The Healthy Employee

EMPLOYEE HEALTH - YOUR COMPANY’S HUMAN CAPITAL ASSET

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM AN EMPLOYEE? 

Results.  You want the person to be present.  Be productive.  Be a performer.  To do this, the employee needs to be healthy.  And part of the health equation  -  manage stress.  Stress can have  significant impact on a person’s health if it’s not managed.  Everything from heart disease to high blood pressure to fatigue that leads to lack of focus and poor decision making,  higher absenteeism, lower presenteeism.  According to the Journal of Occupational Health & Environment and also  Gallup Attitudes in the American Workplace survey, 19% of absenteeism, 40% of turnover and 50% of healthcare expenditures are attributable to workers who report high stress.  And lots of people report stress on the job.  The Gallup Attitudes in the Workplace survey reported that 80% of workers feel stress on the job.  These are the folks who are taking care of your valuable customers.  Yikes!!!

 "Stress in America continues to escalate and is affecting every aspect of people's lives - from work to personal relationships to sleep patterns and eating habits, as well as their health.“    Dr. Russ Newman, Exec Dir, APA.

 

Please notice I did not say eliminate stress.   We need work to be challenging, fast-paced and always pushing forward, solving problems – it’s the only way to make a business successful in this competitive environment.  So if the work environment is going to be stressful and we know that people’s family/home life adds another layer of stress, what can we as employers realistically do about it?

 

TEACH EMPLOYEES HOW TO MANAGE STRESS

Managing stress is a critical job skill – as important as computer skills or basic accounting.  Proactive Partners can help with a solution – Perform Under Stress, Reach for Success workshops.  They take a practical approach, teach practical skills to productively respond to stress.  Performance-focused techniques can be used “in the moment”, not on a mountaintop in Tibet.  And the workshop content is grounded in peer-reviewed and published research on stress.  Visit www.beproactive.com to get information. 

 

HELPING EMPLOYEES MANAGE STRESS ALSO MAKES SENSE FOR THE BUSINESS BOTTOM LINE

 

Health care costs in the U.S. now exceed $2 trillion each year.  Probably the majority of your company's health expenditures are for stress-related disorders including depression.  Go ask your benefits team about your healthcare costs that are a result of stress.  You may be surprised by the numbers.  Teach people to manage stress, you will get health benefits and cost savings.  The team at Proactive Partners can show you the data - visit www.beproactive.com to get in touch.

 

FREE THOUGHTS.

This really is an important issue and I hope that I have provided some helpful perspective.  But the good news is that these are free thoughts  - and they are worth every penny you paid for them!! 

 

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

 

OFFICE WORK – IT’S A PAIN IN THE NECK – LITERALLY

Every day, all across the country millions of workers spend hours sitting at a desk in front of the computer. Sitting in the same position with little or no exercise throughout the day can cause headaches, neck and shoulder pain and muscle cramping.

 

RESEARCH SHOWs neck and shoulder pain EASED with simple exercises

Researcers in Italy recently conducted a study on a group of government workers and found that a simple series of exercises and stretches can make a difference.

Researchers followed a group of 192 office workers for eight months. Throughout the study,  participants performed a series of neck and shoulder exercises every few hours while at the office. In addition, they performed basic relaxation exercises at home daily for 10 to 15 minutes. At the end of the study headache frequency fell by 41 percent and daily aches and pains fell by 43 percent.  Go to http://www.ohsonline.com/articles/64148/ to see a more complete report.

 

EMPLOYEES SHOULD MAKE STRETCHING, NECK AND SHOULDER EXERCISES PART OF THEIR WORK DAY

Mid-morning, early afternoon, late afternoon.  It doesn’t take a lot of time – just a few minutes.  These stretch breaks will ease tension, relieve routine aches and stiffness.  Stretching and bending regularly acts as an energizer, gets the blood moving.  Much more effective and healthier than a coffee break! 

 

EMPLOYEES SHOULD DO IT AT THEIR DESK  J J J TEACH EMPLOYEES HOW THEY CAN STRETCH IN THE OFFICE, RIGHT AT THEIR DESK

Here are a few simple stretches.  They’re easy.  Share them with the organization via email.  Recommend that people do them 2 or 3 times each day.  You can also call experts at Proactive Partners to get a more tailored program - visit www.beproactive.com to get in touch.  But here are the stretches that will get you started:

*  Shoulder Shrug

1. Sit straight with your shoulders relaxed. Inhale and squeeze your shoulders up toward your ears.
2. Hold tightly for several seconds and relax as you exhale. Repeat several times.

