"We’re fully aware that the value of investment in benefits, services, and interventions, will only be fully realised by organisations when the environment in which they sit – the culture – is also conducive to good wellbeing."
- Colin Fitzgerald, Distribution Director of Group Protection at L&G Retail
Based on an average annual salary of £36k and 30mn population in the UK, productivity losses are 2.5 times more likely amongst individual’s wellbeing & commitment, according to the latest research commissioned by Legal & General (L&G) Group Protection.
Where low individual wellbeing & commitment are factors in the workplace, productivity loss per employee is £10,500 p.a. in comparison to a productivity loss of £4,200 where individual wellbeing & commitment is high. L&G believes this suggests that helping the working population in the UK reach both a level of high individual wellbeing & commitment could generate as much as £34bn in improved productivity annually.
Data obtained by Fruitful Insights on behalf of the provider seemingly confirms that subjective wellbeing measures (such as job satisfaction) correlate directly to the impact of wellbeing on overall productivity. This can help to show whether an organisation has a positive or negative employee wellbeing status, says Fruitful Insights, but it doesn’t show why this is the case.
Fruitful’s analysis found that cultural factors such as work control, competence, and relatedness – good relationships with managers & colleagues alike – represent the key drivers that lead to positive or negative wellbeing. Productivity loss for an employee without supportive colleagues is estimated at £10k versus £4,700 for those with supportive colleagues. For an employee who feels valued versus an employee who doesn’t, the productivity loss is £3,700 vs £10,400 respectively.
“It would be impossible to get productivity loss to zero. Thinking you can, might only lead to issues such as work-related stress and burnout. The important point is that the most satisfied employees have a much lower level of productivity loss than the very dissatisfied employees. So, our focus should be on bringing the tail up; focusing on where people are dissatisfied, as opposed to expecting 100%,” explained Mike Tyler, Chair & Co-Founder of Fruitful Insights.
He said: There’s clearly a big prize to be had, in terms of improving wellbeing & commitment, and hence productivity of the UK working population. But that won’t be achieved through subjective wellbeing measures alone. These are important, but it’s time to evolve. To get to the core of the matter, employers need to be encouraged to focus on the cultural drivers of wellbeing.”
Colin Fitzgerald, Distribution Director of Group Protection at L&G Retail, added: “We’re fully aware that the value of investment in benefits, services, and interventions, will only be fully realised by organisations when the environment in which they sit – the culture – is also conducive to good wellbeing.”
