Workness - the new guiding value of a health-promoting corporate culture post-Corona

The pandemic affected and restricted everyone's private lives and led to massive changes in the world of work.

The need to work from anywhere and at any time meant that work processes had to be adapted, developed and implemented. This presented managers in particular with major challenges in terms of labour technology and people when it came to guiding and coordinating their employees. Because the status quo is worrying:

Oracle commissioned the "Al@Work" study, in which 12,347 people aged between 22 and 74 from a total of eleven countries were surveyed. The respondents were employees, line managers, human resources experts and board members. 78% of those surveyed feel that their mental well-being is impaired. A separation of work and private life is not possible for 41% of respondents. A third of respondents who work from home work at least ten hours of overtime per week. Around a quarter suffer from mental illness as a result of this overtime. The majority of respondents (85 per cent) stated that the mental stress caused by work also has an impact on their private lives. This influence manifests itself in the form of sleep problems, poor physical health and difficulties in family and friendly relationships. (Wolter, 2020)

Unintentionally and mostly through no fault of their own, many companies are now in the midst of disruptive change - on the one hand because they may have to completely reposition themselves, or perhaps even completely "reinvent" themselves. But the crisis also presents a great opportunity. If company managers ask themselves some essential value questions in times of crisis, they have the chance to initiate a development towards a sustainably healthy and efficient organisation:

- What role do employees and managers play in achieving the company's goals?

- Where can we develop as a company if all employees and managers give their best every day?

- How do employees in the company experience work processes and working environments?

- How do employees experience leadership in our company?

- Do we know about the needs of our employees and managers?

- Do we know the resources of our employees and managers?

With health as an organisational cultural self-image, the path from pure workability to culturally determined workness is emerging as a disruptive change in the company. No wellness-related token activities such as healthy fruit baskets, gym subsidies or massage vouchers will have a lasting effect on the "corporate health" of employees. Employees can and will only be able to perform their work if they have the right healthy framework conditions. Companies that take the guiding principle of a healthy organisation seriously are rewarded with employees who are eight times more committed, three times more productive and four times more creative. (World Economic Forum 2010)

Wolter, U. (2020). Corona crisis weakens employees' mental health. Available

Prof.(FH) Mag.Dr. Erwin Gollner, MPH MBA heads the Department of Health and the Bachelor's degree programme in Health Management and Health Promotion at FH Burgenland. This article was written as a guest contribution for the Wiener Zeitung.