Over 25,000 participants in a global survey suggest employee wellbeing is the number one concern for many business leaders. Good wellbeing in the workplace leads to happier, more engaged employees, better productivity, and reduced turnover.
When team members feel emotionally and physically healthy, they can put more energy into achieving excellent results for businesses. Unfortunately, Salesforce staff often struggle with maintaining a good quality of wellbeing on their own. After all, these employees are under a lot of pressure to improve customer experiences, educate sales teams, and drive positive business transformations.
While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to making sure your employees are happy and healthy, there are some crucial steps you can take to make good wellbeing more accessible. Here are some of the easiest ways to enable and empower your employees.
1. Collect As Much Information as Possible
The first step in improving employee wellbeing is finding out exactly where your staff members need help. For instance, around 67% of employees now say they’re concerned about their mental health, while 80% are concerned about physical health issues. Sending out surveys where staff members can share the issues they’re most worried about will allow you to build more effective, personalised wellness strategies for each employee.
Surveys will also give you a better insight into the problems most likely to influence staff in specific positions. For example, outsourced Salesforce employees working remotely may have more issues with feelings of isolation and stress than in-house team members. Aside from sending out surveys, you can also collect information through:
- Conversations with employees: Interactions with your team members, either through one-on-one or group meetings, can help you to understand where wellness initiatives will have the biggest impact on your team.
- Anonymous feedback: Use bots and automated tools to collect anonymous feedback and insights from employees who might be uncomfortable sharing their feelings with a manager or in a group environment.
- Regular team interactions: Regular interactions with your full team will help improve bonds between staff while also showing you which of your staff members are more withdrawn or may need additional help.
Collecting information from your team will help you keep your finger on the pulse of the wellness issues plaguing your employees. From there, you can work on embedding strategies for wellbeing into your company culture. For instance, if you know your staff members are suffering with their mental health, support teams to schedule “meditation” moments into their day-to-day routine where they can de-stress and unwind.
2. Support Remote and Flexible Working
72% of knowledge workers surveyed by Salesforce said they’ll maintain at least one major change in their work-life following the pandemic. 60% said that continuing with hybrid working will be their preferred way to improve wellbeing (both psychologically and physically).
As hybrid and remote working opportunities become more popular, offering flexible schedules is a good way for businesses to make themselves more appealing to top talent. A flexible schedule allows staff members more freedom to align their work and personal lives too.
If you allow your employees to work from home and even change their hours according to their needs, they’ll be able to seek out their own support for things like mental health issues and physical ailments. To boost your chances of a healthy, happy hybrid workforce:
- Ensure frequent communication between teams: Prevent remote staff from feeling isolated by ensuring they can communicate with their peers through a range of channels.
- Empower staff with the right technology: Ensure your Salesforce professionals have all the cloud-based tools they need to stay productive wherever they are.
- Collect regular insights from employees: Ask your staff to share their insights on how their remote and hybrid working experiences could improve.
Remember, some employees will be more comfortable working remotely than others. It’s worth allowing some of your staff to still come to the office if they feel this will help them operate more efficiently.
3. Encourage Personal and Professional Development
Finally, for employees to feel happy, healthy, and supported at work, they need to feel like they’re making positive progress in their lives. Companies can encourage personal development by offering benefits to staff members working on their physical and psychological health. For instance, you might offer all employees discounts on therapy sessions, private health insurance, and gym memberships.
You can also encourage personal development by giving different members of your team specific goals to work towards based on their targets. For instance, when your staff members hoping to quit smoking go a full month without a cigarette, they could get a special reward. The same solution might be available for people losing weight, working on their mental health, or just getting fit.
Don’t forget to encourage professional development where possible too. Employees feel more emotionally resilient and confident when they know they’re doing well in their role. Fortunately, Salesforce specialists have access to plenty of tools to help them boost their skills. Access to things like Trailhead courses will allow teams to develop their skills and improve their professional self-esteem.
Trailhead and Salesforce learning opportunities also offer team members access to wide communities full of like-minded people, where they can form new relationships and discuss any issues they might be having in their role.
Improving Employee Wellbeing
Improving employee wellbeing in a world defined by hybrid working and transformative business/staff relationships can seem complex. However, there are various ways to set your people up for happier, healthier lives. Whether you choose to invest in hybrid working opportunities, professional development schemes, or a better company culture with improved feedback loops, you’ll be on your way to a healthier team in no time.