Wellbeing in an organisation: Between science and marketing hype
Although in recent years organisations have been learning psychology more and more intensively, especially in the context of employee wellbeing, we are still dealing with areas of knowledge whose existence business managers are not fully aware of. Prof. Tomasz Grzyb, social psychologist from SWPS University in Wrocław, and Piotr Szostak from Benefit Systems, the company that creates non-financial benefits, explain what key elements of wellbeing escape the attention of companies and how to build an authentic wellbeing culture in a modern organisation.
Taking care of employee wellbeing in modern organisations is no longer a passing fad, but an important element of management and HR strategies. Entrepreneurs know that employees in good psychophysical condition who feel comfortable in the workplace are more motivated, more effective and loyal to the employer. Living in a world of overlapping crises – economic, armed or previously related to the pandemic – as well as everyday pressures caused by the pace of life and the abundance of information, make caring for wellbeing an important aspect of both everyday life and management strategies. This trend has its positive sources also in cultural and generational changes, thanks to which we question negative patterns in the work environment.
– Taking care of the good psychophysical condition of employees is, on the one hand, a certain moral and ethical obligation of those responsible for the organisation, and on the other hand, it is simply a sensible investment that pays off for all sides of the equation – says Prof. Tomasz Grzyb, social psychologist from SWPS University in Wrocław.
Wellbeing – a trend or a necessity?
What makes wellbeing so important for companies? According to the expert, the most obvious reason is that employees simply start to expect this type of activities, and it often influences the candidate’s decision to join the organisation already at the recruitment stage. This social expectation is also related to generational change. On the other hand, from the perspective of people who manage the organisation, the expense devoted to activities related to wellbeing is of course a cost, but also an investment. Investing in employee health translates into greater creativity and less absenteeism. Wellbeing also influences engagement. A person who is motivated to work also because they simply like the place has a much greater level of commitment to work. Another issue is turnover, which is a serious problem in many industries. An employee who feels that the company in which they are employed is not just a galley on which they swing an oar, but a place that cares about they and does not apply washing procedures, will be less willing to change their job.
Taking care of employee wellbeing is also a very important element of creating the organisation’s image. The way a company treats its employees and tries to provide them with positive working conditions affects its brand.
Cognitive control: the key to employee wellbeing
Effective wellbeing in an organisation begins with meeting a fundamental psychological need – cognitive control. People employed in enterprises need to understand why someone received a bonus and someone did not, or why a problem was solved in a certain way, giving them cognitive control over what is happening around them. Transparency of decision-making processes and clear communication are the foundation of the sense of security at work.
– Employees must be aware of the certainty of applicable rules and understand the causes and effects of phenomena that are happening around them – explains Prof. Grzyb. – In other words, this psychological perspective should be reflected in a mature, inclusive and transparent organisational culture of companies. Pro-wellbeing activities will not make up for the shortcomings in employment, pay or promotion policies. To create sensible and effective strategies supporting employee wellbeing, it must be approached comprehensively – both from the point of view of organisational culture and specific solutions supporting various areas of wellbeing, such as physical and mental health, personal and professional development, or finances – adds Piotr Szostak, Strategy and Product Managing Director at Benefit Systems.
The wellbeing washing trap
Prof. Grzyb warns against superficial treatment of employee wellbeing, often limited to fashionable but ineffective actions.
– The temptation of quick wins, unrealistic promises of training companies, pressure to optimise costs – all this increases the risk of unsuccessful investments in development programmes – the expert notes.
If a company introduces training, for example related to time management or burnout, and at the same time does not implement real changes in its functioning, this is a form of wellbeing washing. Appearing to care about wellbeing cannot be a trick for employers and people specialising in HR, which they will try to use to cover certain deficiencies in fundamental areas, such as fair pay tailored to competences, clarity of goals and role in the organisation, equal opportunities on the way to promotion or development. Moreover, it may have the opposite effect, because employees, especially Polish ones, are extremely sensitive to various types of false intentions and situations when someone tries to solve a real problem by pretending to act.
Thus, when supporting wellbeing, it is worth reaching for solutions co-created with experts and provided by companies with appropriate experience. An example of solutions supporting wellbeing that are created with the involvement of experts and scientists is the MultiLife platform offered by Benefit Systems.
