(Expansion) – Workplace well-being must continue to be the main focus of the companies’ agenda, mainly because studies show that work teams that have strategies and actions that promote a better quality of life for employees are more productive.
However, it is a reality that the work model that a company adopts will have a direct impact on the perception of well-being among employees, and organizations must be very aware of this.
As we know, the future of work is hybrid, as more and more employees seek this type of benefits associated with emotional salary, especially the younger generations, who consider this aspect prior to accepting a job offer above, even, the economic compensation.
Likewise, once the companies have identified that it is possible to work under hybrid team management schemes, it became clear that the positive and not so much aspects of this new way of working have a direct relationship with the quality of life of the collaborators. ; For example, we know that a hybrid work model helps to reduce travel times and the possibility of organizing a day in a more productive way, but there is still the complexity of separating personal life from work when you are at home office.
It is not possible to talk about hybrid work models and well-being without analyzing the relationship it has with work stress factors, this being one of the great problems that companies and workers have been dealing with for a long time, in addition to its increase worldwide it is alarming; In Mexico alone, 75% of working people suffer from stress, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).
To understand it better, let us first take into account that the challenges that work schemes bring are changing; At the beginning, when they moved to a 100% virtual working life, a significant effort was made to adapt to the home office, which took several months, either because they did not have the work tools or because they did not have the soft skills that were needed. required to perform or lead people totally remotely.
Now the new challenges that the hybrid model brings are evident, since it is not at all easy to manage activities in person and remotely at the same time, especially when working autonomously and in an accelerated way for a long time. I’m sure you agree with me that there are definitely days where you would think that working life in the hybrid format is complex in terms of leadership; Without a doubt, it will also take time to find a balance that allows us to avoid accumulating stress as a result of the working hours we currently have.
Human Resources leaders recognize that this phenomenon contributes to employee fatigue; According to a Gartner study, 40% of employees who work in hybrid or remote jobs have reported an increase in the length of their workday in the last 12 months and more than 90% of HR directors recognize that this puts employees at risk of burnout.
Undoubtedly, hybrid work models provide great benefits to companies and the workforce if they are implemented correctly, so it is essential that leaders develop and apply strategies that prevent employee stress, in the face of factors such as work overload. virtual meetings, due to the need to always be connected; the days of face-to-face work where, in some way, the operational management that is maintained when working from home office and the lack of limits around communication are slowed down.
It is important to allocate blocks of time for individual work or a corporate policy that establishes that meetings cannot be held without a prior agenda with the topics to be discussed, since generating calendars full of consecutive meetings makes it difficult to take active breaks or take a meal time.
In order to promote workplace well-being, it will be essential to provide managers with strategies to recognize the signs of exhaustion in their work teams, invest in training on techniques to manage hybrid work, as well as recognize that new forms of work also they require new leadership skills that must be developed in organizations for the creation of a hybrid culture.
To defend these initiatives, those of us in the areas of human talent can analyze several indicators that are directly related to these issues, where it is evident that stress levels have a negative impact such as: turnover, absenteeism, low performance, conflictive work environment , increase in social and family problems, demotivation, loss of productivity, physical or psychological illnesses, among others.
The first step is to recognize that the great challenge for companies is to work with a focus on emotional health within the world of hybrid work; It is paramount to build and create work environments, organizational cultures, and soft and technical skill sets that promote and support wellness at all levels of the organization.
Editor’s note: Gabriela Rodríguez is Regional Director for Latin America at Evaluar.com. He has more than 17 years of experience in digital transformation for the Human Resources areas. He has collaborated with leaders and HR directors of companies in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Central America and Mexico, being part of the digital innovation of Latin America in everything related to Talent Attraction, Evaluation and Selection. Follow her on . The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
