Employee Well-Being Recommendations For Matthews Marketing

Issues with Matthew Marketing and Need for Employee Well-Being Programs

Matthews Marketing

You are an HR consultant and have been contacted by Brian Matthews who runs a local marketing and event organising business. The business employs 150 people in a range of professional, technical and administrative roles. Brian owns the company and has a very ‘hands-on’ approach to management. He has 8 managers who report to him and who are responsible for their own teams. Employee turnover in the company is fairly low and 20% of the workforce has been with the company since it started 15 years ago.

Earlier this year, one of his project managers committed suicide and there has been some suggestion locally that stressful working conditions contributed to Peter’s death.  Brian disputes this but is worried about the effect that this bad press may have on his customers. Brian has asked you to come and talk to him about wellbeing in the company and would like suggestions about what he should be doing.  You have asked him to outline the problem and this is what he says,“Peter had worked in my department for nearly 5 years.  He was an excellent employee and was the sort of person who was always willing to help out, you knew that if you gave him something to do it would be done well.  This did mean that he often took on extra things as not everyone was as obliging as Peter and, if I’m honest, he probably took on more than his fair share of jobs.

I suppose he was very busy, but he didn’t complain, not like some of the others. A couple of his colleagues were always complaining that they had too much to do yet they didn’t always achieve much. They kept asking for meetings to discuss their work and even suggested setting up an employee consultative committee, but we weren’t keen on this. More talk than work seemed to be what they wanted. We did meet with them to talk about the work but there wasn’t much we could do, if the customers send in work then we need to complete it to their deadlines, if we don’t, we lose the contract. We just have to buckle down and get on with it.

Peter didn’t seem to be struggling with work.  I think he was having a bit of a tough time at home though as his wife left him last year and he did take a few days holiday to attend a hearing about custody for his children. He didn’t discuss this at work and was quite a private person. His sickness record was okay, he had a couple of days off for a migraine and then a couple of instances of sickness but nothing out of the ordinary.

Factors that Influence Employee Well-Being

I asked you here because, since Peter’s death the staff seem a bit unsettled.  We have tried to carry on as normal, but more people have taken time off and everyone feels a bit more tense. There was an argument between staff in the finance team the other day as Lizzie, who has worked here for years, flew off the handle at one of the new accounts clerks over something little.  I had to get them both in and warn them that they had to get on but now everyone is walking on eggshells around them.  I have a business to run and I can’t let their personal arguments  get in the way. Lizzie has now gone off on the sick with stress, I think this is just an excuse not to come in and face the issue.  I need to keep an eye on this as she could string the absence out for a while, and we are already short staffed in the office.

I’ve spoken to Karen our office manager and she is worried that if staff are saying they are stressed, we may be liable and have to pay them for extended sickness.  Staff like Karen and talk to her about all sorts of stuff and she has told me that we should think about putting some wellbeing initiatives in place. I don’t know what she expects, but I can tell you now that there is no way that everyone is going to be doing yoga instead of working.  I want to be a good employer though; my team work hard and I want to be fair. We don’t have much spare money and staff don’t have much free time so we need to do things that will help and not just things that sound good.  Cheap, cheerful and effective is my moto.

So, can you help?  I’d like your recommendations of things that we can do to ensure that our staff are healthy, that they feel supported and that nobody is going to accuse us of causing stress.  And as I said, we aren’t making much profit, so these things need to be cheap and effective. I’ve been told I need to ask for them to be based on evidence!”

Your task is to:

1. Critically discuss the factors which influence wellbeing in organisations. This is a big area so use the job-demands resources model as a starting point and use a mix of practitioner and academic literature to consider which behaviours and strategies within organisations can impact on employee wellbeing.

Develop recommendations that Matthews Marketing may introduce to improve employee wellbeing and ensure that the employees feel supported. Consider the main costs of each recommendation, any barriers which need to be overcome and the benefits that will be derived from their introduction.

