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Thursday, July 08, 2010

Feeling Hot-Hot-Hot!

Businessman runningThe heat wave that most of us are experiencing at the moment is quite unusual.  Extreme situations call for extreme measures, and so I went to my friend and colleague Christa Smedile, RD, LDN to give us advice for this week's issue.

Here's what Christa had to say:

As Dr. Andrew Weil says, "Water is a basic necessity, needed to maintain a healthy body, a clear mind, and a good balance within your tissues." Most people I talk to are completely dehydrated on a normal day, never mind in this heat! 

Drinking plain water can energize us, flush out toxins and impurities, and act as an appetite suppressant.  Not drinking enough water can result in fatigue, dry skin, headaches and constipation; over the longer term, every function in the body will degrade more quickly. 

Choose filtered or spring water at room temperature and steer clear of tap waters to avoid chlorine, fluoride, and toxic substances. Distilled water should also be avoided because it has the wrong ionization, pH, polarization and oxidation potentials, and can drain your body of necessary minerals.

Enjoy 8-8oz glasses of water each day. Try adding some citrus fruits, fresh mint or ginger to spice up the taste.

Fun fact: most food cravings are due to dehydration, so drinking more water can help you shed a few unwanted pounds. 

Lastly, most people are most dehydrated first thing in the morning.  This week, try drinking a big glass of water when you get up and see if it helps you stay cool in the heat.

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 7:17:49 PM

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Relax - It Will Help You Be More Effective

Between your endless work responsibilities, your kids' extracurricular activities, yourspouse's requests, and maybe also your aging parents, time to relax probably seems like an extravagant indulgence that ranks pretty low on your list of priorities.

 But what if I told you that 10-20 minutes of real relaxation each day can make you more effective at work and elsewhere?

 People who do take time to truly relax enjoy numerous effectiveness-boosting benefits, including:

 - Decreased anxiety: stress reduces productivity, and less of it has the reverse effect.    

 - Better moods: far from being irrelevant, being in a good mood enhances your creativity, insight and capacity to innovate.  

 - Increased energy: people with high energy can accomplish more in less time, so this one is a no-brainer.

 - Improved sleep: sleep deprivation is a brain impairment that leads to lesser decision-making ability and higher mistake rates.  Improved sleep produces the opposite effect.

- Improved health: feeling ill definitely slows you down - whether it's through absenteeism or presenteeism.  Strong health on the other hand helps you be alert, engaged, and effective.

All things considered, maybe a little R&R is worthy of your busy schedule, isn't it?  And before you ask, no, TV watching does not qualify as "true relaxation"!  

Curious to see if this can work for you?  No need to be a meditation guru.  Just try to find a quiet environment, get in a comfortable position and close your eyes.  As you breathe deeply, focus on your breath or on letting go.  

 I suggest you try it for a few days, and see if it helps you feel better and work smarter!  

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 12:07:11 PM

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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Two Quick Ways to Gain Control over Your Food Urges

540 words. Reading time: less than 90 seconds.

Do you feel powerless about implementing healthier food habits? A lot of people try real hard to resist the appeal of their favorite treats, only to end up depleted, defeated, and chewing away on the forbidden temptations before the end of the day. Once the temporary satisfaction has vanished, they feel guilty and resolve that this was their very last lapse… until the next one.

If your relationship with food resembles this example, my article will give you empowerment.

You see, it is common for people who want to improve their eating habits to focus on their weaknesses. They keep repeating to themselves “I know I shouldn’t have this (make it your preferred guilt-inducing food: chips, chocolate, bacon, fries), but it would taste soooo very goood! And I work so hard. I deserve a treat.” As they go through this thought process, the cycle of fleeting pleasure, guilt, and short-lived determination repeats itself.

Try New Strategies

Einstein defined insanity as the repetition of the same behaviors while expecting different outcomes. So if obsessing over your food habits has led you to nowhere in the past, chances it won't be a fruitful endeavor moving forward.

