Written by: Noeli Naima, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Recently, during my first session on how to work with energy with one of my long-term clients, she shared her pain regarding the recent changes in the work market. The fact that many people have a new mindset after the pandemic and are looking for a better work-life balance regardless of their role within a company – profoundly challenges her belief system.
She owns a traditional middle-sized business in southern Germany, with work running intrinsically in her veins; there is no separation between her and her company. The heavy burden of building it with tremendous sacrifices is palpable as I continue listening. She wishes all employees would have the same drive, sense of dedication and sacrifice towards her company – committing 150% to their work by continuously working unpaid overtime over the week and weekends as it used to be.
Rethinking work ethic: Is extreme dedication sustainable?
Is this giving all my energy to my job“ philosophy still current, and has it ever been truly productive?
Looking at this question globally, there still are rigid work cultures like the USA, Korea, and Japan, where benefits such as generous paid holidays and paid maternity or paternity leave are relatively rare. Even in countries where such benefits are more developed, such as in Europe, high mortgage and honour-related expectations might never make us question if things make sense until “suddenly” life strikes us down with sickness, bringing us to realise we have been burning the candle on both ends.
My customer continues her rant: How should retirement work if all employees work just 80% or less? What will happen to society if all employees just work 60/80% of the illusional 40 hs a week? How does the system continue feeding itself if everybody starts paying less taxes?
She worries that everything will crash due to the “lazy” new generation of workers. And what happens when we turn these questions around?
How can a person remain healthy, working 60/80 hours a week over a prolonged period?
Is it surprising that burnout and chronic illness figures have been rising while employees are in a never-ending cycle of not knowing how to remain healthy, take regular breaks and enjoy the small yet significant pleasures in life – such as loved ones and quality time?
Furthermore, how productive are we while doing overtime, and does anyone even appreciate the extra hours invested?
What if money somehow doesn’t equal “life” and extra hours don’t equal extra “productivity” nor better results but quite the opposite?
My point is that most of us live in fantastic abundance, often without realising or thoroughly enjoying it.
How much “more” money do we need?
What is worth all the money in the world without the health and time to utilize it? I am smiling internally.
Yes, my dear customer, CEO and owner of a middle-sized company, new work times demand that we go with the times, and become more visionary about the future of our work ventures so we can thrive instead of drowning or barely surviving. Resistance to growing out of our outdated patterns and into new ones will simply give the company the status quo of old-fashioned and the opposite of family-friendly.
The revelation of COVID-19: A paradigm shift in the face of adversity
Let’s highlight what happened during pandemics when life changed for humankind.
In the adversity of possibly perishing altogether, people started realising that there was more to life than ongoing grey days at the office, immersed in piles of tedious work while looking forward to the weekends day in and day out. It has been a big invitation to re-think our values in so many ways!
Another of the many truths that surfaced with COVID-19 is that no matter the company's size, we may not need to spend all of our time in physical office spaces to get work done. Of course, this depends on the industry and sectors, as production usually needs to be done at the factory. However, generally speaking, for office jobs, productivity went up for many companies when working from home was encouraged.
However, for all companies, regardless of the space they operate in, we need to ask ourselves how we can offer a space that feels welcoming and encouraging so our employees can be enthusiastic and motivated during the week and start looking forward to Mondays.
Some corporations are leading by example, showing not just the possibility of creating such an environment but also the huge benefits to the company as the output each employee delivers is of higher quality and the solutions more innovative and inclusive at the same time.
How can we make such thriving, high-energy places available to all?
If you are a decision-maker searching for suitable employees or having a hard time trying to keep them, it may be the right time to re-think your company/team's cultural environment and get some help to make a long-lasting positive impact by updating it.
While people still need money, they are unwilling to feel like modern slaves anymore.
The call is for significant improvements towards a healthy corporate mentality, leading to unbearable losses for those companies unwilling to change.
My customer told me all of this, well knowing that after the pandemic, my job developed towards leading precisely these types of changes within companies with our Heartegy Coaching and Consulting Collective.
So how can we “go with the times” to avoid losing time, money and great employees?
Going with time means adapting new work strategies that serve the greater good of the company, the employees and the world at large with sustainable solutions inside and out.
There is no way around it; the only question will be whether your company makes the needed shift “voluntarily”, or whether it’s overcome by it like with a tsunami. In my customer's case, having 90% of the candidates interviewed wishing for 60% or 80% part-time jobs, we can easily find a solution by employing the rest of the budget available for this person hiring an assistant for the 20% that can be bridged and fulfilled well by hiring a capable assistant or student needing some work practice. Of course, every case needs to be evaluated individually, and the point is that we can always find solutions for the new candidate to feel welcome in a big family instead of being pushed into an inflexible box that needs to be filled.
Initiating a wave of change and leading the change
We can feel precisely when times are yelling for change, individually and globally, whether it involves our work team, our family, our health etc.
Changes should start the moment we sense the demands on us, not waiting for them to be forced onto us.
That means it takes one decision-maker to start a big wave focused on changing the company's politics, and soon it will ripple out, reaching everyone and gaining momentum like a stone thrown into a pond. So, what kind of owner/ leader/ manager are you?
Someone going with time and enhancing your team's talents, or someone wishing to remain in an outdated system doomed for failure? Are you offering a place where people can develop and thrive together during the week or a box format where employees get compressed, waiting desperately for Fridays?
A measurable and heart-based approach to workplace transformation
The coming years are going to be very interesting in regards to AI taking over many jobs that are still being executed by manpower at the moment, so how do we get ready for changes that are going to come over us anyhow?
We have two choices:
Stay where we are, resisting changes and just surrendering to changes when we have no other choice left but to adapt or
Plan actively how to embrace changes and use them for the higher good of all.
Embracing change starts with looking into the mirror and surfacing the “ little fires” burning in our teams and our company as a whole by gathering accurate and anonymous data from employees concerning the main pillars of Applied Change®️. In this way, we don’t just understand where the most significant fire sources sit, but it also enables us to design and execute an effective heart-based strategy to bring your people from where they are toward new solutions born from their active engagement during our work together.
Everything during our collaboration will be measured from the very beginning of our journey, showing an above 10X ROI for our clients – further testifying the little daily victories and developments from the teams and how people experience the shift at work – positively impacting all other aspects of their lives and therefore, in turn, benefiting the company they work for.
I’m extending my hand to those leaders who are ready to embody the needed changes in their company, creating an environment where their employees wish to be when Mondays come, excited for what they can contribute for generations ahead.
A place where seasoned employees want to stay and new candidates line up outside to get a place. My hope dies last, and my vision of what’s possible is clear.
We offer heart-based solutions for a future where employees will be looking forward to Monday to come.
Are you ready to be a change-maker?
Noeli Naima, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Noeli Naima is Heartegy’s Co-Founder & CEO, a unique Brazilian blend combining over twenty years of experience in Holistic Coaching (Corporate Wellness & Stress Prevention through Naturopathy, Yoga Therapy, Ayurveda Medicine and Psycho-Aromatherapy) with Cutting-edge Strategies (Neuroscience, Vibrational Recalibration, Positive Intelligence) and New Work Analytics (Applied Change, 360 feedback and Vibrational Reading).
She is a living example of how outdated corporate behaviours pull us down while updating our approach and focusing on the human aspects elevates us.
In her Project Soul Soup 4 Coaches book series (available through Amazon), she discusses how combining energy work, coaching, and health prevention can positively transform corporate & life environments enabling them to soar.
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