Research by leading workplace wellbeing expert, Groov, highlights that employers are falling short with wellbeing support, driving team burn out and fuelling the great resignation
Over a third (37%) of workers think about leaving their workplace at least once a week. With talent retention top of mind for business leaders amid an ongoing critical skills shortage in Australia, research from workplace wellbeing platform Groov (formerly Mentemia), has revealed a worrying trend among workers with one in five (20%) stating that they do not feel that their employer supports their overall wellbeing.
The research conducted in early March, surveyed over 1,240 Australians and New Zealanders, to reveal a startling link between wellbeing support at work and employee retention. Of those feeling unsupported, almost three in five (55%) had considered leaving the company at least several times a week.
An astonishing 36% noted that they had thought about quitting most days. This is in clear contrast to the loyalty of respondents who do feel supported at work, with this figure dropping to just 6%. This points to a concerning gap in business focus, that is driving employees to reconsider how valued they are in their current employment.
Adam Clark, Co-Founder and CEO of Groov says the pandemic of the last two plus years coupled with the ongoing growth in millennials and younger people in workplaces has seen a re-prioritisation for employees.
“Money is an important factor, but what we now know is that people want to feel valued, cared for and treated with dignity. If workforces don’t provide this then they are losing people, and it is the top performers and high potentials that leave first.” .
“The link is clear, if you take the time to properly bake wellbeing into the workplace, the current issues around talent retention, recruitment, stress and burnout will hugely decrease or disappear,” states Sir John Kirwan, co-founder of the Groov workplace wellbeing platform.
“Because you’re taking the time to show your people you care about them and value them, it makes all the difference in this current climate.”
Kirwan says companies partnering with Groov like CISCO, NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Fletcher Building Australia are clearly prioritising a wellbeing culture to support employee’s mental wellbeing.
“Businesses wanted to step up to show their employees they are serious about prioritising health and wellbeing – the challenge was to do it well and create sustained, positive change.”
Kirwan and behavioural change expert, Dr Fiona Crichton, who leads the Groov clinical team, visited numerous companies to talk to thousands of workers and leaders about what they needed, and the challenges facing them.
“Businesses told us they wanted to support their employees but at the same time, what was clear is that burnout is a real concern and retaining staff is increasingly challenging – that’s where prioritising mental wellbeing is key,” said Dr Crichton.
“We developed Groov in response to their needs. It’s a platform that makes mental wellbeing easy to consume and deliver across an organisation. The focus is on feeling good and functioning well to help the organisation, leaders and workers move into the ways of wellbeing, and then understand how to keep wellbeing going.
Dr Crichton says the challenge for most employers is putting a company-wide mental wellbeing programme in place that meets all employee’s needs while ensuring it is sustainable for the long term.
“It’s difficult for a leader to know what to do because everyone experiences mental wellbeing differently and everyone requires different support to improve their mental health.”
Using a step-by-step guide called the Embed Playbook, the Groov platform is implemented across three levels within an employer – at an organisational, leadership and individual level to “Embed” wellbeing into the culture of the organisation.
The unique Groov approach enables companies of all sizes to tailor a mental wellbeing programme that meets both their organisations and employees’ needs.
Rita Slogrove, Learning & Organisational Development Manager at Fletcher Building Australia commented on the success the business has already had with Groov, noting, “We’re at year three of a culture change journey. Given the industry we are in, typically a big proportion of our people don’t like to talk about their feelings or mental health, and we really wanted to change that. 2020 obviously catapulted us into doing something urgently.
“We’ve noticed a huge increase in conversation, people are talking and feeling brave enough to support each other to do so. Through Groov we have provided them with tools around how to have a difficult conversation with someone, how to ask if they are ok and how to support someone to get help. I am excited about where we’ve got to as an organisation already with this and eager to see it develop further.”
Dave Wilson, Managing Director – IoT Global Sales for CISCO, backs this thinking and following a hugely successful rollout of Groov across Australia and New Zealand, is extending Groov to more than a quarter of the company’s 20,000 global sales team – a profession well known for high levels of stress.
He comments “Our team’s performance is out of this world – we’ve had 18 consecutive quarters of growth – and we have one of the lowest attrition rates in the company and in the wider sales and IT industries, sitting at around two percent. That is not by chance. It’s very clear that our results are directly linked to our commitment to developing our people, looking after our people and creating an environment where they feel valued. Business used to talk about well-being impacting performance and were always pretty sure that results would follow, well we’re on the other side of that journey and I can say that results did follow.
“Groov enables us to look after and support people’s wellbeing and create an environment for them to be brave and be themselves – that’s when you get true innovation.”
The workplaces rolling out the Embed program by Groov are showing significant improvements, with employee data for “my workplace cares about my wellbeing” improving, along with up to 20% increases in individual wellbeing under the six pillars which underpin the approach by Groov.
Specifically after engaging with Groov in the workplace, there was also a large increase in employees who said they congratulated themselves when they did something well, found it easier to focus on the present moment and learned new things often or everyday.
Adam Clark added. “What have we found is the biggest predictor of improvement? Leaders leading by example, being vulnerable, creating a place where their people can be themselves and be at their best.”
“It is really exciting for us to see leading executives recognising wellbeing as something that is not only important, but is being approached with urgency. A culture that provides for great wellbeing is the successful organisational culture of the future. The best people, finding their Groov”
Wellbeing drives business success
Dr Crichton says the benefit of a deeply embedded mental wellbeing framework in a company has many business benefits including retaining and motivating your best staff, attracting top talent, increasing profitability and productivity, and inspiring creativity and innovation. And who doesn’t think a more well person provides better outcomes for customers?
“People are speaking up more than ever before about the importance of mental wellbeing in the workplace. There is a generation who want balance in their life and wellbeing to be a priority for their employers, or quite literally, they’ll be out the door to somewhere that does.”