Are you listening to employees' needs? 4 ways to help them feel seen and heard

May 30, 2023 4:03 PM

In today's workforce, finding efficient ways to communicate, identify individual employee needs, and establish a low-stress culture can leave leadership's heads spinning. But employees are increasingly voicing their needs when it comes to well-being in the workplace, and savvy leadership teams should listen up in an effort to strengthen their company culture.

Roughly 70% of both Gen Z and millennials are experiencing workplace stress, according to the American Physiological Association. Zippia reports that work-related stress causes approximately one million employees to miss work each day, three quarters report that their stress levels negatively impact their personal relationships, and half are not engaged at work as a result of the stress brought on by their jobs. Regardless of the root cause, employers can face an uphill battle in helping to solve these stressors, but will benefit from beginning the climb before their people become disengaged, burned out, and gone for good.

It takes more than just a quarterly survey to give HR and leadership what they need to enhance employee wellness, according to Carla Yudhishthu, chief people officer at HR compliance company Mineral. Surveys are a good resource, but connecting with employees through direct communication, letting them steer conversations and meeting their unique needs with benefits and perks are all part of a successful mission to building a culture around well-being, she says.

When it comes to best engagement and communication practices, Yudhishthu shares some thoughts on what types of leadership styles she has seen succeed.

Establish open communication from the start

Employees who report unclear expectations at work also report higher daily worry, stress, anxiety, and loneliness, according to Gallup research. The study found that only 43% of workers strongly agree that they have a clear job description, and 41% strongly agree that their job description aligns with the work they do.

"It needs to be made clear what people are responsible for," says Yudhishthu. "We need to have digestible job responsibilities and objectives for people. There are very basic leadership one-on-one things that can't be underestimated."

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Encourage direct, personal communication

Town halls, small group sessions (among all levels within an organization) and employee communication channels are some of the ways workers can voice their thoughts and questions to leadership, particularly about workplace practices and benefits.

After Mineral shut down its monthly in-person coffee meetings between the CEO and employees due to COVID, Yudhishthu has worked to reestablish these valued conversations in a virtual setting. Employees discuss existing benefits as well as those they would like to see included in the company's offerings. Stemming from a recent discussion about the possibility of a four-day workweek, employees created their own communication channel and offered personal insight that helped HR understand more of what individual employees were looking for from policies around workplace flexibility, even if eliminating an entire workday isn't currently being considered.

"We hear first hand all the questions, feedback and comments — what's important about flexibility, about PTO," says Yudhishthu. "We had a group of people who started a Slack channel [with] all kinds of content that they're sharing, and what they're learning as they share what they want with flexibility is that it's different for everyone. We find that when we let them do that, they can come back with solutions that are coming from them. It helps them through challenges, and it's not just us thinking for them."

Learn employees’ love languages

The bestselling book on relationship connectivity — explaining the five various categories that best fit how people express and experience love — is a metaphor for leaders' support of their employees, says Yudhishthu. Office practices such as recognizing people's birthdays and employee milestones, gifts of appreciation, social events and praise for a job well done are some small ways that employers can fill their teams' cups.

"Everyone has a love language," she says. "People get fixated on, 'Give everyone one thing and it's going to solve the problem.' No, it's not, because everyone has individual needs. They had them before, but we didn't talk about them."

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Let there be autonomy

It's no secret that supportive benefits can go a long way to create employee happiness. But as workforces and their needs become increasingly diverse, open-ended well-being funds can go a long way in providing personalization. According to Gallup, fewer than half of employees currently feel their organization cares about their well-being — enabling them to choose how to utilize benefits funds can shift that sentiment.

"What is going to provide mental health for [people] is very different," Yudhishthu says. "I want them to feel empowered. You don't have to use [the benefit], but it's there."