Effective companies focus on how their team is, not where
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Effective companies focus on how their team is, not where
Matilda French
29 January 2025
5 min read
Matilda French
29 January 2025
5 min read
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Monitoring well-being in a remote environment
Integrating well-being into remote working
Key actions
Here's how companies can safeguard their employees' well-being and unlock the full potential of their remote workforce.
Giving workers the opportunity to work from home (WFH) has many benefits, including boosting performance. However, when organisations transition to remote work, a challenge often emerges: how to safeguard the well-being of a workforce they can't see. Here, we’ll cover the importance of integrating well-being into remote working practices and how to do it effectively, according to the findings in the Out of Office Report.
"When Covid first hit, organisations' biggest well-being issue was that they didn't have a sense of how their people were," says Arosha Brouwer, CEO and Co-Founder of organisational well-being platform, Quan.
Organisational well-being is crucial, not just for the health and happiness of the individual worker but also for the performance of the workforce. Being well makes us work well - meaning we're more likely to achieve strategic goals,¹ generate new ideas,² and have higher levels of job satisfaction.³ On the other hand, poor well-being costs the global economy an estimated $1 trillion in lost productivity.⁴
"When Covid first hit, organisations' biggest well-being issue was that they didn't have a sense of how their people were," says Arosha Brouwer, CEO and Co-Founder of organisational well-being platform, Quan.
Organisational well-being is crucial, not just for the health and happiness of the individual worker but also for the performance of the workforce. Being well makes us work well - meaning we're more likely to achieve strategic goals,¹ generate new ideas,² and have higher levels of job satisfaction.³ On the other hand, poor well-being costs the global economy an estimated $1 trillion in lost productivity.⁴
Monitoring well-being in a remote environment
"Organisations need to understand that each employee has a life besides just the work they do, and consider the impact that work has on their well-being. Whether your organisation is hybrid, remote, or in the office, ensuring that you have ways to measure well-being and incorporate healthier ways of working is how you sustain a good culture," continues Brouwer.
One piece of the remote well-being puzzle is getting data-driven reports on employee well-being. Tracking leading and lagging indicators - such as employee engagement, overall well-being, safety, and performance - will help identify red flags and emerging issues before they reach crisis point.
Brouwer also says that team connection is vital to achieving this goal because it normalises well-being at a systemic level. "Going remote made teams less connected. A key piece of employee well-being is creating a way for remote teams to connect, so they can discuss well-being at a team level, and use those insights to make improvements to the way they work and perform."
One piece of the remote well-being puzzle is getting data-driven reports on employee well-being. Tracking leading and lagging indicators - such as employee engagement, overall well-being, safety, and performance - will help identify red flags and emerging issues before they reach crisis point.
Brouwer also says that team connection is vital to achieving this goal because it normalises well-being at a systemic level. "Going remote made teams less connected. A key piece of employee well-being is creating a way for remote teams to connect, so they can discuss well-being at a team level, and use those insights to make improvements to the way they work and perform."
Integrating well-being into remote working
Brouwer notes, "In an increasingly remote world, we need to reposition our approach to organisational well-being. There isn't one single well-being system for remote organisations - it's about incorporating and integrating well-being as a central factor into how you work."
Integrating well-being more concretely into your operating model requires a holistic approach, considering every process that intersects with how your employees feel and work. Think beyond traditional perks like gym memberships or health insurance, and instead reshape processes to enable employees to balance life and work more effectively.
"Physical well-being is not the only manifestation of how we are," Brouwer says. "Mental well-being, social connectedness, self-fulfilment, and meaning - these are all critical factors of well-being whether you’re remote or not."
Integrating well-being more concretely into your operating model requires a holistic approach, considering every process that intersects with how your employees feel and work. Think beyond traditional perks like gym memberships or health insurance, and instead reshape processes to enable employees to balance life and work more effectively.
"Physical well-being is not the only manifestation of how we are," Brouwer says. "Mental well-being, social connectedness, self-fulfilment, and meaning - these are all critical factors of well-being whether you’re remote or not."
Key actions
1. Outline the steps and processes in your employee journey that intersect with well-being
"Organisations need to take a process-driven approach to well-being, and approach it from the employee experience perspective," Brouwer says. "They need to consider the main steps in their employee journey - all the way from onboarding to learning and development, and performance reviews. What are employees' day-to-day activities? What are the systems and tech that support these steps? How can we incorporate moments of self-reflection and opportunities for people to optimise how they work?"
2. Implement tooling that scales data-driven well-being
"Without data, monitoring well-being remotely is like knowing that you’ve broken your leg, but you don’t know which bone needs fixing," Brouwer notes. Organisations can measure employee well-being with dedicated survey questions or using a well-being platform - but they also need to contextualise that data with other factors, including employee performance, engagement, and morale.
3. Equip remote teams with the right tools
Managers play a key part in healthy organisations, because they are better able to identify and manage team well-being day to day. In remote cultures, equipping managers and teams with the data, autonomy, and budget to discuss well-being issues and design a working environment that responds to their specific well-being needs and performance targets is critical.
It's time we focused on 'how' the team is, rather than where. By following these steps and investing in these areas, companies can safeguard their employees' well-being and unlock the full potential of their remote workforce.
It's time we focused on 'how' the team is, rather than where. By following these steps and investing in these areas, companies can safeguard their employees' well-being and unlock the full potential of their remote workforce.
¹ Jan Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward, 'Measuring workplace wellbeing', May 2023.
² Hui Wang and others, 'Employee innovative behaviour and workplace wellbeing: Leader support for innovation and coworker ostracism as mediators', Frontiers in Psychology, November 2022.
³ Jan Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward, 'Measuring workplace wellbeing', May 2023.
⁴ World Health Organization, 'Mental health at work', September 2022.
² Hui Wang and others, 'Employee innovative behaviour and workplace wellbeing: Leader support for innovation and coworker ostracism as mediators', Frontiers in Psychology, November 2022.
³ Jan Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward, 'Measuring workplace wellbeing', May 2023.
⁴ World Health Organization, 'Mental health at work', September 2022.
Out of Office Report
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Written by
Matilda French
Content Marketing Intern
Matilda has a BA Hons degree in Creative Writing and Film and Screen Studies and is using her love of storytelling to create informative content that helps workers get the most out of their digital tools.
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