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Workplace Well-being:

Social and Performance Advantages

by Milena Radoman

We spend a good part of our lives at work so we might as well feel good there. Note to harassers:
We spend a good part of our lives at work so we might as well feel good there. Note to harassers:
iron-fist management is out of fashion, so let’s welcome the concept of corporate workplace well-
iron-fist management is out of fashion, so let’s welcome the concept of corporate workplace well-
being, resulting in fulfilment and good performance.
being, resulting in fulfilment and good performance.

“A state of mind characterised by a satisfactory harmony between unhappiness at work, for the private sector, amounted in France to
the skills, needs and aspirations of the worker on the one hand and €14,310 per year per employee. If part of it is linked to incompressible
the constraints and possibilities of the working environment on the costs (work stoppages linked to non-work health problems), 63%, or
other.” That is the definition of well-being at work from the World €9,010, could be saved by companies if only they took into account
Health Organisation. When we talk about this rather recent concept, «employee/employer disengagement», a phenomenon that results
it is just as much about physical well-being linked to the comfort in stoppages caused by an excessively heavy workload, burn-out,
of employees at their workstations and on the company’s premises lack of recognition and social dialogue, isolation and unfit working
(brightness, tranquillity, optimisation of equipment, heating and so) conditions – all of which create additional costs linked to the
as it is to the psychological aspect, which requires a pleasant working employment of temporary workers, replacements, plus time wasted
atmosphere that includes good understanding between colleagues, as other employees have to cover the work not done. According to
benevolent management and positive corporate values. This is what this study, «poor organisation of work induces suffering and poor
is now referred to as QHSE (Quality Health Safety Environment) health, which ends up having a cost for the company.”
criteria, intended to limit the psychosocial risks relating to conditions
such as stress, hyper-connectivity, burn-out, bore-out and brown-out Key to success: benevolent management
(loss of motivation). So how do you create wellness at work? Needless to say, team
cohesion requires benevolent management, job functions in line with
The cost of unhappiness at work employees’ aspirations and give-and-take within in the organisation,
Philanthropists or not, the bosses who are interested in this side of such as flexible hours or teleworking, in order to balance personal and
thing should be credited as good business people because quality of professional life as well as possible. The detection of psychosocial
life at work equals good performance. According to a study conducted risks is also essential. According to a study by the International
by Harvard/MIT in 2018, being happy at work would indeed make you Labour Organisation, professional stress is constantly increasing
31% more productive, off sick half as much, six times less absent, and depression more and more common; hence the importance
nine times more loyal and 55% more creative - and companies are of not setting unachievable goals and letting unbearable pressure
aware that to attract talent, reduce occupational illnesses and their loom. For bosses, it is also a question of thinking about the layout
costs, fight against absenteeism and staff turnover, corporate well- of the premises (in particular brightness and comfort). In the case
being is an issue; not to mention that malaise at work generates a of open-plan offices, it is good that employees can have access to
cost for society. Created by the Apicil Group insurance company and closed offices when they need calm - and why not take advantage of
the Mozart Consulting firm, which supports companies in their CSR the power of plants? According to several studies, their presence is a
policies, the Well-being at Work Index (IBET) is a good barometer that way to improve the morale, productivity and well-being of employees,
quantifies this drop in competitiveness. In 2020, the overall cost of as well as being good value.

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