Reflections on well-being & productivity!

A narrative on how we make or break things for ourselves and others …

Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of my current or previous employers.

Context

The purpose of organizations is to understand customers' needs and serve them while managing the business well. This requires bringing people together to contribute to customer success, thereby earning their trust, which in turn fuels growth and generates revenue.

While employee engagement with organizations is purposeful, it is voluntary and is driven by the mutual interest in serving customers and earning compensation for the service.

The impact radius and link to behavior, work ethics, workaholism, and burnouts

I will start with a core assumption, that we all begin with a good intention of serving a purpose.

While the motivation to commit to a mission is subjective to each of us, the drive is influenced by our behaviors; the way organizations position themselves around the purpose, the community they serve, and other factors, contribute to keeping or repelling each of us.

As we serve each other, we do so by bringing along a varying degree of motivation, involvement, and emotional, psychological, and physical parameters that are unique to us; thus leaving a footprint on the impact we create as individuals and as a group.

Here are a few scenarios to drive this article: while self-driven may turn into workaholics; purpose-driven are willing to sacrifice a few aspects of organizational limitations; blamers will slack and find ways to do nothing.

Let’s consider the philosophy, one cannot satisfy everyone. While the organizations may not be able to satisfy each and everyone, let’s assume that it strives to achieve > 95% satisfaction. Similarly, employees may not be able to fully comprehend everything the organization does and offers, which would fuel shortcomings with people engagement, let’s assume that > 90% of employee engagement and satisfaction is workable.

Given the above assumptions, as one pushes towards setting goals and achieving them for themselves, the organization and the community one serves, we can feel the euphoria or feel the burnout depending on how we position, execute, reflect and process the events.

For interesting perspectives on work ethics, refer to the global business ethics survey 2021

Scenario since 2020

The context for the hypothesis: infographic

• Social Media since 2004 in particular has narrowed/removed the boundaries for information propagation. At the same time, it has amplified bias, knee-jerk reactions, seeking validation, and oftentimes paved the way to toxic relationships.
• The pandemic on the other hand taught most of us the meaning of life; which is different for each of us. While the beauty is that one learned what is important, the shift has moved towards isolation from the big picture.

I’m considering the above two aspects that directly impact the mind and body. Firstly, we are not internet-of-things, and we can only process a certain velocity of information flow. Secondly, Through the pandemic, while we know that being empathetic is key; we’ve forgotten that our mind will always find a way to survive.

A few example questions to reflect upon …

• Is it the information overload causing stress?
• Is it a story on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok breaking us apart?
• Is the workload hitting us hard?
• Is it the shrunk time with family that’s causing the pain?
• Is it affecting my physical and mental well-being?

Many of us struggle to comprehend information, specifically organizing information flow, weeding out the good from the bad, and prioritizing it to make decisions.

Presenting incorrect data to our mind and body would push us into the wrong zones, thus impacting things that were once the most important aspect to fulfill our needs and wants.

Most recently, the spike to take care of well-being has sent many organizations to support people over the mission. While this was critical during a global pandemic, and a useful tool to provide a safe zone for all the employees, the 1% often create problems for the 99% of the population. The challenge is particularly concerning the well-being zone being pushed to levels no one anticipated, thus directly derailing employee contributions to the organization's mission and the disconnect from the purpose of employment.

Based on the events and statistics, I debate with myself that 1% of the disengaged employees are pushing the organizations to adapt differently.

While few organizations are fully remote, few are hybrid; few others are forcing employees to bring themselves to work, few others have removed the remote work policy; few others have removed the well-being day off. 99% of the engaged population is impacted by the consequence.

In my humble opinion, the position we often put ourselves and others is conspired by our own/collective behaviors which in turn influences future events. In case, we’re unable to serve, at least walk away dignified!

Summary

Social media is a great tool; however, when we use it the wrong way, it does impact our well-being and productivity, which in turn impacts our outlook in the environment where we are supposed to engage and serve a purpose.

Take care of yourself by being conscious and intentional, no matter what generation you represent. If one of us has a negative influence, it can go unnoticed. However, when the masses show negative influences, it has dire social and economic consequences. Not just for one, but for everyone around the world!

We are all here for a reason, let's take care of ourselves and be ready to serve ourselves to live independently, to serve our families, our communities, and our countries directly and indirectly. Get clarity!

Situational awareness through stories

Check this great childhood story; it proves that our approach to receiving information and processing plays a part in the decisions we make. Think of the story wherein Akbar and Birbal represent the organization; the people represent the employees; and the milk represents the values, ethics, contributions, and purpose people serve.