As we finally emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic it is clear that there are many economic difficulties to be faced across the world as businesses grapple with inflation, disruptions in supply chains and uncertainties in international relations.
However, a much bigger and longer-term challenge for all businesses is the demographic shift that is taking place as older workers retire and the number of younger people entering the workforce gets smaller. The pandemic sped up this process with many older people deciding not to return to full-time work, and it is already leading to a much more competitive labour market as businesses compete for the most skilled younger workers. There is plenty of research to show that younger workers prioritise their health and well-being above salaries and job titles. Adopting the right approach to employee well-being is becoming an ever more important way for companies to attract and retain the best employees.
Ultimately, any business is only as good as its people, so hiring, developing and keeping the best people will be key to corporate success in the 21st century. The fact that younger people want jobs that give them work-life balance, job flexibility, and social and psychological support means that many top multinationals have implemented well-being plans to remain competitive in the employment market. In many traditional industries, it was once true that most people could do most jobs because the skills required were fairly basic and generic which meant that most new employees could learn fairly quickly on the job. In the old days, even if there was a high level of staff turnover there were plenty of young people available, so it was easy to fill vacancies without having too much impact on overall output.
However, times have changed and now that technology and complex online systems play such an important role in every type of business activity, most jobs require specific skills and experience. Learning how to use different online systems is not quick or cheap and training new employees cost time and money. The more companies invest in their employees then the more any staff turnover or absenteeism will add to opportunity and financial costs, so alongside attracting the right people an effective well-being strategy is essential to retain talent.
Well-being is also central for longer-term success because as employees progress through the company they acquire the priceless organisational knowledge that can only come from experience. This means that an effective well-being strategy can reduce immediate costs, boost ongoing outputs and contribute directly to future organisational success.
Well-being is also important for individual success. We all know from our own direct experience that we tend to work at our best when we feel healthy and happy, and we also know that if we’re under stress or feeling too tired then the amount and quality of the work that we do is likely to decline. The most successful organisations are fully aware of this obvious link and that is why they make the relatively small investment necessary to implement employee assistance and support programmes to promote physical and mental health, reduce stress and support employees to fulfil their wider obligations to family and society. Such well-being programmes may take many forms depending on the resources available to the business concerned, but even small family-run businesses can put in place simple measures like a decent working environment, flexible working arrangements, and help with family commitments. The scientific evidence clearly shows that staff well-being programmes are directly linked to higher levels of staff engagement and overall productivity, so investing in well-being consistently feeds into higher profitability and makes companies much more competitive and successful.
Around the world, several teams of researchers are currently conducting pilot studies to assess the impact of introducing four-day work weeks to boost work-life balance and maximise job flexibility. In some of these trial studies employees are working longer hours for four days to maintain the same number of hours across the week, but in other studies employees are working fewer weekly hours overall.
The initial findings suggest that any kind of shorter working week improves employee well-being and leads to greater efficiency because people work harder, while at the same time it can also improve the bottom line by cutting various office operations and related costs. Even if companies retain the traditional five-day working week, a well-being strategy which allows employees more flexibility to work from home or outside normal business hours can have many of the same positive impacts on output.
Towards this end, even Singapore’s highly competitive and successful economy is considering shorter working weeks with Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State for Manpower, saying in September 2022 “As with any work arrangement, a four-day work week may work well for some employers … The Ministry … strongly encourages employers and employees to be open to flexible work arrangements in all their various forms to identify and adopt those that best suit their unique business needs and the workers’ needs.”
Future competitive advantage will come to those companies which work smarter in the 21st century, and an effective well-being strategy will be central to finding and retaining smarter employees who can deliver success.
By Professor Hew, Associate Provost, Sunway University
