Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1001 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here.
This blogpost partakes liberally from an article published in May 2024 by McKinsey based on its own survey. Link at the end.
Preamble
Workplace are supposed to be secular. Work is the religion that everyone subscribes to. Occasionally, in countries like Pakistan, people tend to discuss too many things in offices either because they have a lot of time to kill, or they just want to keep chattering. Religion, or rather religious elements keep coming under discussion. The topic of this post is spiritual health, not any religion.
Spiritual health may be defined as having meaning in one’s life, a sense of connection to something larger and a sense of purpose. It has nothing to do with belief; it is about striving to rise above mundane things like just doing a job for the sake of earning money, marrying under social pressure, and living at subhuman level. Spiritual health is not a “nice to have” but a core dimension, along with physical, mental, and social health.
Let us look at the survey findings.
McKinsey Health Institute – MHI is part of McKinsey and Co., and it is focused on health-related matters.
Survey Methodology
- MHI conducted an internet-based survey in May 2022 in ten European countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom, with approximately 1,000 completions per country.
- In August 2022, an additional 1,600 completions were collected from 16 mostly non-European countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE, the United States, and Vietnam.
- In total, the survey collected responses from 42,083 people.
- The population included 16,824 Gen Zers (mostly 18 – 24-year-old), 13,080 millennials (25 – 40-year-old), 6,937 Gen Xers (41 – 56 year old), 5,119 baby boomers (57 – 75 year old), and 123 from the Silent Generation (76 – 93 year old).
- Within each country, the survey applied weights to match the distribution of age cohorts, gender, and share of population with tertiary education in the sample to the country’s national census.
- The sample was drawn from populations with access to the internet, which made the sample more representative of Gen Z respondents.
Points to Consider
- The survey focused on how respondents were feeling at the time they were surveyed
- Cross-country sociocultural differences can affect perceptions, scale of use, and other factors that may influence responses. However, it should not be automatically concluded that these differences are objective. Although they relied on cultural experts and youth reviewers to ensure equivalence of meanings across languages during translations, some induced differences across countries may still be induced by the translations.
- There are differences in generations as to how they report spiritual health.
Survey Results
- Across all generations, spiritual health factors, such as mission-driven work, are important to respondents when considering a future employer.
- 70% of Millennials said it was very important/ important; 22% were neutral, and 8% said it was not important.
- 66% Gen Xers said it was very important/important; 24% were neutral, and 10% said it was not important.
- 64% Baby-boomers said it was very important/ important; 25% were neutral, and 11% said it was not important.
- 63% Gen Zers said it was very important/ important, 27% were neutral, and 10% said it was not important.
Though the difference is not percentages may appear to be marginal, but the most conclusive point is that over 60% people across all generations believe their work must have a purpose.
However, having a sense of purpose at work cannot override negative elements, such as toxic behavior and burnout. Additionally, individuals may prefer not to see purpose in the workplace; instead, they may turn to avenues like volunteering, helping family member, participating in a religious or spiritual community, or all of these. Still, recognizing the role the workplace can play in promoting spiritual health is an element of total employee holistic health, and creating opportunities for purpose in the workplace may be essential to the future of work.
- There is a positive association between spiritual health and other dimensions of health, i.e., physical health, mental health, and social health.
- Of Gen Z with neutral/ good/ very good spiritual health, 63% reported good/ very good mental health, 64% reported good/ very good social health, and 68% reported good/ very good physical health.
- Overall, Gen Z reported challenges with spiritual health at a higher rate than non-Gen Z respondents. Gen Zers with poor mental health were three time more likely to report a lack of meaning in their lives than those with good mental health.
- Non-Gen Z respondents with poor mental health were more than four times more likely to report a lack of meaning in their lives, compared with those with good mental health.
- Cross-cultural differences were significant.
- 88% of respondents in Indonesia said positive spiritual health helped their mental health, while only 15% of respondents in Japan agreed with that sentiment.
- Residents in higher income countries were substantially less likely to indicate spiritual health was extremely important to them, compared to lower or low-middle-income people.
- While spiritual health is not confined to religion, the differences may sometimes relate with religious practices. For instance, less than half of respondents in France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden said spiritual health was extremely or very important to them, while 85% people in Nigeria said so. It is relevant to remember that many people consider spiritual health
Sum Up
Spiritual health can be framed as part of an individual’s overall well-being. Seeking purpose and meaning, connecting with what matters, and acting with intention can be a lifelong journey, much like the need to regularly assess one’s physical, mental, and social health.
It may once again be emphasized that spiritual health is not based on religious beliefs, though it may relate to these in some ways. Examples may include, missionary work, philanthropic work, giving time for charity etc. The important point is to relate to and strive for a higher purpose.
Concluded.
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