Unmasking the Reality of Wellbeing Washing: The Gap between Companies and Employees

2023-11-03 08:41:55
By Maite Sáenz, director of ORH.- In line with an, as always, accurate article by Xavier Marcet on the fair and measured value of trends to design the future we want, reading two other texts, both studies on the real impact of health measures, compels me to deflate the corporate welfare bubble. Wellbeing washing is as real as the slogan of the person at the center of the organizational whole is unreal. And not due to the absence of measures, options, offers and catalogs of various elements to include in flexible remuneration or in the employee value proposition. The problem is that, with all this existing, the employee experience does not value it.

The pillar of mental health, so vaunted in care strategies during and following Covid, is not convincing. And he does not convince for the simple reason that he is reactive: I put a psychologist in your life if he is stressed, depressed, overwhelmed or distressed and I leave you in your hands. We outsource addressing the problem without first analyzing its cause. Psychosocial risk assessments give “yuyu” and, when they are applied (yes, they are mandatory but…), what is done with them?

The analysis of the quantitative and qualitative research of the data collected in the third call of the SFS Awards is certainly demoralizing: In the case of emotional well-being, the measures applied by companies pass with 6.14 points, but they do not obtain the approval of the staff, who on average give them 4.17 points. The effort of the HR and PRL departments is there, I see it in the questionnaires and in the interviews we carry out. So, why the gap that separates companies and employees? The question is answered with another question: Where is the root of much of work stress? Let’s be honest and admit it: in the workload. We are all “up to the top” and as little as we can we let off steam with a “I can’t stand it” which we recite as an automatic tagline to excuse the unanswered emails. That’s what I am, a continuum of regrets for not achieving everything, a Maite lost in days that don’t sleep and anchored in apologies.

Care strategies in the last two years have been a bit adrift and have not yet found their business purpose. They have a gap in employer branding, but in the corporate culture (that of those at the top) it is not consolidated. That is why some star measures are no longer a must, such as Zen breaks with meditation classes and relaxation rooms, days off to promote well-being or days without meetings, and others that should be are returning to Brideshead before they have arrived. , as is the case of the right to digital disconnection, which declines 4 points between 2022 and 2023 according to an ADP study.

What do you want me to tell you? Well, to begin with, we are not at all clear regarding the concept of productivity, and to finish, the mental health pandemic is real. The authentic debate is not that of teleworking yes, no or half. It is not the where but the how and, of course, the for whom.

Photo by Randy Tarampi on Unsplash.

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#Reality #ruin #good #employer #branding

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