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Workplace Wellbeing: The New Norm

Jenaha Hochhalter

COML 596 A1: Master’s Level Writing

October 15, 2022

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Workplace Well-being: The New Norm

Organizational leadership in America needs to be reimagined to center on holistic workplace

well-being. Doing so impacts employee performance and is vital to societal health. This decade

illuminates the rising need for holistic support for employees and calls for leaders to intentionally

redirect company resources toward that end (Sripada, 2020). In his article “Workplace Well-Being and

Beingful Work,” Nidumolu (2020) explored this concept by saying: “Given the growing pressures and

uncertainty of the workplace and its domination of our daily life, employee well-being at work has

become an important concern of both employees and senior management” (p. 71).

In November 2021, the number of workers who quit their jobs reached a 20-year high during

what has become known as the Great Resignation (Horowitz & Parker, 2022). The covid-19 pandemic is

largely to blame for igniting this wave of resignations with at least 4 million workers resigning monthly in

the year's second half (Goldberg, 2022). One might assume illness and caregiving were the leading

causes for this mass exodus, but a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in February of this year

showed that “low pay, a lack of opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected at work” were

the top reasons employees quit (Horowitz & Parker, 2022, para. 2). This same survey continued to say

“that those who quit and are now employed elsewhere are more likely than not to say their current job

has better pay, more opportunities for advancement and more work-life balance and flexibility”

(Horowitz & Parker, 2022, para. 2). In addition to seeing headlines and research reports of these issues,

the buzz surrounding leadership and the desire for workplace well-being is also rampant on social

media. LinkedIn feeds tout such sentiments as: “Invest in People NOT Ideas!”(LoGrasso, 2022), and "We

need to get a body to fill this position as soon as possible. This is what I have heard from a number of

managers in the past. It's difficult to support a manager who thinks of employees this way. This is
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definitely the wrong way to frame human beings who will be supporting your organization's goals.”

(Shafner, 2022).

Western culture has long held a one-size-fits-all tradition of leadership development (LD), one

that is:

Macho and admirable in the corporate world to be decisive (implying speed and the swagger of

domination), to have a strong point of view (suggesting near dogmatic posture on any/all

topics), and to get things done (denoting unquestioned command of control). Orthodox LD has,

thus, been about tooling up leaders with a standard analytical toolbox, buttressed by confidence

building and assertiveness training. (Sripada, 2020, p. 62)

Sripada (2020) addressed the current moment stating: “this new decade will be significant in

many ways…it might just be the tipping point for many pressing issues facing people and organizations

across the world” (p. 1). Our understanding of “the tectonic shifts that ‘digital’ technologies are causing”

(Sripada, 2020, p. 1) along with how organizations, and their leaders, view people and the development

of human potential will determine if workplaces become positive contributors to societal well-being, or

if they lead to further exacerbations.

According to a global survey conducted by the World Economic Forum in 2019, three workplace

trends indicate prioritization is headed in the right direction. These are:

Greater demand for soft skills…such as empathy, emotional intelligence, creativity,

collaboration, and communication; ... more flexible work: remote work and flexible hours…

[which] technology is making possible through e-mail, instant messaging, conference calls, and

social business platforms; … [and] less tolerance for workplace harassment: Ever since #MeToo

became a global phenomenon, women (and men) have started speaking out. …LinkedIn reports
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a 71 percent increase in workplace harassment content that was shared on its platform.

(Nidumolu, 2020, p. 72)

It is also encouraging that the United Nations is recognizing workplace well-being as vital to

societal health by goaling it as the 3 rd goal of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Nidumolu, 2020).

These favorable trends acknowledged, workplace stresses such as workplace depression, “heavy

work, poor work-life balance, workplace politics, and peer pressure” (Nidumolu, 2020, p.72) are still

concerning everyday realities.

The question most organizations seem only to ask rhetorically is: “Why should employee well-

being be prioritized?” or basically, “What’s in it for me?” Beliefs deeply routed in traditional leadership

development seem to create strong barriers of skepticism. Albert Galarza, Global VP of Human

Resources at TELUS International made a case for embracing employee well-being stating: “Engaged

employees bring their best selves to work every day, which translates to better business outcomes… to

build a company that can sustain the test of time, the key is having a strong foundation of healthy and

engaged employees” (Galarza, 2022 para. 15). Another supporting testament is illustrated through

Majong Studios, creators of the popular video game Minecraft, who decided in early 2021 to prioritize

employee well-being over an opportunity to capitalize on a spike in consumer interest in the game.

Minecraft workers “responded by helping Minecraft grow to over 141 million players in August of 2021,

a new peak in monthly active users…it was the right thing to do and in doing so, it built a stronger

connection and a better product” (Galarza, 2022, para. 16).

Research, and trailblazing companies willing to test new theories indicate that an investment in

holistic employee well-being not only supports employees but also bolsters an organization’s bottom

line. Additionally, advances in workplace technologies have enabled massive changes to the workplace
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environment and communication capabilities; it is time that organizational leadership and employee

development do the same.

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References

Galarza, A. (2022, March 25). Health Is Wealth: Why Prioritizing Employee Well-Being Leads To Better

Business Outcomes. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2022/03/25/health-is-wealth-

why-prioritizing-employee-well-being-leads-to-better-business-outcomes/?sh=4d541c2c1bfa

Gandhok, T., & Sammartino, A. (2020). Architecting Leadership Development through Enhanced

Cognitive Versatility. In C. Sripada, Leading human capital in the 2020s: Emerging perspectives

(First). SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd.

Goldberg, E. (2022, May 13). All of Those Quitters? They’re at Work. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/business/great-resignation-jobs.html?auth=login-

google1tap&login=google1tap

Horowitz, J. M., & Parker, K. (2022, March 9). The majority of workers who quit a job in 2021 cite low

pay, no opportunities for advancement, feeling disrespected. Pew Research Center.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/09/majority-of-workers-who-quit-a-job-in-

2021-cite-low-pay-no-opportunities-for-advancement-feeling-disrespected/

Huffington, A. (2022, October 14). Arianna Huffington [Feed post]. LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ariannahuffington_workplace-foundation-relationship-activity-

6986436703360028672-vOvd?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

LoGrasso, L. (2022, September). Invest in People NOT Ideas! LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/laurenlograsso_filmmaker-podcast-creativity-activity-

6978039806341619712-xXwZ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Nidumolu, R. (2020). Workplace Well-Being and Beingful Work. In C. Sripada, Leading human capital in

the 2020s: Emerging perspectives (First). SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd.
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Shafner, P. (2022, October 14). We need to get a body to fill this position as soon as possible. LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6986735207198445568?

utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Sripada, C. (Ed.). (2020). Leading human capital in the 2020s: Emerging perspectives (First). SAGE

Publications India Pvt Ltd.