A new Gallup report on wellbeing in the workplace proves that how employees relate to each other is ... [+]
Quiet quitting is the business media buzzword of the moment. Impending recession is keeping executives up at night. Does that mean investing in people or preparing for layoffs? HR executives must be getting a serious case of workforce-planning whiplash.
First, quiet quitting, which I’ve noted is really just another term for disengagement: Consultants offer a range of antidotes, mostly top-down solutions like charitable campaigns or more workplace amenities. Yet they ignore the most powerful remedy for disengagement: promoting wellbeing at work.
A new Gallup report with Workhuman on wellbeing in the workplace proves that how employees relate to each other is crucial to both performance and retention. Among its findings: employees who lack a sense of belonging are up to 12 times as likely to be disengaged and five times as likely to be looking for another job. Without social connections, they are also far more likely to have a negative outlook on work, life, and the future. Gallup’s stark assertion: these people are suffering.
The cost of neglecting wellbeing is just as stark with a whopping $20 million of opportunity loss for every 10,000 workers, due to low wellbeing’s drain on performance. Employees get it: Deloitte found that “Improving Worker Wellbeing” was a top outcome they wanted from work transformation efforts.[i]
And yet a dangerous disconnect persists. Sixty-five percent of CHROs tell Gallup their organization cares about employee wellbeing, while only 24% of their employees say the same.
How to create connection
The question is how to make wellbeing a grassroots part of daily work life. The answer is nothing less than a cultural transformation toward a more human workplace. People create a community when they have the means to connect, which is not always easy in today’s dynamic mix of on-site, remote, hybrid, and changing work arrangements.
Gallup studied more than 12,000 employees across 12 countries and found that social recognition creates social connection. When employees recognize one another’s contributions, values, effort, and other positive qualities, wellbeing shoots up. Emotional positivity and gratitude increase. When recognition is an important part of an organization’s culture, employees report they are seven times as likely to strongly agree they have meaningful connections or a best friend at work. For years, Gallup has found connection is the best predictor of engagement.
What if there’s a recession?
Business leaders are concerned about the possibility of recession due to rising interest rates.
The standard executive reaction is to hunker down with a hiring freeze or cutting HR budgets. But like so much in this post-2020 economy, underlying forces are creating atypical behavior such as “labor hoarding.” Employers are finding ways to hold onto people even if business activity slows, because the memory of labor shortages from 2020-2022 are still fresh.
If your downturn survival option is limited to cutting numbers, you are setting up for another round of talent shortages when the economy picks up again. If a recession is mild, as most business leaders today predict, you’ll be at a disadvantage when the economy snaps back.
Leaders who support a culture of wellbeing throughout the business cycle strengthen the organization. Even in a downturn, devoting just 1 percent of payroll to a recognition program means employees lift each other’s spirits. Especially during challenging times, gratitude builds resilience and shields employees from burnout.
Gallup found that “Employees who say they experienced a lot of gratitude the previous day are up to four times as likely to strongly agree that their organization cares about their wellbeing and up two times as likely to be thriving in their overall life evaluation.”
The only way to win the outmoded game of “employer vs. employee” thinking is not to play. Gallup’s study once again demonstrates that the game to play today is one in which everyone contributes to a more human, caring, focused, and engaged culture.
[i] Deloitte 2021 Global Human Capital Trends Survey
