The Well-Being Factor: Solving the Employee Productivity Equation

Executive Summary Key Concepts:
• The definitive interplay between employee well-being and
Productive, enthusiastic, innovative, engaged. All sustainable productivity
desirable attributes for a top-performing workforce.
But what makes such a workforce? Well-being is unequivocally connected to productivity. Bright Horizons’
research has confirmed this interplay, illustrating a strong link between
high levels of well-being and a top-performer’s ability to consistently
The unequivocal answer is well-being. A high level of
deliver.
well-being — the sum total of things that make
people feel grounded and capable of managing life • Understanding the well-being drivers in your organization and
and work—frees people to focus. Effectively why they matter
supporting employee well-being engenders a
What creates a sense of well-being differs from organization to
positive organizational culture. It ensures that great
organization. To effectively impact well-being and benefit from it,
hires become great performers. And it provides employers need to understand how to identify those drivers and what
unprecedented opportunities for organizations to to do once you find them.
flourish by fully leveraging the resources already on
their payroll — their employees. • Our story: well-being through the lens of Bright Horizons’ own
successful experience

Employers who look below the surface – who Our in-depth investigation of well-being at Bright Horizons revealed
recognize that job-related stresses are just the some surprising findings about well-being in our own workforce and
small, visible tip of an employee’s work/life iceberg what drives it. It also provided helpful information about what we’re
and that a greater store of personal issues exist doing right and how to maintain that progress going forward.
below – are in the best position to fully realize their
• Strategies to enhance employee well-being in your organizations
workforce’s potential. Those who understand and
respond to employee priorities both in life and in The most effective well-being supports are ongoing strategies that are
work can set themselves apart, creating dynamic, reassessed over time. Bright Horizons own Well-Being Indicator allows
success-oriented cultures that minimize employees’ employers to measure well-being in the workforce, to provide targeted
responses to specific workforce challenges, and to re-measure well-
unmanaged stress, maximize their levels of well-
being to assess the success of those responses over time.
being, and as a result increase productivity and lead
to sustainable, high-growth returns.
www.brighthorizons.com/wellbeing l 800-453-9383 ext. 1600 l clientservices@brighthorizons.com l @BHatWork

© 2012, Bright Horizons Family Solutions LLC

Challenging Old Assumptions

● One-dimensional approach to employees leaves too many gaps

● As managers, we’ve been trained to draw bright lines between
home and work
– Employees’ home issues are their issues
– We’ll help them integrate work and life but…what if life’s the real issue?

You have to choose which is more important to you, your career or
your other interests.

I need to choose how you (employer) fit into what is important to me.


Employee Well-Being
Well-


How “Much” of Our Employees
Do We Employ?
When 700 working adults were
asked to identify and then rank
their social roles, the composite
ranking came out as follows:

1. PARENT
2. SPOUSE/PARTNER
3. FRIEND

4. RELIGIOUS OR
SPIRITUAL OBSERVER
5. WORKER/EMPLOYEE

Source: Peggy Thoits, 2009

Employee Well-Being:
Well-
The New Equation

R = resilience
(amplifies contribution)

Sustainable Productivity = Environment X Contribution


Resilience

● Feeling: innovative, imaginative, creative, inspired, enthusiastic
● Good relationships with colleagues
● “My job inspires me.”
● “I invest a lot of myself at work.”
● Overall job satisfaction

RESILIENCE
● Feeling: distressed, hopeless, irritable, worthless
● Higher stress levels


Our Case Study: What We Learned
Study:
● Engaged ● Managing spending/budgeting
● Inspirational work ● Retirement
● Management trust ● Financial freedom
● Work/life integration
● Workload control
● Hobbies/interests
● Celebrate accomplishments
● Strong community

● Personal health
● Weight/body image
● Physically demanding work
● Nutrition
● Humor/laughter
● Optimism
● Learn from mistakes
● Solution oriented


Why is Employee Well-Being
Well-
So Important?

Simply put, employees’ level of well-being can sustain or erode
well-
their level of engagement.
-Towers Watson

A global study funded by the World Economic Forum indicates
that when employees feel like their employers care about their
well-
well-being, they are eight times more likely to be engaged.
- World Economic Forum


Why is Employee Well-Being
Well-
So Important?

