All too often in a target-driven profession such as sales, managing the health and wellbeing of employees plays second fiddle to hitting the numbers. A common problem is that, while firms may be happy to focus on wellbeing when times are good, “it’s the first thing to go if teams start underperforming”.
So says Ashlie Collins, the founder and CEO of Humane Startup, a consultancy that specialises in training and coaching business leaders and sales professionals.
“It’s a short-sighted approach, but there is an erroneous assumption that sales targets aren’t being hit because people aren’t working hard or smart enough,” she says. “Their leaders will ramp up the pressure to generate immediate results when they’re behind, but the long-term impact of this will be detrimental.”