In Talent Management Health Matters!

In today’s fast-paced global economy, new rules “rule”! Executives, managers and employees alike are pressed to ensure that they are fast, flexible, efficient, and effective. They are under increasing pressure daily to deliver to the bottom-line and their shareholders. Given these challenges, why should we focus on workplace health? The short answer is everything. The longer answer–of course–is much more complex. Simply stated, Canada needs people: healthy, skilled workers to compete on the global stage. In today’s knowledge-intensive economy, it is the human mind that is the primary creator of value for organizations. Therefore, it pays to ensure that employees are healthy and that the working conditions in organizations and their policies and practices are helpful, not harmful, to individual and organizational health. The Race for Talent Canada is on the verge of seeing talent shortages that it has not seen before. In 2010-2011, as the baby boomers start to retire in ever larger numbers, the race for talent that we are seeing now in certain regions of our country and for certain occupations (e.g., nurses, engineers, truck drivers, fire fighters, miners, IT professionals, senior managers) will speed up dramatically. The experiences of Alberta and B.C. are only pilot studies for what is to become more common. Furthermore, with fertility rates at about 1.5 children per couple, and no signs of this turning around to reach the levels necessary to replace our population (2.1 children per couple), we face a future where the percentage of those 65 years and over will outpace the percentage of those aged from 0 (newborn) to 14 years. We face a future of slowing population growth–even with immigration factored in. We face a future of slowing labour force growth. Canada is not alone. Most other developed nations are experiencing the same or worse demographic picture. They, too, are aging and several (even China and India, the two main source countries for our immigrants) are on the prowl in Canada, and in other countries, actively recruiting for talent. So, the race for talent is a global phenomenon that will heat up in the years to come. We have moved from a buyer’s market to one where the sellers set the rules. In this environment, creating healthy work environments matters. It matters because it matters to current employees and potential hires–those you will want to and need to recruit and in the years to come. Being known to be–and being–a safe, healthy, dynamic work environment can act as a magnet attracting talented employees and keeping them fully engaged and productive. Health and health creating practices, policies and cultures should be seen as part and parcel of your firm’s larger talent management strategy. In any talent management strategy, it is crucial to segment your market. Several studies over the years have tapped into what is important to people based on age. A few years ago, while I was at the Conference Board, we carried out two studies on skills shortages and on recruitment, retention and engagement solutions. Focus groups conducted with post-secondary students indicated that today’s youth want to be challenged, but not burnt out, by their work. Youth told us that they wanted advancement, growth and learning opportunities, but they did not want to wait. They wanted job security–a finding that surprised many employers at the time. They wanted fair compensation and benefits. They wanted to be respected for who they were and what they brought to the organization. And, they wanted “a life.” That is, they were seeking workplaces that addressed their needs to both make a living and have a life outside of work. More recently, D-Code and Brainstorm Consulting, in their survey of 30,000 university students, added two other important factors: good people to work for and good people to work with. In 2006, Towers Perrin found that the “reputation of the organization as a ‘good’ employer” was one of the 10 factors most likely to retain workers, and senior management’s interest in employee well-being was the number one predictor of engagement. Youth were also looking for workplaces that treated them with respect and rewarded and recognized them for what they do and what they bring to the workplace. Reward and recognition are, of course, two elements that characterize a healthy work environment, an area discussed in more depth below. Even the health basics matter to potential hires and current staff. In a study done published in 1998, health benefits were cited as a top item that Canadians aged 18 to 34 were looking for when they were shopping for an employer. In another poll, 49% of Canadians said that a good benefits package would make them stay with an employer. In their book, What Canadians Think About Almost Everything, authors Darrell Bricker and John Wright of Ipsos-Reid report that 75% of university students would take a 10% cut in salary in exchange for medical and dental coverage of all basic expenses. Costs, Productivity and the Bottom-Line The second reason for employers to get focused on health and healthy work environments has everything to do with costs and productivity. It costs Canadian firms (not to mention individuals and their families) in very real terms when they do not support health. Poor employee health and unhealthy work environments are bad for business and detrimental to the bottom-line. Some of these costs include: Employers’ health benefit costs: Whether you measure these at the macro level, looking at the private share of the total health care bill in Canada, or at the level of the firm, the trend is the same: the costs to employers and individual plan members of their health benefits are rising. At the firm level, a full 60% of employers surveyed by The Conference Board of Canada in 2005 reported that the costs of health-care benefits for active employees had increased over the previous year. Short-term and Long-term Disability Claims: Short and long-term disability rates are also concerns and they are costly. What is more, the reasons for disability are also changing. Mental and nervous disorders have now replaced musculoskeletal conditions as the top condition causing long-term disability. Indeed, in 2001, these disorders represented close to 50% of all STD and LTD claims–compared to 30% in 1990 and 15% in 1980! Canadians are feeling pressured at work. Their workloads are intensifying and so, too, are their stress levels, and research–carried out both by epidemiologists and management theorists–demonstrates a strong link between workload levels (both high and low) and stress. In 2006, Buffet & Company, a wellness consulting firm, found that 78% of the more than 500 employers it surveyed said that work-related stress was a health concern. A focus on this issue–on stress, on burnout, on mental health–is necessary in organizations in today’s fast-paced economy. But, focus is not enough. As a previous boss of mine once said to me, “Focus or vision without action is hallucination!” We need to be more intentional in helping to minimize negative stress and workload overload in organizations. Study after study indicates that greater stress leads to: sleeplessness; poor health, higher error and accident rates on the job; lower levels of