We live in an age where our people are deeply valued, yet we overwhelm them with non-stop demands feeding their ongoing sense of overwhelm. So, what are we doing to solve this problem?
Today’s organizations are trying to provide more health and well-being programs than ever with the corporate wellness industry totaling $50 Billion last year and growing rapidly. While employee well-being is a prominent focus for many leaders today, with companies providing programs such concierge services and yoga, not much is being done to help the root causes of lack of well-being and ongoing stress.
This stress is magnified at the management levels (top 30% of an organization) as the demands and complexity of their roles continue to increase. These valuable and influential leaders direct the effort that is expended every day in every organization. Yet too often, leaders and managers are operating in reactive mode with demands and deadlines from all directions. It is a challenge to focus through the noise and often feels like a job that is never done. This is a major contributor to stress at work leading to many of the health issues we experience.
It is vital that organizations address some of the root causes of stress, such as lack of clarity and lack of focus at the collective and individual levels. Building an organization where there is an ongoing collective commitment to identifying, connecting to and focusing on what matters most will get to the heart of solving this pervasive problem. We must give clear direction and support a culture where every leader and manager is empowered to make the choices necessary to focus on the essential. This focus and clarity will contribute significantly to decreasing stress at work. Doing this consistently, across an entire organization, will create one of the greatest well-being programs you can imagine!
Read Fortune’s CEO Daily newsletter CEO Daily newsletter. highlighting the importance that CEO’s must place on this critical issue. It reinforces the fact that employee wellness cannot be outsourced to HR. It must be an integrated priority for all leaders across an organization.
