As a CEO, Ashley felt that she and her team have worked hard to deliver the best for their clients and communities. While Ashley focuses on fulfilling the company’s mission and client’s satisfaction, generating profit above sales, she noticed that her employees behave differently. After having a conversation with some of the employees, she realised that there is a prolonged problem that decreases employees’ motivation to work. Thus, instead of thriving with the company, Ashley’s subordinates are struggling alone.
There are a few reasons why employees’ performance decreases and why they are striving with their job instead of thriving. According to Gallup review, there are four risks found in a group of employees who are not thriving, including burnout (61 percent), stress of the day yesterday (48 percent), worry of the day yesterday (66 percent), as well as double the rate of sadness and anger of the day yesterday. Ignoring or unable to address this issue would negatively affect both employers and the company’s development because engaged employees who are not thriving are much more vulnerable and add risk to organisations.
See also: IQ vs. EQ: Which One to Focus on Employee Development?
Given the importance of a thriving state for employees, HR and leaders should be able to help address this critical problem. Helping employees to thrive instead of struggling could reverse the negative effects. But how can HR and leaders help employees to thrive with their company? Here are some effective ways:
Remember about Ashely? She was working hard with her team to achieve the company’s mission and yet, Ashley ends up putting aside her own team’s wellbeing. When having a two-way conversation, Ashley began to understand the state of their employees, thus she could find a better way to address the issue. That is what a good leader does: know the core problem, then focus on the solution while supporting each other.
A leader and a team are meant to support each other. One cannot move the ladder alone because it might destroy the balance. Based on Gallup review, helping employees thriving is by supporting them, establishing trust and making them open to wellbeing efforts.
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman, in a conversation with TED business curator Corey Hajim, mentioned that 65 percent of PayPal customer-service and entry-level employees reported they were frequently running out of money between paydays. As a result, they had to make difficult trade-offs in educating their kids, paying for healthcare, and planning for the long term.
Especially in uncertain times like today, financial problems are likely the first driver why employees are struggling, sad, and angry with their situation. That being said, it will be wiser for HR or leaders to create a program that could help with financial education, such as provide an advisor or watercooler session where each member could talk and give advice about finance to each other.
Read also: How to Help Employees Who Hate Making Benefit Decisions
