Aviva, a major insurance company, recently conducted their annual study called the “Health of the Workplace”. The conclusions that emerged from the study were quite worrisome. Some of the conclusions were:

Around 31 percent of the employers said that their primary aim was to ensure maximum productivity from the employee population. On the other hand 39 percent of the employers said that their focus was on creating a team that could adjust to conditions as required and deliver high quality of work.

Half of the employers questioned said that they regarded themselves as excellent role models while the other half said that they experienced a great deal of mental tension at work.

47 percent of the employees also admitted to being subject to a lot of stress at their workplace. Only 10 percent of the employees felt that they experienced more stress at home rather than at their workplace. These results indicate that most of the employers today focus solely on profit. This phenomenon called the “bunker mentality” puts the health of the employees at a great risk. The employees face a lot of physical and mental stress.

46 percent of the employers admitted to holding social bashes at regular intervals for the employees to enhance their bonding as a team. Even though this was a move to boost the team morale, the results were not very good. 15 percent of the employees said that they showed up at these events because they felt obliged to do so. Besides one out of every five employees were fount to be not fond of socializing with their colleagues.

Aviva’s study also showed some positive results. More than one-fourth of the employers interviewed said that they aimed to create a team of people who functioned well as a team due to good interpersonal relations between themselves.

25 percent of the employers also admitted that their primary objective was to create a healthy company with a favorable work-life balance. One in every four employees was found to be of the opinion that they work in a company that offers them a scope for social interaction and enjoyment. Only around 2 percent of the employees found their companies to be unfriendly.

From the study it has been observed that the smaller the company, higher up the list of priorities is achieving a pleasurable balance of work and personal life. This was observed in half of the companies having only 9 employees or less. In large companies having over one hundred employees only 12 percent placed a good work life balance as their top priority.

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