Citing an American Psychological Association(APA) study, Medical News Today reports three-fourths of Americans say they are stressed about work & money; one-third of Americans are living with extreme stress, and the most commonly cited source of stress— mentioned by 74 percent of respondents — was work.
If you are think you are one of these people with a high degree of stress and poor quality of life due to work, take notice! companies large and small are recognizing that happy & healthy employees affect the bottom line in a positive way.
This month the APA recognized five organizations for their comprehensive efforts to promote employee health and well-being while improving performance. Companies presented with the American Psychological Association’s 2008 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award (PHWA) were Arkansas Educational Television Network, Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples de Puerto Rico, Nike Tennessee, Porter Keadle Moore (Georgia) and Westminster Savings Credit Union (British Columbia).
If you run a company or own a business and believe that it wouldn’t be practical for you to implement this, listen to what these organizations report: A turnover rate of 11 percent compared to the national average of 40 percent according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Surveys completed by employees of the winning organizations showed overall well-being and job satisfaction for employees to be significantly greater compared to national averages.
According to the APA report; at Westminster Savings Credit Union, high employee satisfaction and low turnover means that two thirds of WSCU’s openings are filled internally, lowering administrative costs. Increased productivity is another benefit for the organizations. In 2007, Nike Tennessee increased productivity by 51 percent, while reducing injury rates by almost 30 percent. And at Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples, an insurance company in Puerto Rico, employee loyalty is high with a 15-year average length of service and a turnover rate of less than two percent.”
In a New York Times article published this week on the same subject, they point out that “48 percent of the employers in the survey said stress created by long hours and limited resources was affecting business performance, but only 5 percent said they were taking strong action to address those areas.”
The Times highlights some well know organizations that are showing initiative in this area as well. They include:
GlaxoSmithKline has program called “Team Resilience” which combines things like health assessments, discussion groups and follow-up evaluations to deal with workplace stress.
PricewaterhouseCoopers also addresses stress in multiple ways. For example, in annual surveys, employees asked for more coaching and opportunities to connect with more experienced colleagues — and got them.
On TalentManagement.com, Workplace Options, a provider of work-life employee benefits, reports that a recent poll of more than 700 working adults found 76 percent believe it is important that companies offer employees wellness programs to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The U.S. Surgeon General states that 50 percent of this year’s high-cost employees in terms of health care were not in that category last year, and more than 87 percent of health care claims costs are due to an individual’s lifestyle, according to a study by Indiana University. To combat these trends, it is important for companies to consider adopting wellness initiatives that incorporate coaching for maximum results.
Predominantly from the viewpoint of Corporate Wellness, Talent Mangement cites the benefits of coporate wellness programs and coaching. “According to recent studies, pairing personalized coaching with employee wellness initiatives leads to higher success rates.”
What i think is evident is that employers are starting to realize that a happy healthy employee performs better. In order to affect this employers are recognizing that they must look at the employee in terms of their whole life, and how they can help them maintain a quality life.
Fast Company published 18 of the most innovative business minds of the past year. There are some familiar names on the list and some new. Regardless of the industry you are in, chances are you will find someone on this list who inspires you.
Included is Timothy Ferris; Author of The Four Hour Work Week.
Ferriss is a Princeton University guest lecturer in High-Tech Entrepreneurship, the first American in history to hold a Guinness World Record in tango, a national Chinese kickboxing champion, and even a MTV breakdancer in Taiwan. But, what he’s most known for is his 80-20 principle, suggesting that people outsource everyday tasks. He adds, “I’m asking some important and long-avoided questions that make people uncomfortable.”
Follow this link for the other honorees;
The movie “Peaceful Warrior” aired on Showtime this week. A few years ago I read the excellent book it is based on “The Way of The Peaceful Warrior” by Dan Millman . The movie reminded me of some really valuable lessons the story offers, a few of which I have listed below:
I call myself a Peaceful Warrior… because the battles we fight are on the inside.
Everyone wants to tell you what to do and what’s good for you. They don’t want you to find your own answers, they want you to believe theirs. I want you to stop gathering information from the outside and start gathering it from the inside.
Death isn’t sad, the sad thing is that most people don’t live at all.
Everything has a purpose, even this, and it’s up to you to find it.
Socrates: Where are you?
Dan: Here
Socrates: What time is it?
Dan: Now
Socrates: What are you?
Dan: This moment.
This moment is the only thing that matters.
The people that are the hardest to love are usually the ones that need it the most.
3 Rules of Life
Paradox: Life is a mystery. Don’t waste time trying to figure it out.
Humor: Keep a sense of humor, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all.
Change: Know that nothing stays the same.
The Journey is what brings us happiness not the destination.
If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is a law, and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.
You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.
Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is…The only problem in your life is your mind’s resistance to life as it unfolds.
