The current environment we operate in makes staying positive and being engaged in our work more challenging. As humans, what’s happening in our life is often impossible to leave at home, to not impact us during work time. Especially alongside the push to do more with less and the backdrop of change and uncertainty. I’ve been involved in engagement and culture work ever since my days in HR over a decade ago. I’ve noticed that organisations have always focused on what we can do at work to support teams to be more engaged and I think we’ve got it wrong. Here’s why.
Our workplaces are made up of individuals, all with different mindsets and lifestyles. What they do out of work impacts how they show up in work. Whilst an organisation can do what it can (and should) to support employee wellness and engagement, we ultimately know the accountability for this rests with each individual. These days life is becoming harder and happiness more elusive. This can’t not impact us at work too. If we address the root of our mindset and mood, the knock-on effect is that we become happier and more positive everywhere, including at work.
For example, lunchtime yoga classes and free fruit and a table tennis table in the staff room won’t help with engagement if you’ve got team members whose relationships are breaking down at home, staying up late to overconsume social media and drinking a bottle of wine in the evening to take their mind off their problems.
The world is changing faster than ever. We stand at the crossroads of rapid technological advancement, shifting workplace dynamics, and a future that feels more uncertain each day. With burnout on the rise, the evolution of AI, economic instability, and global crises - from climate change to political upheaval - we find ourselves searching for something more, something deeper, something that unites us in a world that seems more divided than ever.
Happy humans make a better world and if we focus on supporting the humans in our workplaces by consequence, we’ll also improve workplace culture. Workplace initiatives help but we know they have not solved the problem to date. I believe this needs to be paired with an approach that focuses on empowering individuals to own and cultivate their own contentment. Their life improves so obviously so does their work and the culture they are a part of creating.
We think that workplace culture is an environmental factor and something we create at work. Yet in reality, our culture is formed from the energy and mindset of all the people within that workplace. It’s like atoms in a jar, if they are all happy oxygen molecules, it’s fresh breathable air we can thrive in. If they are disengaged, unhappy carbon dioxide molecules, we’d choke in that jar.
I believe we need a fresh approach to wellbeing and engagement, one that focuses on the individuals. One that creates happy humans which we know then has a knock on effect in the workplace, not just in terms of engagement but productivity too.
When an individual is content and calm and living in alignment with who they are at their core, their essence, of course the work they do improves, they’re a pleasure to be around, the team therefore functions better too and they are in a position to give more of their best – sustainably.
We believe engagement and culture is less about the workplace systems and more about the humans that operate within those systems. How are you looking after your humans? Because happy humans make better workplaces.