*  Neck Stretch

3. Sitting straight, exhale and let your neck drop forward. Relax for about 2 seconds, then lift your head to the center.
4. Let your head drop to one side, relax, and return to center. Repeat to the other side.
5. Do the whole sequence 5 to 10 times, the more often the better.

*  Stretch Your Spine

1. Sit straight in your chair. With your hands clasped behind your head, exhale and turn slowly to the right.
2. Look behind you, twisting as far as comfortable without strain. Hold for several seconds, and inhale as you return to the starting position.
3. Repeat on the other side.
4. Repeat 10-15 times.

*  Shoulder Stretch

1.       Stand with legs slightly bent and feet hip-width apart.  Or you can sit.

2.       Put your right arm across the front of your body so your forearm is near your left shoulder.  Extend until you feel a light stretch in the back of your right shoulder. 

3.       To push the stretch a little further, hold your right arm at the elbow with your left hand.  Hold for about 8-10 seconds and repeat on the other side.

4.       Repeat 3-5 times.

 

GET A COACH, GET HELP

Your employees will want to do stretches to relieve tension and reduce/eliminate headaches. While the stretches aren’t difficult, remembering to do them regularly is.  Proactive Partners has an interesting coach concept – visit www.beproactive.com to learn about how you can get a professional to lead stretch breaks and lots more very cost-effectively.

 

Or try an on-line version.  There’s a stretch demo on youtube.  It does a nice job. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl_Ck2LCGoE  .

 

Or you could get DVD’s for employees to use at their computer.  Check out www.take5moment.com. 

 

 

STRESS - IT’S SCREWING WITH PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE QUALITY

Fortune magazine reported that “stress in the workplace is skyrocketing” and has reached “record levels.”    Another publication cites that American business loses an estimated $200-$300 billion dollars per year to stress related productivity loss and stress-related healthcare expense. To put this in perspective, this amount is higher than the total cost related to all strikes and the net profit from all Fortune 500 companies.  

STRESS – BIG IMPACT ON ABSENTEEISM AND PRESENTEEISM

We’ve all heard that stress impacts absenteeism and presenteeism, but here are some amazing numbers.  Employees self-reported the following in a recent survey:

44% say they miss 1-2 days per year due to stress.

33% say they miss 3-6 days per year

23% say they miss more than 6 days per year –wow!!!   

These same employees say that stress impacts effectiveness when at work

48% say they come to work 1-4 days per year when they are too stressed to be effective

29% come to work 5 or more days per year too stressed to be effective

Is anybody actually working???

WHY ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES STRESSED?

42% cite workload

29% cite people/coworker issues

16% cite juggling work and personal life

13% cite lack of job security

But wait, there’s more.  A recent ABC News report says that the recent credit crisis is making things worse.  Your employees are scared.   In the ABC News report, Richard Chaifetz, CEO of ComPsych , a company that provides Employee Assistance service  states that our calls in general for mortgage-related issues are up over three times compared to last year.  (Employees have) become preoccupied with financial issues while at work. You see absenteeism, lack of performance and turnover as people look for jobs that may pay more.  Financial worries manifest themselves in the workplace as employees moonlight to pick up extra money, or can cause anxiety, depression, absenteeism and productivity problems that affect the bottom line.   

THE NEW REALITY

These things aren’t going away – workloads will continue to increase, people will continue to be challenged on how to balance work and personal life, whether it’s financial worries (the mortgage, funding college, replacing the car) or just finding the time and energy to help kids with their homework.  

A KEY JOB SKILL  - STRESS MANAGEMENT

Stress happens.  The good news is that it is possible to teach people to more effectively manage the stress.  They can learn to be more productive, more effective in the face of stress.  A couple of places where you can learn more about this –

www.beproactive.com

www.heartmath.com

www.corporateathlete.com

STRESS – IT’S EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME

FEELING STRESSED TODAY?

If not, lucky you.  Stress happens.  And it feels like it’s happening more than it did a few years ago.  It is relentless.  Day in, day out.   If you are feeling this, you’re not alone.  According to Dr. Russ Newman, Executive Director of the American Psychological Association,  "Stress in America continues to escalate and is affecting every aspect of people's lives - from work to personal relationships to sleep patterns and eating habits, as well as their health.“

STRESS AND YOUR WEEK

It may be something big.  You are getting married or your wife just got laid off from her job. Big stuff and it causes big stress.  But they honestly don’t happen every day (think goodness).  In reality, it’s the small stuff that gets us.  Traffic.  Your daugter’s snippy attitude this morning.  Your boss expecting a report “yesterday” when the information arrived late.  Or you weren’t able to sleep last night, so now you’re REALLY tired but the phone won’t stop ringing, you have 30 emails waiting for you, and you need to take your dad to the doctor after work. 