Positive psychology teaches us that focusing on weaknesses only goes so far. Rather than count on your soon-exhausted self-regulation and you overly-solicited mental energy, why not try another strategy? Here are my two favorites:

1) Physical activity: Rather than be defeated by that brownie, put on your sneakers and go for a walk. Angela Duckworth’s research shows that people who can best resist temptations are those who can successfully divert their attention. Brain scans also show that when a tempting stimulus is not available, our brain activity related to it diminishes, hence making it easier to resist. Out of sight, out of mind? Equally important to note: a lot of our dysfunctional behaviors are expressions of physical urges. Learning to shift these urges from need for comfort food to cues for exercise is a winning strategy. According to change expert Prochaska, “There is no more beneficial substitute for problem behaviors than exercise.” Certainly worth trying!

2) Emotional response: Look at that slice of pizza in a new light. Rather than see the comforting flavors, visualize its sodium content as it creates micro-lesions in your arterial walls. Then picture its cholesterol content coming in to fill in these micro-lesions, and leaving fatty deposits behind. Take 30 seconds to feel the rising blood pressure that will undoubtedly ensue, and that sweaty, out-of-breath feeling that you will likely experience just walking up a flight of stairs over a lifetime of such not-so-commendable habits. Not sexy! Change your emotional response to the foods that are hard-to-resist for you and their appeal will diminish considerably.

Save Your Mental Energy

Next time you want to avoid a certain food, preserve your mental energy for what deserves it. Go for a walk or change your emotional response to the foods you want to rid your life of, and you will free yourself from the temptation painlessly. You will also preserve your self-regulatory energy for other demands that are sure to come your way during the day!

Sources:

Temptation courtesy of powerbooktrance; Pizza courtesy of Theodore Scott.

Baumeister, R. F., Gailliot, M., DeWall, C. N., & Oaten, M. (2006). Self-regulation and personality: How interventions increase regulatory success, and how depletion moderates the effects of traits on behavior. Journal of personality, 74(6), 1773-1801.

Duckworth, A. (2007). Lecture for the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology students, University of Pennsylvania.

Kessler, D.A. (2009). The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. New York: Rodale.

Prochaska, J.O., Norcross, J.C. & Diclemente, C.C. (1994). Changing for good. New York: HarperCollins.

Roizen, M. F. & Oz, M. C. (2005). YOU: The Owner’s Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Insider’s Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger New York: HarperCollins.

Somer, E. (1999). Food & Mood, 2nd Ed. The complete Guide to Eating Well and Feeling Your Best. New York: Holt Paperbacks.

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 1:19:28 PM

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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

How Physical Activity Enhances Productivity

Jogger

This article is © 2010 PositivePsychologyNews.com - Marie-Josee Salvas Shaar

There has been a lot of press about health, fitness, and obesity lately. It seems like everywhere we turn, there are new stats telling us why we need to pay serious attention. As a health coach, the most common excuse I hear for physical inactivity is not lack of information, but lack of time. In this article, I’d like to explain why spending time working out also helps people work smart. In fact, I argue that the time invested in physical activity pays for itself in increased productivity.


For starters, I’d like to point out that only moving creatures have a brain. Living organisms that build roots and stay in one place all their lives may have an intelligence, but no physical brain. Creatures that move have to think in order to feed and defend themselves and survive. Harvard psychiatry professor, John Ratey, points out that it is therefore no surprise that movement generates the brain activity necessary for synaptic connections to be formed and maintained. In other words, moving facilitates learning and remembering, both of which are certainly very good skills for anyone who wants to work smart. In Ratey’s words, exercise is “Mental Miracle-Gro.”

Biochemicals at Work
According to Ratey and Doctors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz, two other neurotransmitters produced during exercise are serotonin and dopamine. These chemical messengers make us feel good and increase our energy and motivation. The link between feeling good and doing well was already clear from previous positive psychology research by Diener, Biswas-Diener, Lyubomirsky, King, and Seligman. But for the skeptics who still want more concrete (physiological) evidence, research published by Subramanian and colleagues has shown that people solve creative problems better and with more insight when in a positive mood, probably because insight is generated in the same brain region as positive emotions. Creative and insightful problem solving? I say that’s productive!

Stay Calm - 1Ratey and Registered Dietician, Elizabeth Somer, both point out that another helpful biochemical change caused by exercise is reduced cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone which modern lifestyles cause many people to over-produce. In a 2007 opinion survey, 55% of workers report being less productive at work as a result of stress. According to Nanette Mutrie and Guy Faulkner, a single session of exercise can reduce immediate feelings of anxiety.

Stay Calm - 2 If a single exercise session is impactful, working out regularly compounds the benefits. In an chapter called simply Toughness, authors Richard Dienstbier and Lisa Pytlik Zilling explain that aerobic activity improves the central nervous system’s resistance to depletion under stress. Toughness corresponds positively to performance in challenging tasks, enhanced learning abilities, and positive physical and psychological health – all good things that enhance the ability to work efficiently.

Physical = Mental Toughness


Performance at Work
But has anyone ever studied the direct impact of exercise on work performance? James Loehr and Tony Schwartz have, and they share their results in The Power of Full Engagement. Their work confirms that through increased energy, physical fitness produces higher engagement and better work results.

There would be a lot more to say on the topic, and I have a feeling more research is to come over the next several years. But for now, let me just add one final thought for all leaders and managers: inactivity compromises organizational productivity as much as it does employee health. Due to the contractual nature of your relationship with your staff, you are in a particularly good position to influence their lifestyles. Do something about it – it’s time to get moving!

 Energy Grid

Energy Grid - Healthy Habits Move the Slider to the Right

Note: This article was inspired by a discussion following my colleague Sherri Fisher’s article, Nurturing Your Creative Mindset. It is also a follow-up to her article, When More Work Leads to Lower Achievement and to my own earlier article, When Overworking Leads to Underperforming.

Sources:

Diener, E. & Biswas-Diener, R. (2008). Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth. Wiley-Blackwell.

Dienstbier, R. & Pytlik Zillig, L.M. (2005). Toughness. In C. R. Snyder & S. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of Positive Psychology, (pp. 512-527). New York: Oxford University Press.

Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2003). The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. New York: Free Press.

Lyubomirsky, S., King, L. & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131 (6), 803-855.

Mutrie, N. & Faulkner, G. () Physical Activity: Positive Psychology in Motion. In A. Linley & S. Josephs (Eds.), Positive Psychology in Practice, (pp. 146-164). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Complete book available online here.

Psychologically Healthy Workplaces specifies the types of practices that lead to psychologically healthy and high-performing workplaces.

Ratey, J. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Roizen, M. F. & Oz, M. C. (2005). YOU: The Owner’s Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Insider’s Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger. New York: HarperCollins.

Seligman, Martin (2004), Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. New York: Free Press.

Schwartz, Tony (2008). Youtube video of a talk in the Leading at Google series.

Somer, E. (1999). Food & Mood: The Complete Guide to Eating Well and Feeling Your Best, Second Edition. New York: Holt Paperbacks

Subramaniam, K. Kounios, J. Parrish, T.B. & Jung-Beeman, M. (2008). A Brain Mechanism for Facilitation of Insight by Positive Affect. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 21 (3), 415–432.

Images
Jogger in NYC courtesy of Ed Yourdon
Stay Calm courtesy of VMOS
Another Flying Sidekick courtesy of kaibara87

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 2:53:19 PM

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Easiest Cancer Prevention Tip You'll Ever Hear!

I know, I know.  You read my articles for my good tips on sleep, food, mood and exercise versus productivity, and cancer prevention does not exactly fit in my usual topics (although quite a productive thing to do just the same!).  But this tip is so easy yet powerful, I felt it was my duty to pass it along. 

Here are the punch lines issued from research by Nobel Prize Winner biochemist Dr. Otto Heinrich Warburg:  

 - Shallow breathing leads to stale air in our bodies, and stale air is fertile grounds for tumor cells to proliferate.

 - Conversely, cancer cannot live in well-oxygenated cells.  

 Yoga teaches deep breathingWhat does that mean to you concretely?  It means that deep breathing is a good ally in cancer prevention.  In fact, you might want to take formal breathing breaks a few times a day.

Strategy doesn't get any simpler than this, so let's try together: deep and full inhale through the nose - send this crisp and purifying air to your belly - hold it - and out through the mouth as if you were blowing your birthday candles.  Repeat as often as you can.

For those interested in taking the breathing practice further, I recommend trying yoga (I had to add some exercise in there somewhere!).  I personally practice yoga regularly, and find it truly beneficial on many levels! 