employee retention, that is, higher intent to turnover; dwindling employee satisfaction and engagement levels, and; higher rates of absenteeism. We are also learning that those who persistently experience overwork and stress are more likely to experience a form of “cognitive pa ralysis”–a slowing of their capacity to think creatively on the job and to innovate. Lastly, experts are telling us that high levels of persistent negative stress can lead to depression and other serious mental health conditions. We are, in Canada, seeing a greater focus on workload, stress and mental health issues in workplaces. This is heartening–but more needs to be done to focus on this issue and on the psychosocial aspects of work. So what are the elements of a healthy workplace? Typically, a healthy workplace is one that focuses intentionally in three key areas: The physical work environment (occupational health and safety, ergonomics, biohazards, etc.); Individual health practices (lifestyle choices and health habits) and, last, but certainly not least: The psychosocial work environment (overall management practices and strategies, the organizational culture within which works gets done, how work is delegated, how people are rewarded, the decision-making latitude people have, and so on). For organizations to market themselves as employers of choice and as healthy organizations, they need to take an integrated, holistic approach to health-developing strategies, programs and policies, which address all of these three areas. What Progress Has Been Made? We have seen some very positive progress in organizational practice. Several temperature-taking studies, such as those carried out by Buffet & Company Worksite Wellness Ltd., the Conference Board and other consultancies, all point to increasing numbers of employers who are focusing on health in a variety of ways–everything from implementing health promotion and illness prevention strategies, to honing in on workplace culture. However, it is very clear that much more needs to be done–particularly, but certainly not exclusively, in the area of the psychosocial aspects of workplace health. If the arguments above are not enough, then consider this: both epidemiological and management studies have independently identified common variables as predictors of health (e.g., lower risk of cardiovascular problems and cancer) and of employee engagement. For example, both bodies of knowledge point to “good” management practices, the degree to which individuals have some control over where and how they work, and the degree to which they are rewarded and recognized for the effort they expend to positively impact both health and engagement. It makes good business sense to focus efforts here. Critical Success Factors Have Been Learned Lessons from organizations that have seen success in their efforts to create healthy, high performing workplaces. Here are a few tips “from the field”: Be strategic and align your change efforts within the context of a broader talent management strategy and your organization’s strategic business plan: Leading organizations are embedding their healthy workplace efforts within the context of a larger talent management strategy–and they are tying that strategy to the business plan. It starts with recruitment and the degree to which people are welcomed into the organization and selected for a job that they are truly capable of doing and given the appropriate tools to do. In healthy, high-performing work environments, people are provided learning and development opportunities, flexibility in their work arrangements and their benefit plans, and support to enhance their physical and emotional well-being. Recognize the importance of planning, measurement and data: Leading organizations plan well. They utilize common continuous improvement approaches, such as the “Plan, Do, Check, Act” cycle in their change efforts. Solid reliable data and measurement are critical. Too many organizations have no idea of their current state and of the directions they need to take. Measure your current state. Because resources are finite and there are limits to the investments organizations can make, this will help to guide your decisions going forward. Post-intervention measurements will also provide you with a sense of whether your actions have been successful and where you need to improve. Encourage leadership at all levels: For sustainable organizational change to take place, leadership at the top–real demonstrable leadership at the top–is needed. Committed leaders are those who, for example, “walk the talk.” They invest the necessary financial and human resources into creating the changes they want to see, they hold themselves and others accountable for those changes in real ways (for example, in the performance management and appraisal process), and they incorporate statements about health and well-being in their mission and vision statements (Johnson & Johnson’s CREDO is, of course, a great example of that)–and they live the values. However, leadership is about more than the CEO or top team, and leadership is about more than a position in the organization. We, as individuals, all have responsibility for our own health and in creating a healthy work environment. Those who lead HR or occupational health and related units also need to assume a leadership role working across functions and other organizational boundaries to align their efforts for maximum impact. Otherwise, they end up competing for resources and lose the focus of the end goal. Alignment is critical. Understand the importance of accountability, rewards and recognition: Ownership and engagement in change are encouraged when people are, among other things, held accountable for the changes you want to see–and when they are rewarded and recognized for their efforts. Support managers: Within organizations, one’s direct supervisor or manager has a great deal to do with health and with the way in which an individual experiences their work and workplace. As we all should know by now, managers (line managers and others) can “make or break” the experience of workers. They are the gatekeepers to advancement, development opportunities, work-life programs, and so on. They can be champions of getting to the bottom of workload problems and stress or they can be the cause of it. Good managers, with good people skills, are essential to creating healthy work environments. They, too, need the support and the training to help them succeed, and they, too, need to be rewarded and recognized for demonstrating the desired behaviours. Collaborate and seek partners from inside and outside the organization: Leading organizations are always on the prowl, seeking out the expertise, knowledge and support that they need to succeed in their health-creating endeavours. At the end of the day… The reasons to focus on health and workplace health are clear. The challenge for many organizations is to get beyond the rhetoric to real action and to move beyond merely implementing policies and programs without a broader, more strategic framework. Even more challenging for most organizations is getting to fundamental change in the psychosocial aspects of the workplace–its culture, norms and ways of managing people.

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