Issues with Matthew Marketing and Need for Employee Well-Being Programs

Management of human resources in the workplace is one of the most important factors that the manager must be concerned about. It is because of these human resources that the company is operating and earning profits. Without them, the company would not be where it currently is, as all the clients or the customers would remain unsatisfied because there would be no one to look after and satisfy their needs and wants. The local event and marketing business that is being run by Brian Matthews has faced quite a few issues off late. Brian being the owner, employs 150 people out of which 8 of them are the managers who are supposed to look after their own designated operations within the management. Brian has worked hard for his company and ensured that the employee turnover remained low and also 20 per cent of the workforce stood loyal towards the company since its 15 years of operations.

However, it can be seen that one of the employee, Peter, committed suicide. So, some of the employees suggested that this occurred because of the stressful working conditions. Such a situation in the organisation is not ideal, as it would make the other employees worry thereby reducing the productivity of the organisation along with increasing the rate of employee turnover and absenteeism (Van De Voorde, Paauwe and Van Veldhoven 2012). Well - being of the employees within the workplace must be the main concern of the manager. In addition to this, Brian wanted to ensure that the death of one of his employee might attract bad press towards his organisation and this would mean losing out on customers. However, Brian thinks that the death is not linked with the workplace but perhaps is linked with his own family as his wife left him and ever since then he has been facing trouble getting custody of his children.

So, it can be said that there are quite a few issues that could impact the well - being of the employees in a workplace both physically as well as mentally (Dobre 2013) (Boxall and Macky 2014). These factors or the determinants of health include the physical environment, the social environment, the economic environment, and the person’s individual behaviours as well as characteristics (Van De Voorde, Paauwe and Van Veldhoven 2012). In addition to this, the components of well - being does not just include physical, social, and economic well - being but, it also includes development and activity, life satisfaction, domain specific satisfaction, emotional well - being, and psychological well - being. It is extremely important that the organisation promotes and fosters employee well - being as it is not just good for the employees but it is also good for the organisation. This is because when the organisation caters to individual needs of the employees, it has a high tendency that the employees will be motivated and due to this the productivity of the organisation will significantly increase. In addition to this, creating appositive work environment can help avoid stress and simultaneously foster well - being as well as good health amongst the employees.

Factors that Influence Employee Well-Being

The factors which influence or have an impact on the wellbeing of the employees in organisations could be a good rewards and recognition policy (Searle and Lee 2015). More often than not, the business organisations or the companies tend to have a good rewards and recognition policy for their employees as it motivates the employees to achieve the set target. Not just this, the employees also try to outdo themselves by achieving more than what was initially expected out of them. Rewarding and recognising the performance of the employees will also mean that the employee turnover rate will decrease thereby retaining the top talent within the company (Graves, Sarkis and Zhu 2013). In addition to this, the manager must ensure that a diverse work culture exists within the organisation as it builds and boosts the reputation of the company. Moreover, it will also enable better performance amongst the employees as the creativity and performance, both will be increased. All of these factors would mean that the employees would fear less thereby creating a room where in the values, ideas, and perceptions from all the employees would be valued and given importance (Searle and Lee 2015). An inclusionary work culture as well as a workplace design has noted to motivate the employees tremendously (Kalshoven and Boon 2012). This is because, a good workplace means that the internal needs of the employees are being met along with enabling a positive environment. This leads to greater productivity and efficiency and promotes motivation (Sonnentag, Unger and Nagel 2013). A collaborative work environment encourages creativity and innovation from employees. In addition, it will also ensure that employees are happy and content with their job role. Lastly, an inclusionary work culture will drive the momentum behind the diversity program of the company.

With the effective as well as efficient use of the job - demands resource model also known as the JD - R model, an occupation stress model, the company can move towards its goal by identifying the needs and wants of the employees (Dollard, Tuckey and Dormann 2012). This occupational model was an alternate to the other models such as the effort - rewards model and the demand - control model. However, these model is restricted to a particular set of variables and might not be relevant for all of the job roles (Linder 2018). Thus, the implementation of the job demand resource model in the company will cater to the working conditions and then analyse the needs of the organisations as well as the needs of the employees (Kalshoven and Boon 2012). In addition to this, instead of just emphasising on the negative result variables such as the ill health of the employees or burnout amongst the employees, the job - demand model or the JD - R model will incorporate both the positive as well as the negative results and indicators of the well - being of employees.

