Execs call for mandatory reporting of employee well-being metrics

Transparency might be the best salve to treat work-induced burnout, new data show.

Some 85% of C-suite executives believe that organizations should require mandatory reporting of well-being metrics, according to a study released Wednesday by research firm Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence. Yet only half of those executives think their own companies are doing a good enough job promoting transparency.

“We’re at this inflection point where real change can happen,” said Dan Schwabel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence. He recalls past efforts to encourage companies to go public with their diversity statistics and how the success of that movement lent itself to an “uptake in interest in companies reporting well-being metrics.”

This rising awareness of workforce well-being, which refers to a holistic measure of staffers’ mental, physical, social and financial health, coincides with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ongoing efforts to emphasize the economic value of a worker’s skills and abilities. The regulator wants to require public companies to disclose “human capital” data, which SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said could include workforce health, benefits and skills and development training.

Emily Dickens, chief of staff of the Society of Human Resource Management, warns that the results of well-being surveys may be less important than concrete steps companies are taking to invest in employee health resources. While the “scope of well-being,” she said, remains undefined, “there’s a recognition that it’s more than just physical.”

For most companies, the initial numbers wouldn’t look promising. A majority of employees say their health either worsened or stayed the same since last year, according to the survey. Eight in 10 respondents identified stressful job duties as the biggest roadblock to improving their quality of life, with 60% of employees saying that they’re considering leaving their role for another that would better support their well-being.

One problem unearthed by the study is a disconnect between what executives and employees think their companies are doing to promote well-being. Nearly 89% of executives surveyed believe their policies are helping to move toward that goal in some capacity. But only 41% of employees share the same view. That suggests company well-being initiatives aren’t always making it out of the boardroom.

Publishing well-being data is the first step needed to bridge that disconnect, said Schwabel. Managers should be instructed to conduct frequent check-ins, model healthy behaviors and encourage employees to take breaks and time off from work, among other supportive measures.

“That’s something that talent is looking for now,” said Schwabel. He predicts that impressive well-being metrics will serve as an effective tool for recruitment and retention, with 87% of executives agreeing that potential employees would be keener to accept a position with a company that places emphasis on wellness.

Though companies like Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. are facing pressure to report their well-being metrics, not many others have fully embraced the practice.  But some research organizations, including Gallup and the Wellbeing Research Centre, are already refining methods of evaluating wellness information.

“Companies want to practice what they preach,” said Schwabel. “If they’re doing a good job, they’re probably proud to share it.”