Respect in the Workplace Training: What About Non-Verbal Behaviors

Respect in the Workplace: Exhibit appropriate nonverbal cues 

Sometimes what you don’t say conveys more than what you do say. A single gesture or

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facial expression sow seeds of doubt and distrust.

People will more readily believe what they see you do than what they hear you say.

Adopt a listening posture that communicates your openness and curiosity. Keep your hands at your sides, rather than rubbing your scalp or eyes.

Avoid resting your head in your hands or folding your arms across your chest like a drill sergeant. 

Don’t doodle, twist a rubber band or glance repeatedly at your computer screen while someone is talking to you.

Maintain a neutral facial expression, especially if you disagree. Beware of letting your negative emotions (such as anger, dismay or fear) dictate your nonverbal conduct. You may alienate people just by glaring at them or with a dismissive wave of your hand.

The proper nonverbal response to a speaker can enhance your ability to build rapport. Signal your interest with friendly eye contact, nods of understanding and genuine looks of concern or surprise. Speakers confide more frequently in listeners who seem actively engaged in the conversation.  

Here's a tip. Ask a trusted friend to observe you for a week and keep a record of your body language. Then ask for a report. Having a supportive ally give you feedback on your mannerisms and expressions can increase your awareness of both appropriate and inappropriate nonverbal cues. 

So, if you’re impatient, you may keep bobbing your head up and down while someone speaks. Don’t overdo it. Research shows that most people will interpret your first two or three head nods as genuine. After that, your nodding can appear phony and make others feel patronized.  

Question? If you disagree, you should shake your head while the person talks to show that you object. Nope. Many speakers dislike addressing someone who’s shaking their head back and forth.

It’s distracting and polarizing. A better approach is to keep still while you listen. When it’s your turn to respond, you can politely raise your concern.]  can send a loud and clear message.

That’s why even if you speak respectfully, your sloppy or hostile body language can work against you. Saying, “I think you’re making a good point” while rolling your eyes and shaking your head in disapproval will 

Experience this 35 Minute Respect in the Workplace Training Program. You may want it for your workplace.

Motivating Employees Starts with the Supervisor and the Relationship

Productivity is everything to a business. You can't remain

productive unless your employees are motivated. If you are a supervisor, chances are you have not had a formal course in how to motivate employees, so let's discuss your role in the process and how you can be more influential in motivating your employees.

It’s been said that motivating a large group of employees can be like herding a group of cats. Each one is an individual, and therefore you must look at employee motivation in much the same way.

Motivating the employees you supervise starts with getting to know them as individuals. There are no parlor tricks in motivating employees. You conjure up magical and inspirational speeches that will cause them to be motivate. The problem of motivation goes much deeper, and for each of your employees it is a different formula for what does the trick.

Building a relationship with the employees you supervisors does not mean that you probe them for personal information and get involved in their personal business. However, it does mean you speak with them regularly, engage in real small talk and discuss what they do an their goals.

It means spending time with them individually, getting to know them at work, and discovering their likes and dislikes in the general course of a workplace relationship.

Once you begin to "profile" your employees in this positive way, you will learn what "turns them on" and you will think about how to develop resources or opportunities that motivate them to achieve more on the job.

Through this process, your employees will perceive that you care about them. You won't have to worry about whether they are thinking positive thoughts about you. They will. Your goal is to create an atmosphere where motivation flourishes.

Eventually you will get a strong feel for the ways each of your employees can be motivated, and you can plan opportunities and rewards that fit these unique aspects of their motivational profile and personality makeup.

To help supervisors and increase your EAP utilization 20% guaranteed and it's free to do it... fax this form to  843-884-0442 AND MARK ON IT "FREE TRIAL ONLY" -- you will not get a bill or a phone call, etc. If you are a new subscriber...and wish to pay now, we will give you 18 months instead of 12...(Sorry, new subs only.)  FRONTLINE SUPERVISOR EAP NEWSLETTER

EAP Workplace Awareness Training Program: Helping Employees Make a Positive Decision about Psychotherapy

EAP Workplace Awareness Training Program: Helping Employees Make a Positive Decision about Psychotherapy: What is psychotherapy and how do I found a therapist; what kind of therapist should I use; how does psychotherapy work

Show You’re Confident (An EAP Office Counseling Tip to Help Employees)

Confidence is the belief in oneself or one’s abilities. We don’t always feel confident in what

we are facing, but there is a way to feel and appear confident in job interviews, oral presentations, sales pitches—almost any personal challenge.

