By Patricia Steiner

According to Gallup, just 13% of workers worldwide report being actively engaged at work. With the United States ranked just 19th on the United Nations’ official 2021 World Happiness Report, and Ohio—Steiner + Associates’ home state—ranked low within the country, we have long felt a duty to lift our team’s sense of well-being, enhance their quality of life, and encourage them to feel excited about their present and future outlook. 

Here at Steiner + Associates, we model our wellbeing initiatives off Rath & Harter’s book, Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements. Their elements of well-being include:

• Social Wellbeing
• Physical Wellbeing
• Financial Wellbeing
• Community Wellbeing
• Career (Purpose) Wellbeing

Here is a brief explanation of how our team infuses these five pillars within our organization.

Social Wellbeing

Social wellbeing means having supportive relationships and love in your life. In fact, according to Gallup each hour of social time you spend significantly decreases your odds of having a bad day. Some ways we infuse social well-being at Steiner include:

• Participation in charitable events as a team
• Encouraging respect for employees’ time out of the office
• Quarterly social committee activities, like golfing and potlucks
• Lunch and learns with various industry and community leaders
• Formation of various clubs within the organization, like a reading club and walking club

Investing resources in our people’s social wellbeing ensures their health, emotional state and perceptions of success stay strong. 

Physical Wellbeing

Physical wellbeing means having good health, ample energy, and enough sleep to get things done daily. A few ways we infuse physical well-being at Steiner include:

• Standing desks as requested
• Addition of a meditation room and group meditations
• Team participation in various exercise challenges
• The encouragement of walking groups and meetings
• Fresh foods in our kitchen, like nuts, grains, teas and more
• A strict policy not to send emails after a certain hour of the day

Our initiatives aren’t forced, but we do make them readily available to anyone who wants to join!

Financial Wellbeing

Financial wellbeing means managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security. More than about how much our team makes, our financial well-being initiatives are more about how free we are to do what we want, when we want. They include:

• Experience-based anniversary gifts
• Encouragement of longer vacations, not “day-at-a-time” PTO
• Competitive and equitable industry compensation
• Career development and mentorship programs
• Regular financial workshops for team members

We know that working at Steiner + Associates is just a fraction of our team’s lives, and we want to do everything we can to ensure they maximally enjoy their time and opportunities outside of work.

Community Well-being

Community wellbeing means liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your community. Some of the ways we instill community well-being in our team include:

• Strong leadership focus on volunteering
• Participation in mentorship programs
• Weekly recognition of Steiner employees and their community passions
• Encouragement to take local nonprofit board positions at places like Healthy New Albany and Buckeye Ranch
• Leveraging our properties and their Change for Charity programs to promote well-being amongst a larger group of community members
• Active philanthropic initiatives helping organizations like Make-A-Wish, Lifetown, Kipp, Move to Prosper, Lady Tutu, Pelotonia and more

Almost everyone in the country reports getting an emotional boost from doing kind things for others. We’re proud to play our role in being a benevolent force in the Columbus community and beyond. 

Career (Purpose) Wellbeing

Career, or purpose, wellbeing means liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals. According to Gallup, finding purpose in your work considerably boosts overall individual happiness, and prevents burnout. Here are the ways Steiner makes growth and development a priority:

• Enhanced HR tools
• Executive coaching sessions
• Frequent touchpoints for internal recognition
• Investment in our leadership training program
• Increase in our tuition reimbursement program
• Incorporation of flexible hours and working conditions
• Development and implementation of our Operating Principles

Finding ways to identify natural talents and leverage our people’s strengths helps provide the foundation for passion in what they do. 

We are proud to follow these five principles of wellbeing to cultivate the best workplace we can for our team members. This way, they can thrive at work and become the very best versions of themselves inside and outside the office.