The COVID-19 pandemic has helped demonstrate how the best-performing organizations prioritize employee well-being over short-term profitability, especially during a crisis.conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, 77 per cent of top-performing companies put employee well-being ahead of profitability, compared with only 39 per cent of underperformers.
The study also found that Canadian chief executive officers support the well-being of employees at a slightly lower rate than the global average. Internationally, 47 per cent of respondents indicated they prioritize well-being in times of crisis – even at the cost of profitability or budget constraints – compared with 45 per cent of Canadian business leaders.
Mr. Imbeault adds that employers and investors have been gradually increasing their emphasis on employee well-being in recent years after identifying burnout and stress as significant barriers to overall business success.“It was already a trend for us to talk to our clients and say you need to really think about how you treat your people and your employee value proposition,” he says.
Dr. Baumgartner believes the correlation between employee well-being and overall success is apparent regardless of the company’s size and resources. “I’ve worked with organizations from startups to Fortune 100 companies that are investing in well-being, and I would say the impact is similar across the board in terms of having a positive impact on engagement, lower levels of turnover, and higher levels of employee loyalty,” she says.