Are you well?
Why Wellbeing is Essential in the Midst of the Great Resignation
by Kat Schulte | November 1, 2021
In a world of data and dollars, wellbeing can feel a bit irrelevant — or at least foggy, elusive, and hard to track. Put simply, wellbeing is a measure of people’s ability to live a life they value. And it matters. A lot.
Gallup recently posted stats about the “Great Resignation” happening across all industries. They have found 48% of Americans are looking for different work due to discontent in current jobs. “The highest quit rate is among not engaged and actively disengaged workers.”
The most significant factor in employee engagement is their manager.
Here is the solution. Managers who actively care for their people’s wellbeing will keep them around. Keep reading to find out how to make this essential shift.
Wellbeing isn’t a nice to have fringe benefit. It is a must have for any individual or organization that wants to thrive.
The presence or absence of wellbeing in the workplace has very real consequences to the bottom line. Even if we don’t care about the humanity behind it all (which obviously we do!), the dollars and cents scream in neon that we need to focus on wellbeing.
Career satisfaction is the most critical element of the 5 key areas of wellbeing.
A focus on wellbeing doesn’t need to feel like trying to hug a cloud. To create cultures of wellbeing, we need clarity and measurables. Thank goodness, Gallup has polled globally for years, and all of their data points to these five key areas of wellbeing:
- Career — I like what I do everyday
- Social — I have meaningful friendships in my life
- Financial — I manage my money well
- Physical — I have energy to get things done
- Community — I like where I live
Now here is the best part, the data also shows a very simple and clear path for increasing career wellbeing — exploring and developing our Strengths. We witness this everyday in our Leadership Development work.
When people have the opportunity DAILY to utilize what they do best, they thrive.
What we do best — our Strengths — are not as narrow as tasks or skills. Our Strengths include the way our brains process information, what activities give us energy, what drains us, how we relate with others, and how we get things done. The more we identify and lean into how we work best in the world, the more we find satisfaction in our work. And while this directly affects career, the carry over to all areas of life are significant.
Managers make all the difference.
According to Gallup, “it takes more than a 20% pay raise to lure most employees away from a manager who engages them.” In other words, if you care for and support the wellbeing of your team, they will stick around! Gallup measures 12 factors of engagement, but you can build engagement with something as simple as a curious conversation. Don’t worry, we have everything you need to get started. Use the Wellbeing Check-in below to start a meaningful conversation with your people.
Wellbeing Check-in
Check in with your people on their wellbeing in each domain. Be curious about all five, not just Career. While a lot of thriving hinges on that career domain, they are all interdependent – if they aren’t thriving across the board, it will affect your team.
We’ve created a printable PDF to make your job easier.
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