5 Top Tips to Balance Company Goals With Employees’ Wellbeing

In this series about Human Resources, we explore the challenges faced by HR managers today. This includes addressing essential workplace issues such as employee wellbeing. Every day, findcourses.com is frequented by many individuals looking for training, including HR and learning teams, seeking the most suitable courses for their needs. With our in-depth research, we can offer valuable insights on these matters.

Often regarded as a behind-the-scenes department, now and then, the human resources (HR) function is thrown into the limelight, such as when Elon Musk required all Tesla employees to return to the office full-time. Or when a group of junior bankers at Goldman Sachs made waves when they demanded a change in their working conditions. As reported by the New York Times, the junior bankers said they worked an average of around 100 hours per week, with most saying they considered themselves victims of workplace abuse. In response, Goldman Sachs says they will enforce the “Saturday rule” - employees cannot work from 9 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Sunday, except in certain circumstances - to try and ensure their employees have at least one day off each week.

One thing is clear: in order to retain valuable employees, HR teams must implement talent management strategies to help them balance employee expectations with the needs of the organization.

The Human Resources Dilemma

As highlighted in the above cases, HR professionals often have to balance prioritizing business objectives and caring for the welfare of employees. When sharing the most important things she learned about the Chief Human Resources Officer role, Paige McGlauflin, former Fortune CHRO Daily newsletter writer, said, "Our jobs take up a huge portion of our lives, and HR is the linchpin for our experiences at work." Therefore, HR must strive to balance work and well-being for a happy workforce.

McGlauflin continues, "The CHRO role has gotten bigger, and HR leaders can’t only focus on their function’s administrative tasks anymore. They have to [...] weigh in on broader societal issues impacting companies, including election angst and unionization efforts", amongst other things - such as the health and wellbeing of employees. In addition, managing hybrid teams, the increase of Artificial Intelligence, and more complex cyber threats present plenty of challenges for HR departments. Unfortunately, HR managers may find their hands tied due to existing policies that don’t cover all eventualities.

If you work in or aspire to work in HR, what can you do to address this fundamental HR dilemma? We asked this question to HR insiders from a range of organizations, and here are 5 of their best recommendations.

Tip #1. Build strong relationships with higher management

As a HR professional, one of the most important things you can do is to establish strong professional relationships with the upper management of your company.

Rolf Bax, Chief Human Resources Officer at resume-building company Resume.io, offers this excellent advice: “It is inevitable that there will be times during your career as an HR professional where you will need to advocate for an employee, and there will be a conflict of interest with the company,”. He continues, “In these instances, having strong working relationships with upper management tends to give you much more latitude to make concessions and work with and for the employee when it is the right thing to do.”

Tip #2. Maintain your professional distance

You are likely to feel strongly about advocating for employees’ wellbeing in your HR role. Nevertheless, Bax emphasizes that HR professionals have to remember that they ultimately work for the organization, not the employees.

Bax says, “It is important for an HR professional to maintain a certain level of emotional distance from the workers they manage and accept the fact that they work for the company, not the employees. Eventually there will be a situation in which you will have to work against the interests of an employee for the benefit of the company and staying as emotionally disinterested as possible is necessary when doing your job.” 

Tip #3. Be transparent

Many of our respondents agree that it helps to be transparent when implementing changes that will affect employees - even when those changes could impact the employees negatively.

Bill Harrison, CTO of ComplianceBridge, an organization building Risk Management and Policy and Procedure Management Software, explains, “When people are blindsided by a policy that puts the good of the company over the good of the employee, it feels like an attack. Thoroughly explaining the need, benefits, and potential repercussions of an organizational change before enacting it will help employees understand why something is happening.”

Harrison adds, “Inviting employees into the conversation lets them be part of the positive momentum, instead of being unwittingly swept away by it. By listening to the voices of your employees, and actively addressing their concerns, you can demonstrate your respect for them - even if you can’t give them exactly what they asked for.”

Tip #4. Be an agent of change

As a HR manager, you get to have input into the working lives of both employees and employers. This gives you an incredible opportunity to be an agent of change. 

“Something I have always tried to do is use my position in HR as a means for change that makes the organization more human and hospitable to employees,” Bax says. “Diversity and inclusion flow outwards from human resources and if you remember that and make that part of your job and mission, you can help build a company where business objectives and employee welfare are more harmonized.”

Tip #5. Decide on the approach that works best for you

This question of how to balance the needs of the employees and the best interests of the company is clearly a topic on which people have strong opinions. The HR professionals we spoke to have a diverse range of opinions. 

For example, some HR leaders believe in prioritizing employees’ welfare.

“If you are going to compromise on a decision between pursuing a business goal and sacrificing employee welfare, err on the side of employees,” Janelle Owens, HR Director at online education company, Test Prep Insight, says. “Richard Branson once said ‘Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.’ It is mission critical that you not lose sight of the fact that your employees are your #1 asset. If pursuing a new business goal and hitting some numbers would come at the cost of employee welfare or satisfaction, my advice is to not pursue that goal.”

On the other hand, HR professionals also believe that the team goals should come first.

Emily Connery, Head of People and Talent at People Operations Platform, ChartHop, says, “Think Roles, Goals, then Souls,” writes “In approaching organization planning, we should first consider the goals of the teams we are planning for, then the roles needed to achieve those goals, and finally the people (or souls) we have or need. It is tempting for managers and HR to want to start with the people. We know the people, we care about the people, we want to make sure they all have what they want. But it is actually backward to start there if we want to most efficiently achieve business goals.”

You may agree with one of the above arguments or hold a different view. In any case, you should decide on the best approach for you while considering its appropriateness within the context of your organization. This will help you do your job most effectively.