Does wellbeing impact our productivity and efficiency at work?
What if, our co-workers, employees, managers would have a better wellbeing at workplace?
What if, it could help the productivity and efficiency?
What if, we could influence it?
I am a strong believer of people. People (or employees at work) who can drive the change, who can come up with new ideas and deliver the results. Who are the faces of the companies (let it be a start up or an Ltd.) and drivers of the machine. If you agree with me, you might wonder as well how the productivity and efficiency could be developed for better growth without having a negative impact on people (e.g.: overtime, stress, etc.).
As a people manager and life coach, I always find it important to look after my team’s and individuals’ wellbeing and identify the obstacles, challenges at work, focusing on work-life balance as well as recognising and celebrating the successes.
The last nearly two years might have been challenging for most of us and our wellbeing could have seen the consequences of it. If we look at the ONS (Office for National Statistics) data in the UK, we can find the following statistics:
- ‘Personal well-being in the UK during pandemic is among the lowest levels since 2011 (10y period)
- Quarter 4 2020, average ratings for happiness at the UK level fell to among the lowest scores in a decade (7.23 out of 10); anxiety rose to 3.43 out of 10
- Quarter 1 2021, anxiety fell by 0.20 points to 3.23. Those reporting “very low” anxiety rose by 2.9 percentage points, while respondents with “medium” and “high” levels of anxiety declined by 1.4 and 2.0 percentage points, respectively.
- Quarter 2 2021, a “bounce-back” from the downturn of Quarter 4 2020 was seen in all personal well-being measures. Life satisfaction, feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, and happiness all increased (by 0.27 points to 7.55, 0.11 points to 7.78 and by 0.26 points to 7.52, respectively). Anxiety continued to steeply decline, falling by 0.19 points to 3.04.’ *
Based on the above I was curious to see how our happiness and wellbeing can influence our productivity and efficiency at work, so I have decided to start an experiment where my hypothesis was that by ‘looking after’ each other and focusing on employees’ wellbeing via 121 coaching, power emails and articles, we could lead to greater productivity and positive business impact.
The design of this POC (proof of concept) was the following:
- 2 groups of 5 account managers each with similar portfolio
- A group: BAU (business as usual), only received one survey per week to measure their wellbeing with 10 questions.
- B group: Coached on weekly basis and offered one touchpoint a week (121 coaching session) with survey on wellbeing (same as group A) + articles/emails to support positivity and motivation.
I was looking at four different measurements to identify the success of the experiment (both that could relate to business as well as personal wellbeing. They were the following:
- Business impact (min 10%) – NRN (net room night) growth
- Overall quarterly KPI results
- Survey results – increased wellbeing score by min. 5% vs. A group
- Overall feedback – Would the participants recommend this program?
After a period of a total 9 weeks (6 weeks active and 3 weeks inactive), I have found the following results:
- Business impact
- B group saw an +17% business increase in NRNs vs. A group which is definitely a positive signal
- Overall KPI results
- Two account managers out of five overachieved some of their KPIs and were called out as best account managers within EMEA region
- 2 out of 4 KPIs show 0.4pp more compared to A group
- Survey results
- Both A and B groups have started with an average of 7 (out of 10 – 1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest) happiness and wellbeing score
- While A group dropped to 6.5 average score at the end of the POC, B group has increased their score by an average 8.3
- B group has achieved a 100% work-life balance by the 7th week and 100% motivation toward their work
- Overall Feedback – all participants would recommend this program 100% as it helped them to ‘believe more in themselves’, ‘start working on a solution’, ‘helps to align your priorities and goals’, ‘talk openly’ and ‘know how to begin developing’.
According to the data and results the hypothesis was proved.
To answer the question in the title, it is a big YES. 😊 By paying attention to our co-workers’ and our wellbeing, we can focus better (be in the flow) and increase our productivity and happiness not only at work, but outside of the working environment as well.
Source: *UK statistics: https://www.ons.gov.uk