Through 7 years with Howdy, the Danish Nature Agency has learned that proactive wellbeing efforts works, that men needs an extra push in terms of being helped in time, and that you can easily be a present and good leader and at the same time need a helping hand to get the silent majority activated.
The employees of the Operations Center in the Danish Nature Agency manage approximately 200,000 hectares of state forests and natural areas from Skagen to Bornholm. The goal is to create the greatest possible value for society in the form of a good framework for outdoor life, protection of nature and efficient operation of the agency’s forests and other natural areas.
The work consists of many tasks, both in the office and in the forests, and the Danish Nature Agency has actively considered that the prerequisite for all these tasks to be solved satisfactorily, fundamentally depends on good wellbeing at the workplace and happy employees. The Danish Nature Agency is therefore in its 7th year with Howdy as a wellbeing tool, which has both helped the agency’s employees out of dissatisfaction and has given the management valuable knowledge about the overall wellbeing state of the organization.
Approx. half of the employees in the Danish Nature Agency Operations Center are green men – machine operators who take care of operations in the state forests. The other half consists of office workers. In the beginning, it was difficult to get the machine operators on board with Howdy. They were not so digital, while many in administrative positions quickly got use to the Howdy-solution.
All our machine operators are men, and this group has basically been the most difficult group to motivate. Our office clerks answer more firmly and here there are several who have been in the red zone, have received help and also have openly come forward and told about it
In the male-dominated industry which parts of the Danish Nature Agency find themselves in, it is not surprising to him that an extra effort was needed to get especially the machine operators on board with the solution.
Generally, we men react too late. In a male-dominated green world which we have been a part of for a long time, you can see signs that we don't talk about it, if we feel bad. Especially not if it's psychological - if you've broken a leg is easier to talk about it - but if it's psychological then you keep it more to yourself. But over time, many of those employees who have come forward and said that their contact with Howdy has helped them, have actually been men after all. I think that is strong and shows that we are heading in the right direction!
Both on an individual level and in relation to the Danish Nature Agency as an organization, Howdy has supported and helped the employees and management with valuable knowledge. Peter Chrois Møller states:
The most important reminder that I have received as a boss in this process, is that when you have a group of 40 employees where approx. 33 actively answers continuously, then there is almost always one or two that lie between red/yellow zone, despite the fact that you don't feel it when you walk around in the corridors. It has been a reminder to me as a boss that you must take care of the silent majority which expresses that everything is going well. There are often someone not thriving, and it is difficult to spot them. So Howdy has given us more insight and been an eye-opener.