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 10:24:48 AM

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Saturday, April 24, 2010

Breakthrough Strategy to Reduce the Damage of Fast Food

If the constant demands of modern life make fast food a convenient and nearly unavoidable solution for you every now and then, this article is a must read for you.  But before I give you all the juicy details, let's first understand what's so bad about fast food in the first place.

Typical fast foods - burgers, fried chicken, French fries and the like - are high in fat and/or sugar. They create oxidative and inflammatory stress in your blood vessels. Overtime, the stress they cause can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes, atherosclerosis, obesity, even heart attacks.

Burger and friesA new study led by University of Buffalo endocrinologists shows that the powerful antioxidants of orange juice can limit the impact of the inflammatory agents in fast food.  In other words, drinking orange juice with your burger and fries can reduce the arterial damage of that meal. 

But here's the catch: concentrated forms - which is what most fast food joints serve - won't work. Only the real deal (not-from-concentrate) can save your arteries. So next time you consider hitting the drive-through, make sure you get to a grocery or convenience store first.

Now this is no license to eat as much fast food as you'd like. Orange juice can only do so much to save you from yourself! To be precise, it can reduce the damage of any given splurge by about 15%. It is of significant help, but it is no cure-all!


Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 2:55:42 PM

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Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Please Stand Before You Read

Between your commute, your day at the office and watching TV at night, how much sitting do you typically do in a day? 

This is an important question, because its answer may influence your health and waist line as much as your formal exercise program (or lack thereof) does.

A series of research projects from 2005 to 2009 showed that uninterrupted sitting is bad for you for two main reasons:

  • Sitting requires minimal effort and movement, thus burning next to no calories.
  • Sitting slows down your metabolism, thus making you burn fewer calories once you get moving.

As a result, people who sit for long periods at a time are more likely to suffer the consequences of being overweight.  For example, heavy sitters tend to have higher blood pressure and blood sugar levels - 2 health consequences that are really damaging to your system long-term.  They are also more likely to suffer from heart diseases - something you want to run away from - not sit with!

In light of this info, try to find any and every reason to move as much as you can throughout the day.  Here are a few suggestions: 

  • Walk to your colleague's desk as opposed to sending an email
  • Walk rather than drive to the coffee shop down the street
  • Stand up when you speak on the phone with a client
  • Sit on a Swiss ball as opposed to a regular chair when using your home computer - the small movements you'll make to keep yourself balanced add up and make a difference
  • Watch less TV, and when you do, rock yourself in a chair rather than sink into the couch so that your calf muscles are active.
Yes, it truly is time to get moving!  Commit to one initiative to help you move more, and find an accountability buddy to help you follow-through. 

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 4:29:10 PM

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Monday, March 29, 2010

When at Work, Can You Leave Your Heart at Home?

This article is © 2010 PositivePsychologyNews.com - Marie-Josee Salvas Shaar & Louisa Jewell.

755 words; Reading time: less than 3 minutes.

You can take a person out of their home, but you can’t take the home life out of the person.”

Many emotionsWhile employers would like for employees to leave their problems at home, the reality is that most people find it difficult to turn off stressors from their personal life when they get to work. Similarly, research suggests that employees who enjoy fulfilling home lives are in a better position to make significant contributions at work. Rather than ignore the home-life/work-performance connection, we argue that employers who encourage and support healthy home lives see a better return on their salary investment.

Are Work and Personal Lives Separate?

Readers of this blog already know that according to research by Diener, Lyubomirsky, and King, happy individuals are successful across multiple life domains, including friendship, marriage, health and work performance. The research suggests that the positive affect engenders success rather than the other way around. So if people are happier at home, can we expect to find a spillover of benefits into their workplace?

That is precisely what the research firm Gallup found. After studying work environments for 40 years, their results demonstrate that the most productive workers are those who, rather than crawl to the couch after work, invest their energy in their loved ones when they get home from work. In other words, engagement at home refreshes and prepares workers for the next effort at work, and thus leads to better performance.

A study published in the Journal of Managerial Psychology in 2007 further explored the importance of studying the relationships between work and home lives in HR policies. The researchers found that employee commitment is particularly high in organizations that support work-life fit practices.

Business ladyA different study led at George Mason University further reinforces this finding.  This study suggests that the degree to which job satisfaction varies is explained by home-life factors, and family-life satisfaction variation is partially explained by work-related factors.

