Employee well-being: how companies can help

To keep business afloat despite the COVID-19 pandemic , many companies implemented work-from-home (WFH) arrangements, paving the way for a “new normal” and presenting new challenges for employee well-being.

Among these is the hybrid work setup, which allows employees to come into their offices on some days and work from home on the remaining workdays.

However, new adjustments also mean new challenges, like addressing an employee’s well-being.

According to Elmira Perez-Dimalig, Head of People & Culture of construction company Prime Metro BMD, said it is easier to detect when somebody's not okay in a hybrid setup.

Dimalig identified three signs of possible employee disengagement:

Attendance

Since work is in a hybrid setup, technology is the only thing that connects employers to their employees.

“Absenteeism is a clear sign that somebody could be disengaged. If you have like a very high absenteeism, you don't get to see that person very actively participating,” Dimalig said during the second “HR & Workplace Summit Philippines” on Thursday.

“It's easier for you and it's more visible when somebody's absent or when somebody's not very active or not very participative,” she added. 

The employee satisfaction survey

Another way to check an employee’s well-being is to analyze their satisfaction with the company.

“That would tell you if these people still feel that they're part of the organization, that you are one as a group,” Dimalig said.

There is also the utilization of health maintenance organization (HMO) / mental health counseling services.

Looking into an employee’s HMO usage is also a sign that something is wrong with the employee’s well-being.

“Most of the organizations now would also have an HMO or health coverage for their employees because of the demands of the work itself,” Dimalig said

Dimalig shared her company has a third party mental health council for their employees.

“While everything is confidential, it gets reported to us when there's utilization. We don't get the details, but we are aware of the utilization of itself,” she said.

Change in behavior and performance 

Meanwhile, RL Fernando Garcia, Human Resources Head & Executive of Brittany Hotels and Leisure, enumerated two factors that can indicate employee burnout.

These are changes in behavior and changes in performance.

“I think these are the classic but still timeless fundamentals to assess signs of burnout. If an employee changes his behavior or changes his performance, those should be included as indicators of burnout,” Garcia said.

Solving employee disengagement

Identifying the signs of employee disengagement is just one step to address the worker’s well-being.

For Dimalig, obtaining the services of a third party mental health counsel has allowed their employees to have the option to open up their concerns with ease.

“When people have issues, sometimes, they don't want to talk it out to somebody they know because of the bias and judgment,” Dimalig said.

Meanwhile, in Garcia’s company, he said they crafted a policy reiterating that an employee’s well-being is not merely a “side project” but an “organizational priority.”

“Whatever changes or projects we would like to implement, it should start from the top. If there is no support from the top, regardless of how beautiful the policy or project is, the chance of it being implemented is very minimal to none,” Garcia said.

He added that his company also conducted leadership training to build their workplace adaptability, focusing on well-being.—RF, GMA Integrated News