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Companies are increasingly seeing a link between worker wellbeing and business results. These ways of working can deliver impactful changes.
In brief
- Emphasizing employee wellbeing is crucial for enhancing satisfaction and performance, leading to better business outcomes and a healthier work environment.
- Fostering connections, minimizing distractions and promoting collaboration can boost team wellbeing and productivity.
- Entrepreneurs are prioritizing intentional work-life balance to ensure adequate rest and focus on innovation.
As the lines between work and personal life continue to blur, companies are recognizing the critical importance of employee wellbeing. Businesses that champion health and wellness are seeing improvements in employee satisfaction, innovation and overall performance, ultimately leading to a stronger bottom line.
This is especially true of entrepreneurs. A recent EY survey revealed that they are approaching their business with a productive and intentional mindset, allowing them to be fully present when at work and heavily focused on innovation. Nearly three-fourths (72%) are in the office three days a week or more, yet fewer than 15% work more than 50 hours a week, demonstrating an intentional balance between business priorities and quality of life. Even more remarkable is the fact that 69% report getting seven or more hours of sleep each night.
These responses, alongside conversations we have had with entrepreneurs at the Strategic Growth Forum®, make it clear that many are focusing on their physical and mental wellbeing. If you want to follow their lead, we recommend four healthier ways of working based on EY research and our work with organizations across a variety of industries.
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Chapter 1
Connection
Creating a safe, inclusive and supportive environment within teams fosters strong connections, which are essential for psychological safety — a state in which people feel safe to speak up without risk of punishment or humiliation regarding their ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. Connections reduce stress, increase a sense of meaning and contribute to longer life expectancy. When we are connected, we feel like we can be ourselves, know our opinion matters and innovate.
“I think setting the tone from the top — you’ve got to show up and do it, and you’ve got to get close to it,” says David Heath, cofounder and CEO of Bombas. “You can’t do this stuff from afar. It’s just inauthentic.”
Healthy habits:
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Chapter 2
Focus
We do better work when we’re focused. To do that, we need to create environments that minimize context switching, which is when we shift our attention between tasks, apps or projects. Context switching lowers productivity, increases errors and adds stress. By planning dedicated blocks of time for focused work, people and teams can improve their work quality and job satisfaction.
Healthy habits:
- Leverage technology to limit distractions, such as blocking out dedicated focus time in your calendar or setting your status to “Do not disturb” in messaging apps.
- Minimize distractions by agreeing on team communication protocols around email and texting.
- Concentrate on controllable tasks and set reasonable deadlines.
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Chapter 3
Predictable flexibility
Establishing predictable flexibility by adequately planning and setting routine boundaries — for example, setting a status message to let team members know when you’ll be offline for an appointment and when you’ll be back — promotes greater wellbeing, happiness and productivity. This approach allows people to have control over their schedules, take time off for rest and avoid an “always on” mentality.
Intentionally integrating work and personal lives can lead to better time management and purposeful wellbeing practices. Jasmine Crowe-Houston, founder of sustainable waste management and hunger solutions company Goodr, offers one way to make that easier. “I built a daycare at our office because it just allowed all of my team members, including those in the warehouse, to be able to bring their children,” she says.
Healthy habits:
- Respect your teammates by communicating when you will be offline and ensure appropriate coverage. In return, respect your teammates’ time off and their focus time by helping them fully disconnect or only connecting on truly urgent matters.
- Set aside a “sacred hour” every day for team members to block off their calendar, whether for lunch, exercise or personal time. Breaks are crucial to reset our minds to be able to work at our highest potential.
- Be transparent about how you’re working flexibly. Leaders, especially, need to model and celebrate flexibility.
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Chapter 4
Efficient impact
Prioritizing efficient use of your time and resources promotes impactful and meaningful work, enhancing fulfillment and wellbeing. We can create additional time for focus and meaningful work by avoiding over-collaboration — such as when a meeting could have been an email. Collaborating in efficient ways drives the best outcomes and creates more space for important work or personal needs.
Healthy habits:
- Regularly evaluate meetings to determine if they’re necessary and who actually needs to attend. In that vein, plan for one meeting-free day a week for your team.
- Keep meeting lengths to 25 or 55 minutes to allow for breaks. Some calendar apps allow you to change your default meeting length to these shorter times.
- Periodically compare project deliverables with overall goals to ensure the team is aligned on what really matters. Emphasize quality, impact and long-term value.
When it comes time to implement these ways of working at your organization, remember our necessary mindset shift: We cannot look at these healthy ways of working from only an individual perspective. We must also consider the importance of team wellbeing in each area, as changing our working behaviors requires the support and understanding of those with whom we work.
Summary
Prioritizing employee wellbeing is essential for fostering a productive workplace. By adopting healthier work practices — such as enhancing connections, maintaining focus, allowing flexible schedules and ensuring efficient collaboration — organizations can significantly improve both individual satisfaction and overall business performance, ultimately leading to a more engaged and innovative workforce.