To that effect, one very interesting finding in this article’s co-author Louisa Jewell’s research at Why Did You Go.com  is that when we asked people why they left their previous jobs, the most common reason cited was unsupportive managers. On the other hand, when we asked people who enjoyed their work to report the reasons why, they spoke more about the work being important – that it fulfilled their purpose in life. Our informal research supports the concept that engaging employees is about truly tapping into and supporting the whole person, and allowing them to live in harmony within and outside of the company.

Insight on the Brain

Want even more compelling evidence?  Here it is: research published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience has shown that people solve creative problems with more insight when in a positive mood. The researchers believe this enhanced insight occurs because positive affect is conducive to a more global scope of attention enhancing the brain’s ability to make unusual associations. In an economy increasingly driven by the creativity and innovativeness of its people (think engineering, bio/medical research, product design, process improvements, advertising, entertainment, etc.), assisting employees to have greater positive affect can have a huge impact on business results.

Should Managers Get Involved?

Organizational leaders typically prefer to steer clear of employees’s personal lives. How to effectively deal with such issues isn’t taught in business school, and not everyone is competent or comfortable with it. There is also the concern that employees may feel it is intrusive, or the fear of being seen as overly touchy-feely.

However, employers can teach employees how to cope with stressors without becoming involved in the issues, which is precisely what the US Army is doing with its resilience training program. Employers can also offer tools to help their workers take better care of their health - an initiative that benefits the bottom line remarkably well. Give employees good tools, encourage participation, support them along the way, and their work performance will improve. It’s a simple equation: build positivity and resilience, get enhanced performance.

Time to go homeIn support of this claim, a two-year longitudinal study published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science in 2002 found that psychological well-being reliably predicts job performance. Thus managers would be wise to work on this.

Employers who strictly see employees as output-producers are missing one of the greatest levers they have: harnessing employee emotions for greater performance. Employees are complete human beings, and managing their full complexity is – in our educated opinion – a more fruitful and productive approach.

Images:

Many emotions courtesy of littledan
Business lady courtesy of coldironjr2003
Going home by alancleaver_2000

References:

Ford, M.T., Heinin, B.A., Langkamer, K.L. (2007). Work and family satisfaction and conflict: a meta-analysis of cross-domain relations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92 (1), 57–80.

Jung-Beeman, M., Bowden, E.M., Haberman, J., Frymiare, J.L., Arambel-Liu, S., Greenblatt, R., Reber, P.J., Kounios, J. (2004). Neural Activity When People Solve Verbal Problems with Insight.
PLOS Biology 2 (4), 0500-0510.

Lourel, M., Ford, M.T., Gamassou, C.E. et al (2009). Negative and positive spillover between work and home Relationship to perceived stress and job satisfaction. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 24 (5), 438-449.

Lyubomirsky, S., King, L. & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131 (6), 803-855.

Rath, T. & Conchie, B. (2009). Strengths-Based Leadership. New York: Gallup Press.

Subramaniam, K. Kounios, J. Parrish, T.B. & Jung-Beeman, M. (2008). , John Kounios, Todd B. Parrish, A Brain Mechanism for Facilitation of Insight by Positive Affect. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 21 (3), 415–432.

Wright, T.A., Cropanzano, R. Denney, P.J. & Moline, G.L. (2002). When a Happy Worker is a Productive Worker: A Preliminary Examination of Three Models. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science.

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 2:47:12 PM

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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Active Leisure Can Make You More Productive at Work

People in general love what I have to say about how good sleep, food, mood and exercise not only make us feel better, but also help us do better at work.

But one of the objections I hear most often from prospective clients is that wellness at work is costly, and we aren't too sure if it adds value to the bottom line.

In response to this objection, I'd like to point out a new finding, issued from research headed by Nico Pronk, PhD at Journey Well (for more good stats like this, please see my full article Building the Business Case for Employee Well-Being):


The cost of productivity loss (including absenteeism and presenteeism) for employees who have poor food habits, are physically inactive, smoke and overuse alcohol is about 5 times higher than that of employees who adopt the reverse, healthier habits.

 -AND-

Turning 1 of these 4 behaviors from unhealthy to healthy decreases the associated costs by an average of $790!

