Why Every Employer Should be Empowering Managers to Have More “Uncomfortable” Work Conversations

It is time for companies to prioritize employee health and wellness and to find better ways to support staff. Gone are the days when a company would be recognized as innovative or an employer of choice simply for having “good” policies in place. Employees, job candidates and indeed clients as well are now demanding more as we are entering this new phase of the “workplace” in our post-pandemic reality.

To do this, it will require employers and managers to dig deeper, to start having more “uncomfortable conversations” with employees. Asking “Are you OK?” is no longer enough. Instead, managers need to be asking questions and having meaningful conversations with their employees to find better ways to support employees to remain in the workforce and to succeed at work.

Unless we start having conversations to find out what the needs of our employees are, lead with empathy and empower employees to develop ideas to thrive at work, then the goal of workplace equality is not going to be within our reach. Workplace equality means that people are given equal opportunities, equal pay and are accepted for their differences. Because this is difficult to measure on a global scale, most of the research has focused on gender diversity but it is clear that the problems of workplace inequality far extend beyond gender inequality and pay disparity. Nonetheless, the statistic on workplace gender inequality today is frightening enough, because, at the current rate, especially due to the impacts of COVID-19, it is estimated by the World Economic Forum to take 135.6 years to close the gap completely. That means that it is unlikely that there are any people alive today who will see significant change within their lifetime.

As a result, having meaningful conversations with employees has never been more important than now and it is something that every single employer should be prioritizing. There is ample data to demonstrate that diverse companies outperform in almost every way – from greater innovation, increased productivity and profitability, and lower share price volatility – to reduced turnover and recruitment costs. We have known all of this for a while though, but the pandemic has changed the score once again, forcing companies to start thinking about the relationship with their employees in a new way. We have all heard about the ‘Great Resignation’ and while we have now entered a second phase where we are somewhat in a 'confused' market with reductions occurring in some workplaces, the reality remains that employees have left the workforce in droves across the globe throughout the last two years. Employees and job candidates alike are demanding more of the organizations that they choose to work with. In the war for top talent, the employers that will end up on top are the ones that start thinking about the workplace and their employees a bit differently.

To attract and retain talent and create productive and successful teams, employers simply must find better ways to support each and every employee based on their individual needs and circumstances. To do this is actually easier than you might think, and it starts with developing a greater understanding of the people that make up your workforce by having more open communication, better and more meaningful conversations and empowering and supporting employees to feel comfortable enough to speak up when they are experiencing personal challenges and need flexibility.  

The lines between a person’s home life and the workplace have become increasingly blurred. Technology has played a part in this but so too has the fact that more of us are now working remotely and, the research suggests[1], will continue to do so. Experiencing a global pandemic and the challenges and disruptions that it has posed to our daily life has also forced people to stop and reassess their priorities. Employees are now seeking out opportunities with companies that really care about their health, wellness and personal circumstances and, they want tangible action not just nice words in a policy statement.

Encouraging and supporting employees to be open about health, personal, or family challenges, provides an environment where employees are empowered to develop solutions and find ways that they can continue to work and to succeed at work in a way that is understanding and accepting of their circumstances.  In turn, this results in many positive benefits to the organization not least of which are that it allows for better planning and management of the workforce and business needs, increases employee commitment to the organization and increased productivity by removing the age-old “this is how we do things here” philosophy.

To really effect this type of workplace change though, it needs to be driven by an organization’s leadership and it requires both a change in thinking, a plan of action and support and resources for managers to make it happen. Training managers more effectively on how to handle conversations with employees is key. When managers are armed with the tools that they need to better manage conversations with employees, it also results in reduced risk of employee claims for mishandling of matters related to employee health issues, leave periods, parental responsibilities, pregnancy loss and many other matters, which is just another added benefit. However, these types of conversations involve highly sensitive and personal information and therefore they must be conducted appropriately which is why effective training of managers is so important.

[1] https://findstack.com/remote-work-statistics/