The Healthy Employee

YOU DESERVE A BREAK TODAY. HEALTHY WORK-BREAKS IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY. IT MAKES SENSE FOR THE COMPANY AND THE EMPLOYEE

CAN A WORKPLACE REALLY ENCOURAGE BREAKS AND STILL BE COMPETITIVE and PRODUCTIVE?

Popular belief is that breaks and exercise will reduce productivity by interrupting the work. In practice, studies show quite the opposite – productivity doesn’t reduce, but in fact can increase.  According to a new Cornell University study, when workers were reminded on a regular basis to assume good posture, take short breaks and stretch, they did more accurate work and as a result were more productive. 

 

Research by Traci Galinsky, a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and a member of the human factors in ergonomics research team at NIOSH, found that when workers get up and walk at regular intervals over the day they are more productive. "We found that not only does that reduce the discomfort that accumulates over the work day, it also tends to enhance performance enough to offset any productivity loss that you'd expect by giving the breaks. Overall work quantity was maintained," Galinsky said. "The breaks appear to allow for recovery from fatigue so that when they go back to work, their work is enhanced."

 

"Work to Live" author Joe Robinson cites several studies showing that breaks improve productivity. Short intervals for relaxation allow us to sustain high levels of effort more of the time.

 

CREATE BOOSTER BREAKS RATHER THAN TRADITIONAL BREAKS

It is common for workers to have two 10-15 minute work breaks each day.  Unfortunately work breaks frequently involve health-compromising behaviors such as snacking or smoking. .  Work breaks are important but currently underutilized opportunity to help an employee feel better, be more productive and even become healthier. 

 

Show people how to use that 10 of their 15 minute break to do some stretches, to do some light exercise or deep breathing to relax the mind and body before they get their cup of coffee.  They will feel better and honestly be more productive.  If they stretch and exercise somewhat regularly – two or three days each week -  they will get health benefits as well.  An on-site coach could help motivate and teach people how to do this – see www.beproactive.com for information about how Proactive Partners can provide affordable workplace coach programs.

 

A 5 MINUTE BOOSTER BREAK IS A GREAT PLACE TO START

People don’t have to stretch for 15 minutes (although they will find that it really feels great).  Just taking 5 minutes to stretch, do a few exercises or some deep breathing to relax the mind and body can make a difference.  There’s are some great programs offered at www.Take5Moment.com

 

MY ADVICE TO COMPANIES

Encourage employees to take breaks through the day and teach them how to take a healthy break, a booster break so they feel good at work all day.  It will improve performance, enhance productivity.  Talk to the experts at Proactive Partners - www.beproactive.com.

 

MY ADVICE TO EMPLOYEES

Take frequent breaks.  And do light movement during your breaks – stretch, walk around the block, do some lunges down the hallway, do the stairs a couple of times just for the exercise.  You will feel better through the day.  And at the end of the day you go home feeling more energized, feeling better so you can enjoy your family. 

 

MANAGE STRESS TO IMPROVE WORK PERFORMANCE AND HEALTH

We can’t avoid stress.

 

It’s part of a normal day .  At work there are customer demands and deadlines, traffic that keeps getting worse both morning and evening, and from the moment the alarm rings to bedtime, people struggle to cope with busy family schedules.  It’s hard to find time to decompress, to relax.  And the constant pressure is causing health issues – headaches, sleep problems, immune system weakness, muscle tension that causes backache.  The list is long – lots of small aches and pains and sometimes some big problems like heart disease or high blood pressure.

 

Do you have stress in your life?  The bottom line is that everyone does.  I remember when a researcher asked me if I felt stress on a regular basis, I said  “no, not really”.  He laughed and made me realize that I was kidding myself.  Stress is part of every day for all of us.  And the consistent stress we all experience causes interesting chemical changes in our bodies.  Many of them aren’t so good for us.

 

STRESS MANAGEMENT CAN BE LEARNED.

I was amazed, but I learned that it is possible to control and manage your body’s response to the environmental stress.  Yes, stress can be managed.  It’s not hard to learn.  The folks at HeartMath have done a lot of research on this topic.  And Proactive Partners have teamed up with the HeartMath folks to bring stress management skills to the workplace.  Why the workplace?  First, ongoing stress will generally make an employee less productive, less effective.  Managing the response to stress can actually make a person more focused, can help the person make smarter/better decisions despite the stress, can improve problem solving skills, can enhance performance. And then there’s the health costs that companies are dealing with as a result of people not effectively coping with stress.  So a company has two reasons to teach people to manage stress.  Check out www.beproactive.com and  www.HeartMath.com

 

ARE YOU STRESSED?

Here are some stress quizzes you might find interesting. 

 

http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/tc/interactive-tool-what-is-your-stress-level-what-does-this-tool-measure

 

http://www.webmd.com/hw-popup/life-change-stress-test

 

http://www.webmd.com/hw-popup/resiliency-quiz

 

EXERCISE IS ANOTHER WAY TO MANAGE STRESS.

Something as simple as light exercise can make a difference in a person’s ability to control and manage stress.  This WebMD article talks about the benefits -

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/exercise-benefits.  Proactive Partners experts can bring exercise to the workplace that will help with stress and health for employees.  Go to www.beproactive.com to find out about their coach solution - it's a process that will really connect with your employees.

 

MANAGE STRESS FOR SUCCESS.

Controlling one’s reaction to stress has long been recognized as a key skill.  Thomas Jefferson said,  "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances