Creating the Performance Economy of the Future – UKTN

The link between wellbeing and performance

‘Wellbeing’ is a term that we now use on a near daily basis having become ingrained in our work and personal lives. COVID-19 brought into sharp focus the need to prioritise our mental, physical and emotional health. As a result, in incredibly challenging times, the tech sector came alive with apps and tools to monitor and improve our wellbeing.

And businesses have quickly figured out that employee wellbeing is crucial to improving performance and delivering meaningful commercial success. While this was tacitly acknowledged pre-pandemic, the focus on supporting employees in order to get the best out of them has grown exponentially since. Businesses are actively seeking to support employees in order to retain and develop talent, and they have realised that by spotting issues such as high levels of stress and risk of burnout before they occur, they can solve these problems before they fully manifest. In this way they can reduce the costs of employees’ absence, skills gaps and additional recruitment and training.

At the same time, the UK is continuing to suffer from a productivity problem. According to estimates, had productivity grown at 2 per cent per year since 2008, in line with its historical performance, output per worker would be £5,000 higher today, on average, but figures paint a different picture. There are a number of reasons for this productivity problem, such as policy changes, lack of investment and lack of skills. But the role of employee wellbeing on productivity shouldn’t be underestimated. One research exercise at BT showed that a one-point increase in happiness (on a scale of 0 to 10) of call centre workers was associated with a 12% increase in their productivity, as measured by weekly sales data.

Beyond their performance at work, there’s the impact on the individual and society more widely that also need to be considered. If someone is signed off sick due to acute stress, not only will they not contribute to the economy through employment, but as a result may also cut back on spending – further impacting the economy. They will also likely be using health services, which as we all know, are already stretched. That’s aside from the personal impact of strained personal relationships and emotional distress. Multiply these impacts by the 20 percent of UK workers that took time off as a result of pressure or work-related stress in the past year, and we start to see the magnitude of the problem.

The importance of spotting these issues earlier, and intervening before they escalate, for individuals, businesses and society quickly becomes clear – and for many organisations it end up paying dividends later down the line.

Promoting performance through the use of data

Businesses are on a mission to support the productivity of their employees. The difficulty is in how best to achieve that. A plethora of apps and online tools were developed during and post COVID-19, but there’s since been recognition that simply deploying these tools is not enough. They can be seen as just another hoop to jump through; they might not be fully engaged with, and their impact isn’t necessarily seen or measured.

Nevertheless, these tools and platforms all collect data. And it’s this data which is key for early intervention in employee wellbeing. It means that beyond their original function – be that promoting fitness, or mental health, for example – these tools have an additional value in the data they collect.

While this data is a goldmine of information, it puts business leaders in the unenviable position of having to make sense of it. In short, they’re expected to be data scientists – able to sift through vast datasets to spot trends and problems. It’s a key challenge which organisations need help with.

The vision

This challenge gives us an opportunity for a unique vision. At Mindora, we’re using our experience in human optimisation to develop AI and Web3-powered performance intelligence. Our vision is a system which aggregates, anonymises, and augments workforce data to reveal real-time performance insights, enabling organisations to optimise performance and maximise potential. Autonomous AI agents identify key trends and problems, and the platform will then validate measurable improvements and identify contract-based incentives which reward organisations and employees for productivity and engagement gains. In doing so, HR teams will be empowered to easily make sense of dispersed data sets and guided through implementation of intelligent rewards.

We’ve partnered with CHROs and CPOs in the US and UK to co-develop our product thesis. For example, we’re working with Coca-Cola on a pilot project  to analyse their data and understand how best to use it, and the outputs that will be most valuable. Through an iterative process of workshops and feedback we’re tailoring Mindora to organisations’ unique workforce wellbeing and data needs to maximise its measurable impact.

All of this adds up to the start of a productivity revolution. Our Web3-powered framework will reward companies for improving employee wellbeing, turning human capital investment into tangible economic gains. By increasing organisations’ focus on wellbeing and rewarding them for implementing truly valuable initiatives based on data insights, we want to lead the charge in boosting the wellbeing and productivity of employees.

If you’d like to become a part of our exciting journey, please get in touch with me to hear more.

Already have an account? Log in