The current economic climate forces all businesses to look closely at any expenses that are not directly related to productivity and profit. In this kind of environment it is very easy to accept expenses at face value and reduce or eliminate those with no quickly apparent positive influence on the bottom line. Employees are eliminated with no delay if their value does not exceed the expense of keeping them on the payroll. Limited consideration of employee wellbeing is a familiar a management strategy in the modern company.
It is easy to accept government regulations as the minimum standard for employee treatment. The idea is that as long as the government standards are met the exposure to a fine or a lawsuit is minimized. This is a valid argument. It does no more than scratch the surface of employer-employee relations and certainly does not consider the benefits of a healthy workforce.
As business trends downward in a stagnant economy, the productivity of those employees remaining becomes more important. With a reduced number of workers available the work required from each worker is increased. In the short term this can be managed but the extra effort is very hard to sustain. The wellbeing of each remaining employee becomes more important. This is true for the data entry clerks, the programmers and designers and the machine operators on the assembly line.
Healthy and reasonably satisfied people can help each other achieve common goals. When a work environment degrades into competition for a few dwindling number of positions, the main focus becomes the competition instead of the goal. The iron-fisted autocrat of the past has no place in a modern company – even in bad economic times.
In this second part of this article, some valuable tools for employee wellbeing are examined for the cost-to-benefit ratio. The idea is that some of the most commonly eliminated benefits have more value than managers realize. Understanding the benefits to the company might inspire the management to find other ways to reduce expenses.
When every job opening announcement brings in hundreds of resumes and applications it is easy to stop worrying about attracting top talent. The assumption is that with this many people looking for jobs a company does not need to offer high pay or fancy benefits packages. Companies assume they can eliminate the top paid people and fill their positions with these cheaper workers. Or, they can stop offering daycare for children and hire only these young people with no kids or spouses.
These options and many more like them will certainly reduce expenses and there is no direct impact on productivity. A manager can make himself look like a genius with these significant cost reduction measures. The productivity costs are hidden behind the big cost benefits. The real genius manger is the one who can see the benefits to the company of employee wellbeing programs and finds ways to keep the programs. There are few managers who can see beyond the cost and appreciate the value.
Health insurance benefits are one of the largest expenses for any company. Most insurance carriers are offering creative ways to reduce employer costs. Raising deductibles and co-pays makes the employee shoulder more of the cost. Limiting coverage can dramatically reduce employer costs. These measures will result in more stress to employees and will cause productivity issues. Workers loose motivation. This is especially true for creative persons such as designers and writers. The quality of their work is related to their wellbeing and company decisions that cause stress impact wellbeing.
Child daycare can be expensive whether the worker or the company pays for it. A company that offers a daycare benefit will attract some motivated workers that might otherwise be unavailable. This has been traditionally an attraction for mothers but many more fathers are primary caregivers for children. When a worker knows his children are being cared for by professionals and that he can check on them occasionally during the day he can focus better on the work at hand. His wellbeing improvement makes him a more productive worker. It is more difficult to quantify the benefits than to note the expense.
The company can take advantage of employee wellbeing programs to keep their workers motivated and fully productive. When business conditions force reductions in workforce the remaining workers are expected to pick up the extra work. It is important that the extra work does not cause excessive stress that reduces productivity and hampers creativity. Truly successful managers look beyond the visible expenses of wellbeing programs and see the benefits that justify the costs.