Michelle Bakjac* looks at a report on how working in a pandemic has affected Australians over the past year.
I recently reviewed the results of the Employment Hero’s Wellness at Work Report 2021 which states that last year burnout evolved into a new beast.
Under the prolonged stress of the pandemic, this began seeping into all our lives to varying extents.
Burnout became ubiquitous with the new human experience.
As we head into the second half of 2021, with futures that continue to remain unclear, wellness for many seems to remain more evasive than ever.
When there are so many factors at play, how can we hit refresh on what it means to be well?
We know that wellness and burnout are two of the most influential factors shaping the employee experience.
These factors are interconnected, not just to each other but also to productivity, workplace interaction and how employees feel about their workplaces.
The report surveyed more than 1,400 Aussies in early January 2021, exploring their current wellness status.
The results showed we are actually a bloody resilient lot, but it also illuminated some unexpected patterns of experiences and opinions which can point to some clear solutions/opportunities.
Data shows that an employee’s experience of work-life balance, productivity and burnout are strongly connected.
A sad and yet predictable finding is that workers with poor work-life balance were 67 per cent more likely to feel burnout from their work.
It’s actually easy to imagine.
A typical employee with no work-life balance, working all day, finding themselves the last one in the office, work seeping into their weekend, all while their physical and mental health suffers.
When you consider this employee, they probably seem very productive; after all they are tied to their computer — however, the data tells us the opposite.
Those with a poor sense of work-life balance were a staggering 174 per cent more likely to experience low levels of productivity.
All that desk time and exhaustion is not adding up to an increased quality or quantity of work — in fact, exactly the opposite.
Poor work-life balance not only indicates an increase in stress burnout, it also erodes productivity.
The need to show complete dedication by working all the time just doesn’t make sense on an individual wellness level or a business objective level.
It’s interesting that one of society’s favourite quotes is: “Love what you do, and you will never work a day in your life.”
However, as artist, Adam J. Kurtz tweeted: “Do what you love, and you’ll work super f**cking hard all the time with no separation and no boundaries and also take everything extremely personally.”
Just because we are a resilient lot, does not mean that employees should be left to their own devices with respect to wellness.
Research does show that employer actions toward staff wellbeing do have the desired effect.
The greater the workplace’s commitment to wellness, the better the employees are likely to feel.
Across the board, workers who rated their employer’s commitment to wellbeing highly found that their quality of life was better.
Workers who rated their work-life balance highly were 28 per cent more likely to have an employer that they felt was invested in their wellbeing.
Workers who felt productive were 18 per cent more likely to feel that their employer cared about their wellness.
Meaning: Put in the work and your employees will thank you.
The opposite is also true. If workplaces are not implementing wellness measures, it is likely having a negative impact.
Workers that said they felt burnt out in the past three months were 39 per cent more likely to work for an employer that they felt did not show commitment to improving their wellbeing.
So, what are Australians most worried about?
Physical and financial wellness are at the top of the list with 24 per cent of workers citing this as their number one concern.
If a worker did not feel on track with their financial goals, they were 77 per cent more likely to rate their work-life balance as poor and 104 per cent more likely to state that their productivity was low.
However, only eight per cent cited pay rises as the number one action they wanted from their employers.
Most workers are looking for their organisations to champion work-life balance by supporting flexitime, working from home and personal days.
With the average human spending 90,000 hours at work in their lifetime, prioritising health and wellbeing during work time is a necessity.
Findings from the research show that 60 per cent of employees rate their employer’s commitment to their workplace wellness as positive, but only 19 per cent rated it as excellent.
Nearly 24 per cent felt their employer’s commitment was average and 15 per cent as poor.
*Michelle Bakjac is an experienced Adelaide-based psychologist, organisational consultant, coach, speaker and facilitator and a Director of Bakjac Consulting. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared at bakjacconsulting.com.
