himself was an employee, he was quite unhappy doing what he was doing. So much so that there were time when he did not feel like turning up for work. Perhaps that is one of the reasons behind his venture being extra mindful about the happiness of its employees.
The survey had some rather interesting questions for the participants, exploring the issues of work environment positivity, burnout, enjoying daily work, etc.
Such questions help delve into the importance of having a healthy and happy workspace, where most adults spend a lion’s share of their day.
Enabling policies for employee well-being
Some large companies are deploying resources to make mental health services more accessible to employees. While that is a good start that should be explored by smaller firms as well, some easier measures to help boost employee happiness could be:
- Swappable holidays- where employees can choose to work on a certain government holiday and take that leave some other time as per their convenience.
- Flexible work hours- while most corporate organizations impose shifts of eight to nine hours at a stretch, there can be a policy where employees can pick their suitable time frame to accommodate their shifts.
- Better management of work-from-home regimes- we now live in times where a large number of people are forced to work from home. In other words, we quite literally bring our work home. To avoid the overlap of home and work lives, employers can help with limiting work timings and pressure.
Employers are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that looking after their employees’ well-being and happiness can in turn benefit the company at large in terms of productivity, longevity and loyalty. If more companies step up to the challenge and take measures accordingly, statistics of work-related mental and physical illnesses could see a much-needed decline.