The secret is taking the focus off your awareness of feeling deficient or lacking in ability and shifting it to the people or situation in front of you.

How? Ask yourself questions that cause you to shift your focus: Think “What does this person need?” or “What are these people’s needs?” or “How can I discover what’s important to them?” or “What do we have in common?” or “What is the mood of my interviewer or audience?”

Any question that helps you empathize and reach out to discover more about what you’re facing will change your behavior--you will shift use of your brain from right brain to left—the more analytical side—reducing fear and altering the way you appear, speak, and project confidence to those in front of you.

Did you like this “EAP Office Counseling Tip?” Look for more tips by following on LinkedIn. Share with new staff. Coming soon . . . "Follow Up Tip for Supervisors After EAP Referral" (Feel free to copy the above, use, and share.) Follow me on LinkedIn to also see more tips at http://linkedin.com/in/workexcel/

EAPs: Education Employees and Help Workers Build Family Resilience

Topic for a Brown Bag:

Personal resilience means the ability to bounce back from adversity

—tough times and tough events. We know this means for individuals, but the concept also applies to families. Families can be resilient too, and they can become more resilient to weather stressful events.

Seek to build resilience within your family and you can weather tough times and improve your chances of thriving despite it all. If you answer no to the following questions, consider how you can build these traits, each one of which reinforces the other. (1) Do individual family members feel confident in their abilities to cope with change? (2) Do family members not shy away from hard work? (3) Do family members demonstrate the ability to cooperate with one another, despite the minor squabbles most families experience? (4) When wronged, do family members forgive each other? (5) When stressful events happen, does your family adapt? (6) Do family members nurture one another? (7) Do family members stick up for one another other? (8) Are family members open and honest with one another other? (9) Does the family interact and build relationships within its community?

We often address topics similar to this one in Frontline Employee..Get a subscription for your EAP and increase your utilization, value of your program, and offer your organizations reduced risk, and better integration....all of which can keep your program thriving instead surviving.

Family resilience has earned its own place in the Wikipedia. I bet you did not know that. So important is this topic that it is examined in many respects. See it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_resilience

[Valentines Day News] Helping Employees and Their Relationships

suppose this research below on predicting fidelity (or infidelity) in
relationships is appropriate for Valentine's Day. I saw it in my news
feed this morning. But does have some workplace implications for
education and wellness.



Essentially, the research shows that a spouse or
partner's natural inclination to glance away faster and to subjectively
"devalue" an attractive potential sexual partner predicts higher degrees
of fidelity. The longer the look, the more likely the individual was to
participate infidelity. The shorter the look the less likely fidelity
will be a couple's issue.



Here is the research summary.



See the program: "Giving Couples Counseling a Try"

Revisiting Depression in the Workplace and Helping Employees

All mental health professionals conduct assessments and/or treat people for depression from time to time.

Some who suffer with this illness may experience such chronic long-term sadness that they barely understand any more what it is like to feel normal.

When depressed employees find relief, it is not unlike those who are able by a medical procedure to hear or see for the first time.

You probably have employees on payroll right now who suffer with chronic depression. They function with depression, but they are not firing on all cylinders. Productivity losses for this group of employees is enormous.

Employees with depression may not look "depressed", sulk at their desk, or behave sluggishly. Still, depression is one of the most costly illnesses to employers at a whopping $75 billion in lost productivity and absenteeism alone.

Consider educating employees about depression periodically so those who suffer from it have the chance to self-diagnose, rally with motivation, seek help. This is easy to do, and the payoffs can be great.

