Hallelujah, Amen, whatever joyous thing you would like to shout out – I just want to give kudos and a round of applause to all the organizations who have finally woken up and said, “Our employee well-being is important.” Thank you! I am seeing so many more programs and departments, even at the C level.
In fact, I recently saw a major organization hire a Chief Well-Being Officer. I mean, talk about apparent commitment to people’s well-being. So, I just want to acknowledge you. However, it’s not going to solve it. In fact, these programs and these positions could potentially do more harm than good.
Because no matter how amazing the support and these programs are, they will not kill the root cause of your employee’s low well-being.
Whether that’s stress, burnout, mental health, whatever it is – these programs will not kill the root cause. The root cause is bad managers. Bad managers, they infiltrate and they get across the entire subculture. These well-being programs do not stand a chance against these bad managers.
Unfortunately, I know this first-hand; I spent a significant period of time reporting in to a really bad manager. Who, in the final months of me working with him, exhibited full bullying behavior. Unfortunately, we found out it had been going on for 15 years. The behavior became so bad that I don’t even know if my company offered any sort of well-being programs or mental health support, I just had to go out and find it on my own. I was investing my own time and money, going to therapy every single week.
And I will tell you, the therapy was amazing, but it did not help me once I set foot in the office. Once I was there, the bullying behavior by my manager was like a dagger straight into my heart. And though I had a shield to deflect some of it, it would not rid it completely. I was unable to really show up to be the best version of myself that I could, in order to give the best contribution to the company.
And so until we all wake up and look at the root cause of the problem, which is bad managers who are living within your organization, these well-being programs are going to offer some support, and they will be great when there are good managers and these employees need this additional assistance, but do not allow this to have you go blindly.
Don’t use this as a mask, but really continue to dig deep and find the root cause; to find those managers who need training or course correcting, whatever it needs to be for those individuals. I implore you to please make sure that while you are making this amazing effort towards well-being, that you are still seeking where you can find those managers that you can course correct in whatever manner works best for that individual and your organization.