As the new year rolled in, one was flooded with insights on how to win the war for talent. Talent is a real problem today, and retaining itan even bigger one. We oen hear of ʻinnovativeʼ new HR policies from no-questions-asked leaves to celebration leaves (to celebrate milestones like purchasing a new car or moving into a new home), to pet adoption leaves, while the time-tested giing of memberships for reading clubs and gyms continues to be retention strategy.

My experience says while these are great for optics and generating some buzz,the real innovation we need is in the mindset of how employees are treated. Employee wellbeing is not achieved by just introducing new leave policies and throwing in some club memberships. Employee wellbeing is about creating a safe space for people to be who they were born to be. Itʼs a cultural phenomenon implying a fundamental shi in mindset. A mindset that sees employees as fellow human beings and not just means to get a task done. If we can start truly thinking on these lines, we can create a workspace where people bond over shared values, feel energised because they are valued for being uniquely skilled and are convinced that their voices will be heard in safe and attentive spaces.

I am reminded of William Staffordʼs poem, The Way It Is; “If you don't know the kind of person I am and
I do not know the type of person you're
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world

and following the incorrect god home we may miss our star.”

We all have the best of intentions, and want the best for the people we work with. But we all know purpose and action are the toughest to align. Rethinking the way we engage with people, the willingness to be vulnerable and acknowledging the power of community co-creation, can help us reimagine wellbeing at the workplace.

Here is an interesting model I heard about in the context of education, that I have tried to recast in the context of workplace wellbeing. The Head, Heart and Economic metabolism model.

Head: the centre of collaborative listening and learning

• Create thriving for all by pooling information, finding better ways to do the mundane.
• Change behaviour by changing beliefs; beliefs are like the soware to the head hardware, and they can be tweaked.
• Practice critical thinking & collaborative processing.
• Build vibrant and rapidly adaptive systems that are outcome focussed and not just process-oriented.
• Facilitate continuous learning: pressures from poor outcomes push us to reshape beliefs.

Heart: the centre for common values and culture

• Develop authentic compassion at work.
• Create spaces for having difficult ʻuneasyʼ conversations, grief discussions.
• Top management must model ʻI need helpʼ structures.
• Make diversity a strategic value to build a more synergetic community of people.
• Build unity & synergy through mutual benefit, fairness, accountability and open input. • Create living structures that shepherd resources for the health of the whole.

Economy: the centre of fire

• Turns energy & resources into capacities.
• Circulate thoroughly to nourish human capacities.
• Reliable inputs & healthy outputs.
• Create open, honest, inclusive venues for a regular reassessment of current practices.

This can create a new sphere of wellbeing that is circular and regenerative as well. Investing in human capacities & organizational infrastructure that do all the work and learning is crucial. Investing here must be understood holistically, in addition to financial wellbeing, organisations must invest in the emotional, cognitive, relational and spiritual wellbeing of the people they engage with.

In the words of Wade Davis, the measure of success in a wellbeing focussed workplace is not the wealth accumulated by the lucky few, but the strength of the social relationships, the bonds of reciprocity that bind everybody into a common purpose. Drilling down to find employees who need more and varied types of support, creates widely shared feelings of holistic wellbeing and cohesion across all.

Ensuring the metabolism of the Head, Heart and the Economy is kept optimal, can help an organisation thrive in complexity as a result of a mutually beneficial collaboration of everyone bringing their best to their roles. Growth requires keeping everyone in sync by linking them in lace-like networks of connective tissue.

We are beginning to see companies rethink the employee experience in ways that respect individual differences, while also adapting to uncertain and rapidly changing forces. When the rubber meets the road, itʼs all about walking alongside each employee. This canʼt be managed by an app, by new policies, or extra days of leave.

All it needs is for us to bring the one true skill we all have as human beings – empathy.