Here's a tip: Educate employees about depression in an article, and refer to a term called "bottomless sadness" associated with depression, and normal sadness. Google this term, and wrap a 150 word article around it. Put it in your health and wellness newsletter (or wait until March when I will do it in Frontline Employee.) You will be surprised at the impact this article has employees. Some who need help right now may reach out.

Don’t do a one-shot educational presentation or brown bag on depression. Instead trickle the information out in chapters with your newsletter, fliers, or another wellness tips program. You will see people move toward getting help after awareness builds after about six messages.

Consider this reproducible and editable tip sheet called “Understanding Depression.” Or Google for one like it somewhere on the Web. There are many. But, begin educating employees about this brain disease if you have not done so in a while.

Note, the tip sheet above also is available as a Video, Web Course, DVD, and PowerPoint. All have professional narration.

Begin an EAP-driven Proactive Injury Recovery Program to Support Employees Injured on the Job

The research is clear--better empathetic communication and engagement with injured workers can reduce workers' compensation costs associated with their recovery.

HR and EAPs should collaborate on this construct to get employees back to work sooner, reduce lawsuits, help prevent related employment claims, identify more troubled employees at risk of re-injury, and address secondary personal problems of injured workers that sabotage recovery.

This is not rocket science. Get excited, man! Follow 25 injured workers in 2018 and engage them in an "EAP Proactive Recovery Program." Then, compare your results--using 6-8 metrics--absences, treatment costs, re-injury rates, legal claims, reduced HR hassle time, speedier return to work, employee turnover, reduced overtime, etc.--to the same costs associated with the last 25 compensable injuries that were not similarly followed.

You should see a powerful return on this program. Then show up at an EAPA conference or share your results at a SHRM conference. Even better, attend a insurance or risk managers conference and promote employee assistance programs for the management tools they actually are, and should be, to help more workers and reduce costs. You might spark a needed true-to-the-spirit Core Technology EAP renaissance. 

Here are a few ideas to consider for your project:

1. Consider having injured workers engage with the EAP. A self-referral, or even a formal referral after injury is appropriate because the referral is based upon a job-related issue--injury. Another source of referral for such a program is the workers' compensation managed care nurse--get this individual on board with the program. 

You will discover this to be relatively easy because you are actually making their job easier and giving them improved stats. (I have done it, or I would not be writing about it.)

2. Have the EAP assess the psycho/social and environmental issues, and intervene with those that could contribute to a prolonged absence. This is a research-proven cost driver for WC injuries--the longer out, the less likely the return to work.

3. Institute EAP follow-up with medical doctors. They often have information helpful to a better EAP assessment.

4. Identify workers affected by depression and resolve employee concerns and complaints related to communications with the boss, HR, etc. (This reduces the likelihood of employees involving attorneys and suing the organization See: http://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/2013/07/injured-workers-hire-attorneys-due-to-lack-of-employer-communication/)

5. Provide assertiveness training to help injured employees avoid peer pressure to engage in prohibited work activities that can cause re-injury when they return to the job.
Return to work programs are great, but many include risk of re-injury if they are located near the environment associated with the original injury. ("Come'on Joe, help lift this lumber! Your back is fixed by now! Gimme a break!")

6. Conduct an EAP assessment for untreated alcoholism. (WC injuries are three times higher for alcoholic workers.) Also have the EAP discuss opioid use issues because many of these folks are at risk for addiction, especially those with back injuries.

These few activities require trust, a commitment to confidentiality, and services that only an EAP with its core technology and legally-backed confidentiality assurances can offer. (Think again if you still believe #800 insurance EAP hotlines can engage to this degree with employees and key stakeholders.)

So, "who you gonna call" to reduce workers' compensation costs? Try an effective EAP with a programmatic approach to WC injury and recovery--or get one in place for 2018.

Increase your supervisors referrals free for the next three months, no catch. No invoice, No Bill, no hassle, no nothin'. - Fax this form, and cross out the price on it. And mark "Give it to me free, Dan."  Put your email on the form. I don't need your name.

Sign up for free EAP resources at WorkExcel.com

Free Holiday Stress Tip Sheet for EAPs

Okay, everybody has been waiting for this. Here is it.

