“Our understanding of what it means to create and sustain value is shifting, We’re beginning to see how economic value is fundamentally intertwined with employee well-being and quality of life, and that’s why human sustainability should be at the top of every corporate agenda.” - Paul Silverglate, U.S. Executive Accelerators leader and technology sector vice chair, Deloitte LLP
60% of employees shared that they are seriously considering quitting for a job that would better ... [+]
A majority of people — 60% of employees, 64% of managers, and 75% of the C-suite — shared that they are seriously considering quitting for a job that would better support their well-being. Employers need to know that employees at all levels will quit unsustainable jobs! Yet, while 89% of the C-suite think their company is improving sustainability, just 41% of employees agree. These findings are based on a March 2023 survey, conducted by Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, of 3,100 employees, managers and C-level executives across the U.S., U.k., Canada and Australia.
Unfortunately, work itself is cited as an obstacle to employee well-being. 80% of survey respondents name a heavy workload and job stress as the top obstacles to improving their well-being. 70% of managers surveyed feel like they lack the organizational support to help – culprits include a heavy workload for themselves, as well as rigid company policies and an unsupportive workplace culture. Only 42% of managers surveyed feel completely empowered to help their company achieve its well-being goals.
Furthermore, there is a disconnect between leadership and the workforce. Around 67% of employees felt their health worsened or stayed the same in the last year, but 75% of the C-suite thought employee health had improved. There is also a disconnect between leadership intent and action: 85% of the C-suite say companies should be required to publicly report their workforce well-being metrics, but only around 50% actually report it.
Employee well-being is so important that people at all levels may quit their job to preserve it. Until companies catch up with more support, you need to make work sustainable for yourself, and if you’re a manager, for your team. Here are four steps to take now if you’re overworked and stressed on the job:
1 – Get everything off your mind and onto a list
You may already have a list for work and a list for home. However, you need a master list that includes both because you are one person and need to know the totality of what you’re up against. The master list should also include ideas that occur to you about things you’d like to do or that should get done. These thoughts, even if not fully fleshed out, belong on the list until you decide the next step (and then they become part of your work or home to do list) or you decide not to do these things. As long as you are thinking about something, that item is taking your energy and needs to be called out on the master list and handled.
2 – Do this 10-20-50 exercise to get creative about time
Once you see everything in place that you’d like to get done, prioritize, schedule or delete each item. Really assess if your list includes work that matters. You may still have a long list that seemingly takes up more time than you have. The 10-20-50 exercise is to outline a plan to complete every item on your list working at 10%, 20% or 50% less time than you are working now. So if you typically work 40 hours, imagine a 36, 32 or 20 hour workweek and what would need to happen to still do everything on that list. The point isn’t to try and negotiate a 20-hour workweek! But instead to stretch your imagination about what drastic steps you could take. For example, you might have to reduce your weekly team meeting by 50% or to every other week. Your 1:1’s could similarly be reduced or perhaps combined with your daily walk. At home, your cooking time could be reduced with a meal kit delivery service.
3 — Enroll your manager’s help (and household help) to introduce changes
Once you do the 10-20-50 exercise, you may discover different ways of working that you’d like to introduce – e.g., a new approach to meetings. Sync up with your manager because they may have additional or different ideas. This is a good time to confirm that all the things you think are so important are actually important to your manager – you may be able to delete things or delegate things to someone on your team if they are not critical for you but a good learning experience for them. This meeting is about planning for the future and separate from any performance review or other official meeting with your manager. (That said, you should always be prepared for performance reviews – use this checklist!).
On the household front, you also want to get everyone you live with on board to ensure that everyone shares the some priorities and responsibilities are distributed equitably. With both your manager and your household, you may have to ask for what you want rather than assume they will offer assistance eventually.
4 — Build a habit of rest
Rolling out changes to your to do list and your schedule can take time. In the meantime, build your capacity for resting. You might argue there’s too much work to have time to rest, but work typically takes up as much room as you give it, so just try — as an experiment — to consciously give work less time and give rest more time on your calendar. This makes rest a habit, a part of the routine, and not something for a special occasion. On a daily basis, this can mean setting a timer every hour or so to get up and stretch, drink a glass of water or simply turn your eyes away from the digital screen. On a weekly basis, pick at least one day where you take a full lunch. (You can use this time for networking!) On a longer-term basis, put in for future vacation days now so they’re in your calendar. You’ll have that much more time to get excited!
