HEALTHIER WORKPLACES
Howdo helps you raise awareness about workplace health, which is the first step in creating awareness and preventing poor health.Step 1: Awareness
All employees are asked "How was your week?" once a week. They can choose from three answer options; red, yellow or green. In connection with the question, the employee is reminded to take a moment to reflect on how the week has been and how they have felt. The question reveals the health of individual employees and the health of your organization as a whole. We believe this is especially important as we know that it is often not just one factor that causes people to suffer from stress or ill health. Rather, it is often due to several factors. Just asking yourself the question leads to awareness of your own health.
Step 2: Shared responsibility
On Monday morning, managers receive a report that shows how their people were feeling the previous week. The report shows the response frequency and number of employees who responded to each color. You can also view each employee’s answers individually to check for changes over time. An important part of Howdo is that answers are transparent. It is a prerequisite for managers to be able to act quickly when one of their employees has signaled that they are not feeling well. In the report, employees will be listed by name if they have answered yellow three weeks in a row or red one time. Book a meeting with the employee to get more information about what is affecting their current status and agree on next steps. These calls can be documented directly in the tool so that it is easy to follow up and have everything in one place. Nice and neat! Howdo contributes to the shared responsibility in the workplace. While only you can know how you feel, this does not necessarily mean that you are alone in the matter. Since Howdo asks every employee how they are feeling, it becomes easier to take the first step, admit if something is not right, and get help sooner rather than later.
Step 3: Work preventively
The tool opens up a sea of opportunities to reveal how your people are feeling and work preventively around health! Many companies show everyone the map of the entire organization's health on a monthly basis. These managers can testify that showing this chart has paved the way for good discussions, openness and shared responsibility. It presents an opportunity to go in depth and address issues that may be difficult, but important, to discuss collegially. It’s an opportunity to ask people: What made you feel good? What are you particularly happy with? What do the coming weeks look like? What is important for you to feel good? If you study an individual, group or organization's health over a long period of time, you can discover interesting patterns and trends. As a manager, you can then get the help you need to stay one step ahead and direct your efforts during any difficult periods. All of this reveals the health of your organization and enables you to act accordingly!
- Even though you as a manager want to talk directly with your employees, it can be reassuring to have something systematic to ensure those check-ins don’t fall through the cracks between meetings, reports and picking up the kids from daycare. Plus, with today’s agile workplaces, your employees may be in different geographical locations, making it even harder to gauge how people really are feeling. Howdo provides a good foundation.
- Imagine hearing that someone is not feeling well, but not knowing who it is. This affects both the employee in question and you as a leader. With Howdo, everyone’s answer is transparent so that you can work together to promote a healthier workplace.
- We know that you have a responsibility as a manager to systematically check on how your employees are feeling and document those efforts – Howdo helps you.
- Maybe you do not feel great, but you don’t feel comfortable booking a meeting yourself? With Howdo, you can discreetly send a signal.
- Howdo gives you a moment to reflect and think about your mental and physical health. Shift focus and learn more about what makes you feel good and what makes you feel not so good.
- You can bring the question and the colors with you to the break room to discuss with colleagues over coffee. You might find it easier to admit that you’re having a yellow week than to say, “I don’t feel so good.”