There were at least a few national news stories this year discussing the health effects of loneliness. Researchers see it as a growing problem, and some believe it is the new "obesity" issue because of its adverse impact on health--both physical and mental health. Given the strong association between the holiday season and family get-togethers, a tip sheet topic on being alone for the holidays looked like a good one to send to you. Go to this page to download this year's free, reproducible, editable, and Web usable workplace wellness tip sheet on holiday stress entitled, "Alone for the Holidays."

WorkExcel Tip: When we create a Web course, we take a document you might have or a PowerPoint, separate all the text into separate moving parts for a slide program, animate it, professionally narrate the text, time it with images, and add handouts, test questions, and certificate or course validation element. When this is completed, we can then create a DVD format, a video that will play on any device, and of course the Web course.

This brochure provides more information. Finally, create your own library of web courses, engage employees and family members more effectively, add to your capabilities, make a bigger impact, brand everything with your logo, never pay another licensing fee, own your library, have no off-page links to a provider/vendor customer go off and explore, and compete more effectively.

I could go on, but what it is on your computer right now that would be awesome outreach in the form of a Web course. Fax this form to 843-884-0442 for a quote.

Daniel Feerst, BSW, MSW, LISW-CP

Publisher, WorkExcel.com

P.S. If you place a link to WorkExcel.com in some isolated location on your Web site, it greatly helps keep this free service going. Thanks in advance.

Share Productivity Laws with Employees as a way to Entertain and Make a Point with Your Employee Newsletter

Have you heard of Parkinson's Law? It was first coined by British author and historian C.

Northcote Parkinson, writing for The Economist in 1955.

The law states that "work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” Have you experienced this phenomenon?

A better question is have you seen employees who are given an assignment with plenty of time to complete it, but still manage to only get it to you barely on time, or even late? This is the Parkinson's Law in action.

Your employee newsletter is a magical tool to educate employees about productivity principles like this one within a workplace wellness context. Improving productivity, reducing stress, sharing the information with others, and having a chuckle or two are exciting reasons to educate your employees about productivity laws that cleverly (more so than others) define our lives. 

A bit of research on productivity laws discovers that there are actually nine different productivity laws commonly cited in time management literature and personnel management training. You've heard of Murphy's Law. It happens to be one of these nine.

In the future, I will share more about these laws of cause and effect with you, but the employee newsletter article idea I would like to recommend is composing a simple article on this topic right now. Make it about 100-120 word range. Remember, it is my recommendation that you never have employee newsletter articles that extend beyond 250 words, and keep most in the range of 120-150 words.

When you research these productivity laws, you can make a strong impact with your employees as I have done here taken from a newsletter article I wrote several years ago.

Have you heard of Parkinson's Law? Simply stated, the law states that "work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”  That’s the observation made by the British author and historian C. Northcote Parkinson, writing for The Economist in 1955. The few who are able to overcome this productivity-killing phenomenon are able to work so efficiently that they seem to have magical powers. Here’s how to join this elite group: Shorten the amount of time required to complete a task and correspondingly increase the urgency of completion by promising it sooner. You will develop more efficient work habits with this intervention, and you will find more free time in your life that you struggle to find right now. A simple way to work with this principle is to take a kitchen time and set it for say, thirty minutes and tell yourself you will finish a project before the bell goes off. The move to your next task and repeat the strategy. Subscribe to Frontline Employee -- a newsletter you can distribute to the workforce, rename and call your own, and  finally have an on-time, highly visible EAP newsletter for improved utilization and program preservation.