Recommendations for Supporting Employee Well-Being

It can thus be said that it is rather necessary that the organisation addresses the issues that impacts the performance of the company. Matthews has tried hard to ensure the safety and well - being of the employees since the last 15 years, however, due to these current issues that took place, the employees are now scared. The first issue being suicide and the second being an employee hitting a new accountant clear over something extremely small. So, some of the recommendations that could perhaps ensure that the employees are not stressed and are fit to work without taking unapproved leaves or sick leaves include that the needs and requirements of the employees are being met. This could be done by conducting a questionnaire or survey amongst the employees where in the employees will be asked about how they feel about the work place scenario, benefits policy, leave and salary policy and the work timings and conditions (Mathieu et al. 2014) (Nilsen et al. 2017). These are some of the most important factors that tends to impact the decision of the employees. Encouraging the employees to openly communicate about their issues and ensuring that the issues will be looked upon and tried to resolve at the very earliest will create a sense of belief amongst the employees that the managers of the organisation value them.

Lastly, the employees too should cooperate with the senior management of the company and make their work easier instead of just accusing them and causing stress for both themselves as well as for the managers. This will make the employees feel that they are being supported by the organisation. In addition to this, the staff members must be trained and educated regarding the financial matters of the company and the organisation must ensure that the employee are taking good care of their physical as well as mental health. It is also important that the managers of the organisation create and foster a culture where in the employees are valued as individuals also, their views and perceptions are important for the growth and development of the organisation (Mathieu et al. 2014) (Nilsen et al. 2017). Furthermore, a model must be in place to confirm that the needs and requirements of the employees are being met on time as this will motivate them and help the organisation retain its top talent. This eventually will save the organisation from spending a hefty amount to hire as well as train the new employees. It must also be kept in mind that these suggestions does not involve a lot of investment from the part of the organisation except for the job demands resource model. These suggestions will help the marketing and event management company of Matthews to eliminate any barriers and will help them succeed.

References

Boxall, P. and Macky, K., 2014. High-involvement work processes, work intensification and employee well-being. Work, employment and society, 28(6), pp.963-984.

Dobre, O.I., 2013. Employee motivation and organizational performance. Review of applied socio-economic research, 5(1).

Dollard, M.F., Tuckey, M.R. and Dormann, C., 2012. Psychosocial safety climate moderates the job demand–resource interaction in predicting workgroup distress. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 45, pp.694-704.

Graves, L.M., Sarkis, J. and Zhu, Q., 2013. How transformational leadership and employee motivation combine to predict employee proenvironmental behaviors in China. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 35, pp.81-91.

Guest, D.E., 2017. Human resource management and employee well?being: Towards a new analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), pp.22-38. (Guest 2017)

Kalshoven, K. and Boon, C.T., 2012. Ethical leadership, employee well-being, and helping. Journal of Personnel Psychology.

Lindner, J.R., 2018. Understanding employee motivation. Journal of extension, 36(3), pp.1-8.

Mathieu, C., Neumann, C.S., Hare, R.D. and Babiak, P., 2014. A dark side of leadership: Corporate psychopathy and its influence on employee well-being and job satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 59, pp.83-88.

Nielsen, K., Nielsen, M.B., Ogbonnaya, C., Känsälä, M., Saari, E. and Isaksson, K., 2017. Workplace resources to improve both employee well-being and performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Work & Stress, 31(2), pp.101-120.

Searle, B.J. and Lee, L., 2015. Proactive coping as a personal resource in the expanded job demands–resources model. International Journal of Stress Management, 22(1), p.46.

Sonnentag, S., Unger, D. and Nägel, I.J., 2013. Workplace conflict and employee well-being: The moderating role of detachment from work during off-job time. International Journal of Conflict Management, 24(2), pp.166-183.

Van De Voorde, K., Paauwe, J. and Van Veldhoven, M., 2012. Employee well?being and the HRM–organizational performance relationship: a review of quantitative studies. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14(4), pp.391-407.