Stress-less Employees – Project STREM
According to the Reward & Employee Benefits Association researchers from 2018 and 2019 provision of wellbeing services is critical for employee engagement and creating a positive working culture.
The mental health of employees becomes a more relevant topic and according to the survey from 2019, “. Many C-suite directors recognize that the workplaces of today are highly pressurized and often stressful (or as recruitment adverts like to gloss it up, fast-paced) which takes its toll on workforces.
Almost three-quarters of our respondents say high pressure and high-intensity environments”. The research from 2018 is showing that Just over a third (35%) of respondents provide training for line managers to help them support and promote employee wellbeing. And just a third (34.3%) of this group make this training mandatory for line managers to complete.
It is evident that businesses, entities, and NGOs are willing to equip employees with the necessary knowledge and skills to cope with the well being of their employees. However, this raises the necessity of more structured information and guidance together with the competence list of the role that will enable them to improve the well being of their employees in all manner, and this is what the project “Stressless Employees” will do.
Objectives:
Taking into consideration the work-related stress and mental health problems of the employees the project Stressless Employees is aimed to develop a profile and competences of an Employee Satisfaction Officer (ESO), that will lead the well-being activities in every company and communities of employees, in order to improve the well – being of the employees, that will exponentially improve their performance and the performance of the companies and the NGOs.
Participants:
Employees from 2 SMEs (Human Resources Department/ Management) and 2 NGOs(Head of Sectors) (the project consortium) per pilot country (Germany Italy, Greece, Spain, Romania, Cyprus), that will take part in the pilot training courses, and project activities.
Activities : IO 1 The project will start with a report analyzing the landscape and situation in the partner’s countries, that will provide up to date information, best practices, car studies of entities that have already applied some for of employee well – being activities and roles.
Additionally, companies, employees, NGOs and workers unions will take part in empirical research to share their views on the subject matter. IO 2 & IO 3 The data gathered by the desktop and field research will lay the foundation for the development of a training format and curriculum for Employees Satisfaction Officer (ESO), aiming to develop an EU level recognized profession that will be finalized in one comprehensive manual for improving the well – being of employees and combating work-related stress (IO4).
Methodology:
This project will be conducted through a three-step approach.
RESEARCH
Analysis of the landscape together with mapping existing practices, case studies, and empirical data from stakeholders will define the basics of the training format course ( a program that needs to be undertaken by persons that will act as ESO in the companies) and curriculum (basic competence ) profile together with a cost-benefit analysis of the introduction of ESO in the companies.
TESTING / PILOTING
The training course will be tested in the partner countries in the entities that will take part, where the role Employer Satisfaction Officer will be introduced, close monitoring will take place in order to evaluate the impact and results of the piloting.
CERTIFICATION and DISSEMINATION
The third approach is to create a certified program for ESO that will be recognized on the European level and available for all entities.
Results and Impact:
The overall project result shall be the development and introduction of a new job role Employer Satisfaction Officer from companies and societal point of view.
As for the companies and NGOs, healthy employees with a lack of stress will improve their productivity and the general performance of the entities. From the point of view of society, healthy employers will less stress will mean, less depression, domestic violence, sickness or unemployment.
From the societal perspective, the proportion of economically unproductive to productive times during a person’s lifetime is improved by reducing times of sickness, unemployment.
The impact of the project will be manifested in three ways
Project Link on the EU portal: Erasmus+ project card | Erasmus+ (europa.eu)
