Business/economics

How a Healthy Work Environment Drives a Healthy P&L

You don’t have to choose between what’s good for the business and what’s good for employees in the quest to drive productivity and profits. What you need is to invest in employee engagement.

Career burnout and business burn out as an overworked burnt from exhaustion as a match icon of an employee exhausted with job stress as a work concept for overloaded workers as a 3D illustration.
Getty Images.

People who are passionate about running businesses often talk about money or people—but not both.

Imagine, a chief operating officer at an oil company who doesn’t listen to any ideas that won’t result in more barrels or more money, right now. Many of us in the oil and gas industry know what it feels like to work in that organization.

Or the human resources leader that puts together an offsite meeting with personality tests, teambuilding exercises, and some “feel-good” work that has nothing to do with the actual work of the company.

Both examples have their place and their value, but they never work well together. It’s one or the other.

This is because of a widespread belief that what is right for a business and what is right for the people that work within one are inherently in conflict with each other.

At best, people view them as opposing forces to balance. At worst, they’re seen as incompatible ideas and there’s no town big enough for the both of them.

I call nonsense.

What’s Good for People? Elimination of Frustration

Whether it’s the fabled “TPS Reports,” jammed printers, or (multiple) inept bosses, we all have things at work that make our days worse.

×
SPE_logo_CMYK_trans_sm.png
Restricted Content
We're sorry, but this content is reserved for SPE Members. If you are a member, please sign in at the top of the page for access. If you are not a member and you find JPT content valuable, we encourage you to become a part of the SPE member community.