Wake up! If you knew for certain you had a terminal illness–if you had little time left to live–you would waste precious little of it! Well, I’m telling you…you do have a terminal illness: It’s called birth. You don’t have more than a few years left. No one does! So be happy now, without reason–or you will never be at all.
Moderation? It’s mediocrity, fear, and confusion in disguise. It’s the devil’s dilemma. It’s neither doing nor not doing. It’s the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy. Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fence-sitters of the world afraid to take a stand. It’s for those afraid to laugh or cry, for those afraid to live or die. Moderation…is lukewarm tea, the devil’s own brew.
Author Melody Beattie wrote a profound book of meditations “More Language of Letting Go“ which offers bold perspective on taking responsibility for our lives. The passage for January 6th in particular speaks with a clearer perspective than anything else I have read on this topic.
This passage begins outlining the risks one would take when they go skydiving, bungee jumping, or a number of other sports, rides, etc. You are asked to sign a waiver acknowledging the danger in what you are about to do. “You sign the waiver to protect others from being liable in case of an accident”.
She suggests that we take this same viewpoint with all of the choices we make in our lives. “Ultimately no one is responsible for my life but me. There is no one to blame, no one to sue, no one to ask for a refund.”
To help the reader on this path, she created a waiver for the reader to sign. This waiver asks the reader to take responsibility for the decisions they make. Where and who they live with..how you spend money and time… “There are inherent dangers and risks in all decisions I make. Life and people have no obligation whatsoever to live up to my expectations…Life is a high risk sport and I may become injured along the way.
The passage concludes with “Although people may voluntarily nurture and love me. I and I alone am responsible for taking care of and loving myself.”
This is pure poetry about how to get the most out of life.
Business Week profiles pickle maker Rick Field, the founder Rick’s Picks. He describes what it takes to transform a hobby into a thriving business with national distribution.
“Background: In 2003, Field, a director and producer for veteran journalist Bill Moyers, left TV to turn his pickle-making hobby into a full-time business he named Rick’s Picks.” more
If you are considering a career change, The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released employment projections for the 10 year period 2006-2016. This report may help you decide where and where not to devote your job search efforts.
Network systems and Data Communications Analysts top the list with Personal and Home Care Aides, Home Health Aides, Computer Software Application Engineers, and Veterinary Technicians rounding out the top five fastest growing occupations. The report also bodes well for those in financial and employment services; medical care, as well as printing, and motor vehicle parts manufacturing.
Not surprisingly they cite aging and retiring baby boomers as a big influence on the growth and decline of certain professions. This is for two reasons, first being that they will be retiring and leaving vacancies; second as they age there will be a greater demand for services such as home health care.
Topping the list of professions expected to see the largest employment decline are stock clerk and order fillers. I wonder what this means for retail businesses? Other notable professions in the list of the top 30 declining professions are Farmers & Ranchers, Sewing Machine Operators, and the profession that couldn’t decline fast enough Telemarketers.
” Are you rushing through life missing out on the real moments? How much time do you spend contemplating problems which never even happen? Most of us create an unnecessary amount of stress in our lives by spending more time rehashing the past or trying to control the future, then we do in the present moment.
In “Choosing Happiness” Alexandra Stoddard writes “The past is dead gone forever, only to be retrieved in memories, films, scrapbooks, and memorabilia.The past, whether good or bad, Is not where we should water our seeds of consciousness, because doing so drains our energy from what is alive to us and around us now.Dwelling on the past inhibits our ability to move forward and take action to inspire our well-being.However we perceive the past, whether in a positive or negative light, concentrating on it makes us unhappier in the present.” Continue reading →
In “Work Like You’re Showing Off” Joe Calloway uses the surge in popularity of high-stakes poker as a metaphor for going all-in with our lives and careers, much like a poker player would. It is about bringing your best to every situation.
He recounts a sermon his pastor recently gave about “Going All In”. “In poker when you go all in, you are putting it all on the line, every last chip goes into the pot. It is the most intense and exciting time of the game.” Continue reading →
Randy Pausch a professor at Carnegie Mellon University diagnosed with liver cancer with a prognosis of only months to live, gave his final lecture on September 18th, 2007. “Living Your Childhood Dreams” on September 18th of this year. He allowed it to be streamed, it has since been watched over 1 million times.
The video streams from Google and It is almost 2 hours in length. If you don’t want to watch it all at one time, you should use You Tube video further down as it is broken up into segments.
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer gave an awe inspiring commencement address on doing what you love. Stanford University on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.
offers, a few of which I have listed below:
He describes what it takes to transform a hobby into a thriving business with national distribution.
” Are you rushing through life missing out on the real moments? How much time do you spend contemplating problems which never even happen? Most of us create an unnecessary amount of stress in our lives by spending more time rehashing the past or trying to control the future, then we do in the present moment.
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer gave an awe inspiring commencement address on doing what you love. Stanford University on June 12, 2005.