Right here in our bustling capital city, Nairobi hosts numerous universities and satellite campus. Amongst the esteemed halls of a well-known university that once echoed with the vibrant energy of dedicated employees and enthusiastic students, the arrival of a new dean, however, marked the beginning of a palpable shift within the campus.
Staff members, who served faithfully as the administrative backbone of the university, found their satisfaction waning under his leadership. The dean, focused on academic prestige and operational efficiency, overlooked the critical components of employee well-being.
In as much the faculty complained of work-life balance degradation under the new dean and slowly slinked out emotionally taking up adjunct courses at other institutions and consultancies instead of focusing on their core job.
As months passed, a worrying trend emerged. Student retention rates began to plummet, an issue that the university's administration hastily attributed to external factors.
They accused the pandemic of its lingering affects. They blamed the increasing cost of living and more taxes. They pointed fingers online competitors.
Yet, while blaming everyone else, the university leadership neglected the root of the problem that lay much closer to home involving the growing dissatisfaction amongst the university staff and faculty.
The faculty, once passionate about their roles, now felt undervalued and overworked, a sentiment that inevitably seeped into their interactions with students. Staff members felt unnoticed and disregarded and while demoralised, went on a go slow that greatly extended the time for grade processing, student payment receipts, and so on.
Such a scenario mirrors a crucial insight highlighted in Gil Winch's recent paper. He posits that the well-being of employees in any organisation, including educational institutions, is paramount, not just for the sake of the employees but for the organisation's overall success. His paper proposes a novel approach making corporate supervisors, managers, and executives’ bonuses contingent on their employees' well-being. Then employee well-being can include multiple factors.
The research reveals a startling statistic in that about 80 percent of employees and managers report that their workplace negatively impacts their well-being. Such a malaise amongst workers carries far-reaching consequences that lead to increased employee turnover, lower productivity, and higher absenteeism. In the US alone, poor mental health leads to an estimated annual loss of the equivalent of Sh7.5 trillion in productivity.
In the researcher’s transformative solution, he recommends tying managerial compensation, including bonuses, directly to the emotional well-being of their teams. Inasmuch, organisations can create a more balanced and healthy work environment with an approach that not only enhances the quality of life for employees but also bolsters the financial performance of the business.
On the employee side, a policy shift of this nature could mean a significant change in workplace culture. A system that values their well-being could lead to more supportive management practices, better work-life balance, and a healthier, more positive work environment.
Managers, on their part, would need to adopt a more holistic view of leadership that steers away for outdated notions of top-down decision making, absence of active listening, uncollaborative approaches, and unfair rude interactions.
Executives would be instead incentivised to prioritise the mental and emotional health of their teams, fostering an atmosphere of care and support, with an indicator of employee satisfaction, interactional justice, organisational commitment, and managerial trust.
The approach would require not only a change in mindset but also the development of new skills in emotional intelligence and empathetic leadership.
Organisations, in embracing the new concept, could see a ripple effect of positive changes. Employee satisfaction and well-being are closely linked to customer satisfaction, innovation, and overall productivity in numerous research studies.
By ensuring that managerial bonuses become contingent on the well-being of employees, companies can then promote a more sustainable and humane way of doing business all while earning more profits for themselves.
In conclusion, Gil Winch's proposal offers a compelling path forward for organisations seeking to enhance both employee well-being and business success. Is Kenya ready to revolutionise the way companies operate, leading to a more empathetic and effective management style that benefits everyone involved?
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