STRESS AND HEALTH

What a surprise – stress is bad for you  There is documented linkage between stress and an increased risk for heart attacks, depression, cancer, and the progression of HIV and AIDS. (JAMA, October 10, 2007—Vol 298, No. 14 1685 Sheldon Cohen, PhD, Denise Janicki-Deverts, PhD, Gregory E. Miller, PhD).

STRESS AND WORK

And to add more bad news (and a bit more stress if you continue to read!!!).  Workplace stress is as bad for your heart as smoking and high cholesterol  (JAMA. 2007;298:1652-1660. Corine Aboa-Éboulé, MD, PhD; Chantal Brisson, PhD; Elizabeth Maunsell, PhD; et al)

 

STRESS AND WORK -- IF YOU ARE THE EMPLOYER

Stress is costing big bucks as well as people’s health, productivity and peace of mind.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state unequivocally that 80% of our medical expenditures are now stress related.   Think about your healthcare expense line – that should create some more stress for you.

YOU CAN TEACH PEOPLE TO MANAGE STRESS

*  It’s possible to learn to manage stress.  I’m not talking about getting rid of stress.  I’m sorry to say that stress is here to stay.  But there are techniques and tools that can be learned to manage the stress, to reduce the negative impact on health and even help employees become more effective and productive.  Think of it as a basic job skill.  Contact Proactive Partners for information on Manage Stress, Reach for Success Workshops at www.beproactive.com.

*  Exercise also help people cope with stress.  Go to www.beproactive.com.  Or visit moodraiser blog at http://www.moodraiser.com/2007/07/exercise-beats-depression.html 

   

POSITIVE RETURN ON INVESTMENT

There is mounting evidence that investment in education, workshops, coaching on how to productively manage stress really works.  The data is coming in from lots of sources.  Go to www.beproactive.com to request ROI data.  Or to www.HeartMath.com.  Or to www.WELCOA.

STOP SPENDING MONEY TO TREAT STRESS-RELATED HEALTH PROBLEMS.

Teach your employees to be more effective, to be healthier, to manage stress.

TOO STRESSED TO THINK???

WHY IS EVERYONE SO CRANKY???  YES, STRESS

Everyone feels stressed these days – I know I do.  Life keeps getting busier, more demanding - at work and at home.  Traffic was crazy getting to the office   An irritated customer just called and the guy from accounting is standing at the door to my office - he obviously needs something. Meetings are scheduled all day – no breaks.  A key manager has the flu.   It’s my teenager's “back to school” night but I have to stay late to finish a report. 

What is stress?

 

It’s feeling there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it – day in and day out.  People feel overworked, overwhelmed.   

Stress is physical:

                Clenched jaw

                Grinding teeth

                Headache

                Insomnia

                Loss of appetite

                Rise in blood pressure

Stress is thought and feeling:

                Anger

                Irritability

                Restlessness

                Sadness

                Anxiety

                Cynicism

                Defensiveness

Depression

Stress is behavior:

                Angry outbursts

                Difficulty concentrating

                Forgetfulness

                Procrastination

                Excessive worrying

                Overeating

                Increased use of alcohol, tobacco or drugs

stress is impacting business

.

According to the American Psychological Association, stress costs U.S. employers $300 billion annually.   It accounts for 19% of absenteeism, 40% of turnover and 50% of healthcare expenditures are attributred to workers reporting high stress.  When people are stressed, it impacts quality and productivity.  When stressed, employees aren't thinking as clearly, aren't solving problems as effectively, aren't able to focus.

LESS STRESS, MORE SUCCESS – it can be done.

Knowing how to manage stress is becoming a basic job skill.  Managing stress does not mean eliminating stress nor does it mean going to a mountain to meditate -- get real!  Managing stress means teaching people to develop positive and productive techniques to deal with stress “in real time”. 

·          There are lots of books (there’s even a Stress Management for Dummies).

·          There are the traditional psychologists and clinics - good ones like Mayo Clinic– http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/stress/SR00001/METHOD=print and http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/positive-thinking/SR00009/METHOD=print.   

·          You could try online tutorials like the one from the US National Library of Medicine http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/managingstress/htm/index.htm.

 

·          Proactive Partners offers Manage Stress, Reach for Success workshops that use HeartMath® reseach-proven techniques.  Go to www.beproactive.com or to www.heartmath.com.  These workshops are efficient and focused on performance enhancement, not relaxation.  Check it out.