This is very concrete evidence that lifestyle hygiene impacts your productivity.  Employers, wouldn't these cost savings give you plenty of budget for a few healthy and uplifting wellness initiatives? 

So here's today's tip: starting today, schedule 30 minutes of movement in your calendar each day.  Make it a formal commitment to yourself.  Remember, it's not an indulgence, but a productivity-enhancement strategy!  
And it doesn't have to be formal exercise!  Go for a walk, play outside with the kids, de-clutter a corner, manually wash the car or work on your front lawn.  This new habit will simultaneously improve your mood, body and productivity.  Enough of the excuses - they are unsexy and unproductive.  Time to get moving!

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 10:03:14 AM

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Wellness as a Business Process: PHWPC Day 2

This article is © 2010 PositivePsychologyNews.com - Marie-Josee Salvas Shaar

The Psychologically Healthy Workplace Conference held in Washington, DC on March 5th and 6th gave everyone concrete and reliable evidence to make wellness at work a priority. The conference showed that creating a psychologically healthy workplace means more than promoting good health; it means simultaneously enhancing employee and organizational performance.


Stress in the Workplace
Matthew Grawitch, Ph.D. and David Munz, Ph.D. from Saint-Louis University presented a systematic approach to minimizing stress in the workplace. Citing a 2007 public opinion survey, they explained that:
- 74% of workers report that work is a significant source of stress
- 55% are less productive as a result of stress
- 20% have missed work as a result of stress.

Despite these vivid stats, most organizations ignore prevention initiatives and rely on their employee assistance programs to pick up the pieces once damage is done.

The comprehensive process Grawitch and Munz suggest includes four steps: identifying and reducing stressors, building resilience, facilitating coping, and providing remediation if and when all else has failed. Two of their key messages were the following:

1. The little nagging stresses are often more damaging that than the overarching issues. Reducing stress can therefore be much easier than imagined. It is often a matter of getting the conversation started, and taking proper, simple action.

2. Stress results when the demands of the workplace do not match an individual’s capabilities, resources or needs. In trying to reduce stress, institutions can look beyond employees and see what environmental or organizational solutions can be implemented.

Their research also demonstrates that lack of sleep is positively correlated with increased work stress – a finding that is no surprise to those of you who have followed my past articles.

Wellness as a Business Strategy
I also had the pleasure to hear from Tonya Vyhlidal, Med, CHPD and Director of Wellness, Safety and Life Enhancement at Lincoln Industries. This manufacturing firm has included the following formal statement in their core business beliefs and drivers:

Wellness and healthy lifestyles are important to our success.

Yes, health is truly an integral part of Lincoln Industries' identity: from employee selection to morning stretching, quarterly check-ups, paid on-the-clock smoking-cessation programs all the way to performance reviews and a yearly mountain climbing trip as an incentive for top performers, this company takes wellness seriously, and has it covered from all angles.

And it pays off. The company spends over $400,000 each year on wellness, and gets a return greater than five times that amount. Says Hank Orme, President of Lincoln Industries: “We’d like to get a return like this in anything that we did because the return is extraordinary!” 

Work-Life Balance or Work-Life Fit?
Cali Williams Yost, MBA, led a workshop showing how work-life flexibility is a global strategic success strategy. Reminding us of the numerous snow storms that have reduced the speed of business in the North East of the US over the course of the winter, Yost argued that flexible organizations were least affected because employees were better equipped to accomplish their tasks from home. Work flexibility is a process bringing advantages to employer and employee alike.

As the CEO and Founder of Work+Life Fit, Inc., she insists the term work-life balance is misleading and outdated. More than balance, it is a  better fit between the demands of work and those of our home-life reality that we need. 

Yost also explained that flexibility is not a concern solely for “mommies-at-work”. In her experience, males and single people have a harder time finding the work-life fit that is right for them than women or married people do. A counter-intuitive finding that is worth thinking about!

Last but not least, Yost insists flexibility should not be a perk that is granted or discontinued at will. “When it is an ongoing conversation with periodical reviews, it is much easier for everyone to understand and accept changes,” she says.

All in all, I found the PHWPC to be a much needed, highly informative, quite inspiring and beautifully realized event. Hope to see you there in 2011!

Posted By: Marie-Josée  Salvas Shaar @ 12:21:26 PM

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