The role of modern tools and services
MultiLife is a non-financial benefit provided by employers, created to provide comprehensive support for employee wellbeing in areas such as health, personal and professional development, psychology, healthy eating and physical activity. On the one hand, the platform focuses on building users’ health and healthy habits, and on the other, on developing their personal and professional competences. It offers access to consultations with experts (including a psychologist, dietician, financial coach or language teacher), the possibility of performing health screenings and taking advantage of a huge database of training and courses. One of the latest courses in the MultiLife library is created together with experts from SWPS University. It is dedicated to both employees and HR specialists, introducing the topic of wellbeing and its psychological aspects. The course was prepared by SWPS Innowacje in cooperation with Benefit Systems.
More information about the course can be found at https://www.multilife.com.pl/kursy/swps_perspektywahr/en
All functionalities of the platform have been catalogued according to the goals that its users may set. Today, the MultiLife platform itself is becoming an assistant that also helps to define these goals, and then effectively implement them and analyse progress. This is a completely innovative approach to the topic of wellbeing, which we achieved thanks to the introduction of the Wellbeing Score.
– The starting point for building a wellbeing strategy should be to verify the situation which we are starting from. Every company has several different indicators that we can measure to accurately design a comprehensive wellbeing strategy and then verify the effects and consequences of what we do. This is possible thanks to the Wellbeing Score – explains Piotr Szostak, Benefit Systems.
MultiLife uses the Wellbeing Score, which comprehensively examines wellbeing in six areas, both at the individual and organisational level. Thanks to this, employers receive aggregated data that allows them to precisely tailor activities to the needs of the organisation. This approach, based on data and regular verification of effects, facilitates the identification of needs and the selection of appropriate tools, tailored to a specific organisation, as well as the assessment of their effectiveness, which helps reduce the risk of wellbeing washing.
The individual Wellbeing Score test is publicly available and can be taken at https://badanie-dobrostanu.multilife.com.pl/
Wellbeing is a marathon, not a sprint
Building an authentic culture of wellbeing in an organisation is a long-term process that requires a deep understanding of psychological mechanisms and continuous evaluation of actions taken. According to the expert, companies should focus on a balanced approach combining openness to innovation with scientific rigour and critical thinking. It will allow organisations to effectively invest in employee wellbeing, avoiding the traps of fashionable but ineffective solutions.
SWPS University is a modern university based on lasting values. It owes its strong position to the combination of high-quality teaching and scientific research conducted at the highest level. The university educates nearly 17,000 students, including over a thousand from abroad and over four thousand postgraduate students in nearly 50 full-time and part-time fields and approximately 200 postgraduate fields. The university offers study programmes in psychology, law, management, journalism, philology, cultural studies, new technologies and graphics and design, as well as education in the form of training and short academic courses. The university ensures the high academic value of our programmes and their adaptation to the requirements of the changing labour market. SWPS University campuses are located in six cities: Warsaw (registered office), Wrocław, Sopot, Poznań, Katowice and Kraków.
The university has the right to award doctoral degrees and habilitated doctor degrees in seven disciplines: psychology, cultural and religious studies, literary studies, legal sciences, sociological sciences, political and administrative sciences, fine arts and art conservation. There are five scientific institutes at SWPS University that organise and coordinate the scientific activities of university research and teaching staff in particular disciplines: Institute of Psychology, Institute of Humanities, Institute of Social Sciences, Institute of Law and Institute of Design. The university has nearly 30 research centres and over 120 scientific clubs.
SWPS University belongs to the European Reform University Alliance (ERUA). It is an alliance of universities concluded as part of the European Universities Initiative, established and financed by the European Commission.
Benefit Systems has been operating on the Polish market for over two decades and is one of the leaders in providing non-financial benefits that support employee wellbeing. The company is the creator of the MultiSport Programme, which enables physical activity in sports facilities throughout the country. Its portfolio also includes the MyBenefit cafeteria platform and the MultiLife wellbeing programme. For several years now, the company’s sports offer has been developed on foreign markets, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Turkey.
The Benefit Systems Group also operates fitness clubs (in Poland it is responsible for Zdrofit, Fabryka Formy, FitFabric, Fitness Academy, Organic Fitness, My Fitness Place networks; in other markets it manages over 70 facilities). An important area of Benefit Systems activities is the promotion of an active lifestyle at every stage of life, which is why the company implements initiatives supporting physical activity of children, adults, and seniors, also as part of the MultiSport Foundation.
Since 2018, Benefit Systems has been part of the global B Corp initiative, bringing together companies operating and engaging in solving the most important social problems. More information can be found at benefitsystems.pl/en.
Agnieszka Bemowska-Niewiarowska
