14th November 2022
A Culture of Wellbeing Starts with Transparent Leadership – Here’s Why
Attitudes towards what we do and who we do it for have shifted massively in the years since the start of the pandemic and employee wellbeing has subsequently become a major focus for organizational leaders.
But what about the wellbeing of leaders themselves?
To find answers, Deloitte recently surveyed over 2000 employees and C-level executives across four countries, and the results are staggering.
Read on to find out why the wellbeing of workplace leaders has a direct impact upon that of those that they lead, and much more.
From the article by Steve Hatfield, Jen Fisher & Paul H. Silverglate for Deloitte.
C-suite transparency: A key part of the equation
It’s helpful that the C-suite is taking greater ownership and action around matters of health, but there’s also a compelling need for these leaders to be more transparent with their workforce. People at all levels of an organization need to feel they can be open about their well-being, especially as it relates to their work. And whether or not they recognize this, the C-suite sets the example for everyone else.
To understand the global culture around transparency better, we asked employees and executives to reflect on their openness around matters of health. Only one-third of workers (33%) say they “always” or “often” share information about well-being with their managers—for example, how they’re feeling, if they’re struggling with their well-being, or if they’ve set any personal wellness goals.
But there’s even less transparency coming from the C-suite, with only 22% of employees reporting that their executives share information about their well-being with them. Again, there’s a large disconnect between executives’ and employees’ perceptions: Seventy-three percent of the C-suite say they do share this information with their people! If they are, it’s clear that employees aren’t seeing these efforts, or they’re getting lost in today’s information-overloaded workplace.
Seventy-three percent of the C-suite say they’re transparent about their well-being, but only 22% of employees agree.
Fortunately, the vast majority of the C-suite (84%) are taking steps to be more transparent, like holding forums or discussions with employees, managers, and other executives (54%). And 84% agree that when executives are healthy, their workers are more likely to be healthy too—a sentiment that was validated by other key survey findings. We discovered that among employees whose executives are transparent, 72% reported above-average well-being, versus only 57% of those whose executives are not transparent.
But in order to optimize these outcomes, C-suite leaders will need to do more than just boost their transparency. They’ll also need to be aware of and empathetic to their workforce’s level of resources and access, so their own stories will resonate with their teams and be accessible.
Furthermore, leaders should recognize that greater C-suite transparency doesn’t just benefit employees; it can also encourage other executives to prioritize their health. The vast majority of C-suite respondents say that it’s important for them to see other leaders taking care of their well-being (84%) and that seeing this would motivate them to improve their own well-being (82%).
Read the full article, here.
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