Three work ability indicators that should be monitored at every workplace
/ Article
Elo’s organisational psychologist Maija Suokas and research manager Mikko Nykänen discussing questions related to the employee experience.
Employee surveys are familiar to most workplaces. When reviewing the results, many people wonder what deserves the most attention.
Organisational psychologists are often asked which indicators are the most important in employee surveys and which ones matter most in data-driven management. The answer, and the discussions it prompts, vary depending on the company’s situation. However, some common factors do exist. We therefore turned to the data to identify, from a research-based perspective, factors shared by different work communities.
The employee experience data generated from Elo’s survey tools includes responses from tens of thousands of Finnish employees across different sectors. Elo’s tools assess more than 20 different employee experience indicators. This data-based analysis provides an exceptionally broad view of the employee experiences associated with good work ability.
In our analysis, we examined which day-to-day work experiences are most strongly associated with employees’ assessments of their own work ability and with harmful stress. This was an important starting point, as research shows that employees’ self-assessed low work ability predicts future sickness absences and is also reflected in the risk of work disability. Harmful stress, in turn, is associated with issues including mental health challenges and accidents.
Three employee experiences stand out from the rest
Based on the analysis, management and supervisors should seek answers to three questions:
1) Does day-to-day work run smoothly?
2) Does the employee recover sufficiently from work?
3) Does the employee feel able to meet the demands of the job?
According to our research, the answers to these questions in particular are associated with better work ability and lower stress.
Of these, the experience of smooth day-to-day work emerges as a particularly interesting indicator. When employees’ experience of work running smoothly deteriorates, supervisors should respond. This may be an early signal that obstacles, disruptions or inadequate practices are hindering the work. Well-being at work is closely linked to the smooth running of everyday work.
A weakened sense of recovery from work is often one of the first signs of overload. The result indicates that workload factors should be addressed early, before the problems become more serious.
A sense of capability typically reflects an employee’s experience of having a good balance between their competence, available working time, and job demands. If this experience begins to weaken, possible reasons may include skills gaps, unclear goals or an excessive workload.
Effective data-driven management is more than measuring
Measuring alone does not create impact. What matters is how the results are used for learning and how that learning is turned into action. Learning from the employee experience and strengthening productivity and well-being require:
- An atmosphere in which people feel able to share their day-to-day experiences
- Prioritisation of development measures
- Turning plans into practical action
- Monitoring the implementation of actions and adjusting direction when necessary.
Five questions to help you develop data-driven management
We have compiled our thoughts on the key questions that help a company understand the current level of data-driven work ability management in its work community. The answers provide guidance on what is already working well in the organisation and where the next practical step is needed.
1. Is data-driven management based on the company’s strategic objectives?
Agree on what you want to achieve through data-driven management and which decisions the data should support. Collecting new data is not always the best solution; sometimes it is more important to make better use of the data already available.
2. Are we measuring the right things?
- Do the indicator results tell us about well-being at work, work ability and the smooth running of work?
- In addition to reactive indicators (such as sickness absences), do we measure proactive indicators (such as early support discussions and employees’ experience of how smoothly work runs)?
3. Do we combine information from different indicators?
A single indicator often does not reveal enough about the reality behind a key figure. It is important to monitor, for example, customer feedback, employee well-being and productivity indicators together.
4. Do we engage in sufficiently broad and high-quality dialogue about the results?
Indicator results should be discussed and interpreted within the work community. Review the findings together with management, supervisors and employees.
5. Is information turned into action?
The greatest challenge in data-driven management is usually not the lack of information, but the fact that information does not lead to decisions and action. Clear ownership guides the implementation of development measures and the progress of the indicators. If no one owns the indicator, no one owns the change either. Agree on concrete measures, responsibilities and monitoring.
Elo supports action that makes data-driven management part of everyday work
As an earnings-related pension insurer, Elo advises and guides its corporate customers in reducing and managing the risk of work disability. Preventing work ability risks as early as possible is often in everyone’s best interests. That is why we support our customers in assessing the state of their work community through surveys and indicators, for example. We also help interpret the results.
Our most popular data-driven management tools for work ability services will be renewed by summer 2027. The focus will be on data processing and more targeted recommendations for measures to support data-driven management.