Generally, productivity in the workplace is defined as output, deadlines, and performance dashboards. However, many organizations do not calculate the true cost of poor employee health. These losses, though not typically visible in reports, impact productivity through lost efficiencies, lack of focus, lack of engagement, and lack of long-term growth.
As jobs involve more screen time, and are becoming increasingly mentally taxing, employee health and wellness issues are not soft issues but instead should be viewed as a serious business matter.
The Silent Productivity Drain –
When companies allow for poor employee health, it is not a sudden drop in productivity; rather, productivity erodes gradually and is attributed to everyday scenarios, including but not limited to:
- Poor focus and mental clarity
- Ongoing tiredness / low energy
- Back or other physical discomfort from prolonged sitting
- Emotional imbalance / loss of engagement
- Increasing error rate / length of time to complete a task.
In our workplaces today, perhaps the most significant issue that is underestimated is presenteeism – employees who are at work but are not achieving their full potential due to physical and/or mental stress. Therefore, the employee ultimately loses productivity and the company never measures this loss.
Why Do Companies Not Measure These Losses?
Most businesses track absenteeism, turnover and performance. However, very few track or monitor any early indicator of how well they’re maintaining the effectiveness and productivity of its employees, including:
- Diminished Concentration
- Poor Posture and/or recurring physical discomfort
- Cognitive Overload / Emotional Exhaustion
- Decreased Participation / Motivation
Because of the nature of these items, many organizations do not track them and as such will often view them as unimportant and therefore may not be accurate or in alignment with their productivity goals.
Long-Term Implications for Your Business –
Failing to take care of employee health will only add to your organization’s bottom line due to compounding effects of the following:
- Increased health care and replacement costs due to higher volume of sick leaves and turnover
- Decreased employee retention
- Lower morale of team members
- Less effective leadership
- A weakened company culture
In the end, it will cost you significantly more to replace someone than it would to prevent them from burning out in the first place. However, while most companies will invest heavily in tools and systems, they often overlook the people using these products and services.
Corporate Wellness as a Performance Improvement Strategy –
Today, many organizations understand that they should be thinking about the corporate wellness program they offer their employees not as an employee benefit but rather as an employee productivity improvement method.
To achieve this, a successful wellness program will have the following areas of focus:
- Alignment of physical balance with postural correction
- Finding ways to regulate energy throughout the working day
- Establishing mental clarity & emotional stability
- Sustaining work habits needed
When employees have good levels of balance at work, there will be more regular and consistent productivity, rather than going through productive cycles.
Role of Structured Wellness & Meditation Programs –
The constant demands made by the modern working environment on an employee’s attention, posture, and mental stamina, create an increase in the potential for burnout. Mind body practices like yoga, breathwork, and meditation can aid employees to successfully restore balance to their bodies and minds, naturally, through alternative means to that of medication.
Organizations like Shivoham Shiv play an integral role in this situation. Shivoham Shiv is a holistic wellness organization that provides structured wellness and learning programs, specifically tailored for individuals, teams, as well as organizations.
By way of structured online guided sessions and professional health framework systems, Shivoham Shiv is able to provide:
- A Corporate Wellness Program designed to meet the needs of the organization
- Acquiring mind body techniques to help employees work more effectively/efficiently.
These programs aim to be a natural extension of employees’ daily work processes, allowing for an increase in focus, emotional stability and overall wellness.
The Benefits of Investing in Your Employees’ Wellness –
When employees are healthy, they will not only produce more but perform at higher levels as well. Organizations that focus on promoting wellness for their employees will see the following benefits:
- Improved productivity and focus.
- Higher levels of engagement and accountability.
- Stronger collaboration and communication with one another.
- Greater resilience in times of change.
All of these benefits have a direct relationship to performance, retention and success of the organization over time.
Concluding Remarks –
Although the overall cost of not supporting the health of your employees is not always easy to quantify, it shows up daily through lowered productivity, lack of employee engagement, and lost opportunity costs.
Business will move to a point where organizations can go beyond just reactively solving problems to being able to sustain their business through the use of corporate wellness programs and the partnerships formed with companies such as Shivoham Shiv.
As a result, when employee’s health is being supported, productivity will occur as a natural byproduct.