Editorial
Companies have spent billions of dollars on well-being and engagement initiatives in recent years, and yet they are not seeing the desired return on these investments at the pace needed to make a meaningful difference. Most of these initiatives only provide a temporary boost. They meet a short-term expectation, instead of addressing root problems or taking a longer-term view that works to shape employees’ experience on a daily basis.
In 2022, Gallup found only 31% of employees in the US and Canada were actually engaged with their work. Nearly 6 in 10 employees had psychologically disengaged, resulting in a combined $8.8 trillion cost to the global economy. And even though companies invested in a plethora of well-being solutions, especially around the pandemic, stress has been rising since 2009 and now remains at a record high of 44%.
Even though employers aren’t seeing the desired returns, it looks like companies are set to keep investing even more in having a well and engaged workforce. However, to avoid sinking money into a bottomless pit, it’s time to think about it differently. After all: There’s a word for endlessly repeating the same action that doesn’t work and hoping for different outcomes!
While many organizations focus on specific aspects of health or engagement, such as offering certain benefits or perks, you need to go beyond this to see the desired impact. Vitality may well be the solution to your employee woes.
Being Healthy vs. Being Vital
According to Dr Allan Mishra, board certified orthopedic surgeon, founder of VitalityExplorers.com and author of “Dare to Be Vital,” being healthy “is living in a state of wellness, free of disease. Vitality is on a higher plane. Vitality is purposeful, energetic and connected living, with or without disease.”
You can look at it as three levels, each building on the others as well as working together to create the engaged and well workforce you desire.
- Level 1: Being Healthy. Free from injury and illness. Employees at this level are physically able to show up and do work.
- Level 2: Being Well. In a state of good physical and mental health. At this level, employees are also able to feel good and have the mental skills they need to be productive.
- Level 3: Being Vital. Vibrant, energized and living with a passion for life. Employees at this level not only have the capacity they need, but also want to be there, bringing their best selves to all they do.
The holy grail of employee engagement lives at level 3 because it’s “the difference between simply existing versus thriving,” said Martha Hagmaier, a Well-being Advocate and Advisor and the founder of Higher Calling Solutions, LLC.. “We want to be more than just getting by. When we have this flow in life, the perspective and coping skills we use bring us through experiences with more harmony and power than we can ever imagine.”
Related Article: You Have to Understand the Past to Build a Wellness Future
And because “vitality is necessary to the existence, continuance, or well-being of something. It’s indispensable and essential. Being vital affects the mere existence, well-being and truth of an organization and is critical to its success,” said Wayne Cousins, an organizational consultant and project manager at a large utility company.
Why Organizations Need to Shift to Vitality
A lack of vitality around you is abundantly clear. You can notice the depletion in people’s faces, feel the drained energy and see the impact to business in terms of talent retention and attrition, employee engagement and productivity loss.
To really understand what vitality is, Hagmaier called on leaders to “imagine the impact to an organization where people feel valued and understood by their leaders and colleagues. The company culture is one that has a buzz of energy, can do attitude, where the people are fully expressed, feeling a sense of belonging and fulfillment in their work while away from family or friends; motivated not stressed.”
This has a ripple effect, she explained, as “when employees go home they are inspired, not exhausted but ready to embrace and share the joy versus bitterness from feeling underappreciated.”
While employee engagement is important and certainly a key piece of the puzzle, aiming for vitality may be a more powerful goal as it includes a sense of longevity. Vitality is a power source that will enable you to continue to be successful in meeting your objectives for your employees, customers, stakeholders, and communities. This state can provide stability in times of crisis as well as a daily experience of flourishing for employees.
How to Become a Vital Organization
Like most objectives, you can break down the path to attaining vitality into four parts: defining meaning, gaining clarity, taking actions and iterating.
Define “Vital”
Hagmaier suggested starting with defining what being vital means to your organization. You will need an open learning mindset, she cautioned, and to get your leadership prepared for the journey as everyone needs to be on board with the work and conviction that is required.
Gain Clarity on the Drivers of Vitality
Next, you need to get clarity on your organization's vitality formula and what the drivers could be. For example, purpose, values and daily practices all drive vitality. Purpose, at every level, provides a strong, sustained source of energy to feel good and perform from, even when the days can be challenging or mundane. It also leads to more successful business outcomes, Mishra said, as “the better an organization knows its peak purpose, the more likely it will be a great place to work.”
You will need to understand not only your organizational values but also the norms and practices you need to have in place to live them every day. Those values, norms and practices, together with purpose, “become the foundation, cornerstone, ‘North Star’ and guiding principles upon which a vital organization is built,” said Cousins, who also noted that these should be defined collaboratively, taking into account employees, customers and leadership.
Create Short- and Long-Term Vitality Plans
Once you have this clarity, you will need to understand the systematic actions in your vitality plan. Obtain feedback from all levels, measure how well you are meeting your vitality formula and get a clear read on the state your people are in. Don’t forget that for those employees who are performing and in an energized state, you also need to look at if it is sustainable for future resilience.
Related Article: How to Build a Modern, Holistic Employee Listening Strategy
“Begin by recognizing we all have areas we can improve, " said Mishra, encouraging people to find “the intersection of your biggest need and your highest potential to execute most efficiently.” Too many organizations simply invest in well-being or engagement actions, without a clear core philosophy or understanding of what the estimated impact of the investment will be. This rarely works for these human concepts.
Well-being, engagement and vitality itself are states of being. They are not only words or checkboxes. You need an understanding of the full picture as you make decisions to see how choices and trade-offs affect your total workplace ecosystem, and employees, across, down, and up stream. Actions may take shape in the form of communications, learning and development, benefits, processes, systems, physical space and tools.
Execute Iteratively
Remember, the plan is not one-and-done, but a continuous process of learning, taking action, evaluation, and adjusting. As “vitality does not occur in a vacuum. Vitality is the result of sustained focused effort,” says Dr Mishra.
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A vital organization “puts strategies and plans in place to evolve, learn, adapt, grow and succeed because of the value it creates, the products and services it delivers and the space it occupies in the hearts and minds of the communities it serves,” said Cousins. “It sets itself apart from organizations that believe good health is enough for long-term organizational and employee success.”
Hagmaier also encouraged everyone to enjoy the journey to vitality, as you will be “breathing new life into your organization and keeping the oxygen flowing so that everyone can reap the rewards.”
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