At Arizona Family Florist, employees are challenged to perform random acts of kindness, treated to massage breaks during busy times and have monthly yoga classes. Employees also have access to a list of organizations and other resources if they need more serious help to improve their mental well-being.
Those efforts — and many more — were developed after the Phoenix business experienced an increase of absenteeism, tardiness and in some cases, a lack of productivity, says Cheryl Denham, owner and CEO.
“With so many changes that we’ve all experienced in the past few years, there has been more of an awareness that mental health is a topic that needs to be in the forefront of all our minds,” she says. “I think the pandemic gave many people an opportunity to reflect on the things that are most important in their lives, and while working is a necessity to survive in life, our mental well-being has to be equally healthy and stable in order to survive, too.”
In response to a growing need for resources to help business owners and their teams improve their well-being, the Society of American Florists is launching a series of webinars in October featuring Barry Gottlieb, an industry author and motivational coach.
The three-part webinar, “Mental Well-Being: The Impact on Productivity, Retention and Profits,” begins Oct. 13 and focuses on well-being in the workplace, healthy habits, and sleep. Gottlieb will also share research that shows why companies with happy, engaged workers enjoy better profits and better customer loyalty.
“A company is only as resilient as its people,” Gottlieb says. “If employees are anxious, reactive and burned out, every business metric — from productivity to attrition to customer success — will be affected.” He urges business owners to recognize their employees’ mental well-being not as a liability, but as an opportunity to help.
That’s something that FiftyFlowers CEO and founder Liza Roeser, AAF, has embraced.
Her Boise, Idaho company, which sells wholesale direct to consumers, begins meetings with a one minute meditation to ground the team and open their hearts, Roeser says. Those meetings are closed with a motivational quote.
“FiftyFlowers is a family and we care,” she says. “We want employees to feel happy and balanced.”
The webinar will help attendees understand why mental well-being must be addressed in the workplace, how to make small changes to improve well-being, and includes anxiety and stress-busting techniques such as breath work and meditation. The live webinar will be recorded so businesses can use it as a resource for their team.
Gottlieb isn’t the only one sounding the alarm about mental wellness. More than two years into the pandemic, several establishments including the World Health Organization and the Harvard Business Review are calling attention to a mental health crisis and alerting businesses to put a focus on the mental health of their workers.
A recent Gallup report found that workers are experiencing stress at an all-time high. In North America, 50 percent of workers reported feeling stressed at their jobs the previous day, and 41 percent reported feeling worried, according to the report.
“These emotions are organizational risks. If leaders aren’t paying attention to employee wellbeing, they’re likely to be blindsided by top performer burnout and high quit rates,” says a Harvard Business Review summary of the findings.
In addition to employee well-being and retention, there are other reasons businesses should put a focus on employees’ happiness. The Gallup report found businesses with engaged workers have 23 percent higher profits compared with those whose workers aren’t engaged, and businesses with engaged employees also have better customer loyalty and lower absenteeism and accidents.
“The data speaks for itself, but SAF has also heard anecdotally from many, many floral professionals that mental health is a real issue — and that it’s having an impact on business,” says SAF CEO Kate Penn. “We’re making this webinar free, so everyone in the industry can use the resources to help their teams.”
Denham has already seen the benefits of helping her employees. Although their initiative is in the early stages, she’s noticed that employees are more productive and engaged. She’s hopeful that will also result in less turnover, more loyalty and overall happier employees.
“Discussing mental health and well-being and providing tools and resources is definitely a high priority for us,” Denham says. “There have been so many changes that have happened in the world the last several years and we see this as our way to contribute to making the workplace a safe and healthy environment.”
Roeser sees the benefits of putting a focus on employees’ well-being every day, she says.
“A happy team makes business more fun,” she says.
Register for the webinar series here.
Amanda Jedlinsky is the managing editor of SAF NOW.