Companies with highly engaged employees enjoy 26% higher
employee productivity, lower turnover, higher talent attraction,
and greater shareholder return.
- Taleo Research White Paper: Profitable Talent Management (2011)

Economists and national leaders are increasingly talking about
measuring a country’s status with other metrics and even with
a squishy-seeming concept like ‘happiness.’
squishy- ‘happiness.’
- The Economics of Well-Being, Harvard Business Review
Well-


The Employee Perspective

54% Satisfaction with personal life

21% Resilience, humor, optimism

13% Job satisfaction
9% Financial well-being
8% Health and wellness

© 2012, Bright Horizons Family Solutions LLC National sample of 2000 representative employees – North America

Enhancing Employee Well-Being:
Well-
What Can An Employer Do?

Provide supports that enable your
employees to avoid or effectively
deal with the disruptions that occur
in their lives outside work.
● Dependent-Care Supports
● Flexible Work Arrangements

● Supportive Managerial Relationships
● Educational Assistance and Guidance
for Your Employees and Their Families


A Family of Solutions at Work

Customized child care and Back-up care support: young Educational counseling and Solutions to support Work/life consulting to
early education centers at children, school-agers, and tools to facilitate children’s employees’ academic and increase effectiveness of
or near the work site adults/elders educational aspirations career planning people strategies


The Data Is On Your Side

Our 2010 health, well-being, and engagement study,
conducted in collaboration with Dr. Jamie Ladge of
Northeastern University, found that employees who feel that
their organizations promote work/life balance:
● Have lower levels of stress
● Are much more likely to remain with
their organizations
● Are more highly engaged in their work

● Are absent less

● Are healthier


The Data Is On Your Side

Results point to potentially substantial reductions in
healthcare costs
Percent of Respondents Being Treated for Each Condition
N = 3,129

4%
High blood pressure
15%

4%
High cholesterol
10%

2%
Diabetes
6%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

Dependent-care supports No dependent-care supports

High-Quality Child Care:
High-
Avoid the Disruption

● 45% reduction in
12%
voluntary turnover
10% among center users vs.
11%
8% non-center users
6%
● Users were 20% more
4% 6% likely to be top
2% performers.
0%
● 68% of users had
Voluntary Turnover
5-9 years of tenure
Control Group Center Users

Source: Bright Horizons Investment Impact Database (16 organizations)

Work-Site Child Care
Work-
Supports Employee Resilience

Access to work-site child care positively affects ability to...
(N=3,163)

1 Successfully concentrate on the job and be as productive as possible 90%

2 Successfully meet job performance expectations 83%

3 Work scheduled shifts 78%

4 Pursue or accept a higher position 72%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Some Impact Major Impact

* Source: The Lasting Impact of Full-Service Employer-Sponsored Child Care, June 2008; survey of 3,200 parents who use employer-sponsored care
1 Bright Horizons’ Investment Impact Database


Back-Up Care: Avoid the Disruption
Back-

● 83% of respondents report that back-up care
1,424 days Work Days Saved allowed them to work on a day when they
(N=246) would not otherwise have been able to within
the past six months.*

● On average, employees using back-up child
95 care reported that it allowed them to work 5.6
days when they would not otherwise have
been able to in the past six months.
1,329
● Employees using back-up adult/elder care
reported an average of 10.6 work days saved
in the same time period.
0 40 80 120 160 200 240 280

Total Days Saved by Back-Up Adult/Elder Care ● Due to the use of the back-up care program,
Total Days Saved by Back-Up Child Care 38% of respondents said there was a specific
meeting, task, or project they were able to
accomplish because they were able to use the
program.

© 2012, Bright Horizons Family Solutions LLC *The Lasting Impact of Employer-Sponsored Back-Up Care, Horizons Workforce Consulting, 2008

Educational Assistance and Guidance:
Avoid the Disruption

● 85% of College Coach participants report reduced stress
● 2/3 of College Coach participants save at least 4 hours
each time they attend a workshop or access 1 hour of
personalized assistance

Apollo Research Institute reports on working learners'
perceptions of tuition benefit programs:
● 91% strongly felt that it improved their personal
development
● 70% of respondents strongly agreed that tuition benefit
programs improved their work performance


Q&A

Well-Being Matters
Well-
To learn more:

Visit www.brighthorizons.com/wellbeing
Follow us @BHatWork
Email clientservices@brighthorizons.com


The Well-Being Factor: Solving the Employee Productivity Equation

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