Improve Morale and Decrease Risk When You Provide Diversity in the Workplace Awareness Education

If you are not providing diversity awareness education in the workplace, you may want to offer about 10-12 minutes of this content during the year . It is a lot easier to do than you think, and a lot more welcome than you might imagine. It's all about the approach (the educational and non-threatening approach we use.) The benefits of diversity awareness include reduced risk of workplace violence, higher morale, improved communication, and most importantly, employees who behave with tolerance toward others while not feeling threatened by the education and awareness information they receive. You also acquire employees who help maintain a respectful workplace by not acting as bystanders to abuse. It is a very synergistic topic that has multiple layer effects for organizations. Reducing the bystander effect is really key to more positive workplaces. I may produce a PowerPoint on this topic alone. See the full unabridged program we offer here. Just scroll and click the video you will see half-way down the page. This program is editable, "brand-able", professionally narrated, and available in DVD, PowerPoint, Video, or a Web course. That makes it good for collecting certificates of participation as proof you took "due care" in the event a legal claim ever happens for something like discrimination. (By the way, I always recommend arm-twisting your insurance company into a discount for reducing behavioral risk exposures. Most states do that already for a drug-free workplace policy. A topic like this one should be no different. See what happens. Let me know.) See the program. WorkExcel Tip: When you purchase products from WorkExcel.com, you can download them, edit, amend, delete content, and acquire them in any of four different formats. All web courses include test questions, handout(s), certification, and you own web course entirely. Web courses or videos operate from your Web server. They upload in minutes--and they are totally self-contained with embedded PDF handout(s). We can even insert additional handouts you might want to distribute. Explore the other links to your left in this email. Phone me with questions. I answer my own phone.

Workforce Trends in 2018 EAPs Should Undertand to Take the High Ground for Program Growth

Forbes has issued predictions for workplace trends in 2018. Interesting . . .50% of the trends relate directly to human resource factors.

The predictions are heavy on issues concerning employee wellness, employee productivity, and reduced behavioral risk that can lead to productivity and economic losses.

Here are the HR related trends:

1. Leaders will encourage more human interaction. Companies will continue to promote their workspaces and design them to facilitate interpersonal relationships between employees. See more.

5. Financial and mental wellness gets prioritized. With 78% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck and student loan debt at over $1.4 trillion, workers are struggling and it's affecting their health. See more.

6.) Employee burnout causes more turnover. Employees are burned out from working longer hours with no additional compensation, while companies are posting record profits. See more.

8. Companies will take diversity more seriously. Employees must become more aware, tolerant, and buy into the value of diversity. See more.

10. The aging workforce. About three in every four Americans plan to work past retirement age and almost two-thirds said they will continue to work part-time. New challenges for HR. See more.
Download the full trends article here.

Are you a workforce professional -- HR, EAP, Wellness, concerned manager? Consider the skills, resources, and opportunities you represent or have to make a difference in 2018 and beyond.

Go Direct to the Forbes Article

Workplace Diversity Photo of the Week for EAPs

EAP Photo of the Week
Click Link to See Caption

See Caption

 

See WorkExcel.com's Diversity in the Workplace Awareness Product

Opioids Abuse Education Awareness and Prevention

EAP presentation product for educating employees about the opioid addiction crisis.

Increasing EAP Utilization Hack #13: Ask for Referrals

Asking EAP clients to refer a friend is one of the most powerful approaches to increasing your EAP's utilization. Do you practice this promotional strategy?

Nothing is more convincing and influential than word of mouth referrals because they are tantamount to a walking live testimonials. Referrals from friends are trusted. If a good friend of yours says a restaurant is fantastic, it will motivate you more than a $5K full page display ad in the local newspaper. Clearly, this is a cost-beneficial EAP utilization improvement hack for you to consider.

The time to ask for a referral is at the moment of positive excitement when your EAP client says, "Wow, thank you so much for helping me." This is your cue to speak up and ask the EAP client to refer a coworker if the opportunity arises. It's that simple. You aren't asking every client to refer, but take advantage of those who would be obviously willing.

When you have an employee-client spread the word about the EAP, a lot is happening at that moment, and all of it is quite synergistic.

The employee client is promoting your program effectiveness, improving its reputation, decreasing resistance of would-be clients, helping others overcome the fear of asking for help, and intervening with your most ferocious and negative force, concern among the workforce that the EAP is not confidential.

All EA professionals believe their program is confidential, but not all employees do. The reason is simple. Confidentiality is so important that the fear associated with it creates its own anxiety and "disturbance in the force." Let's call it "EAP confidentiality perception attrition."

This anxiety gets passed along to the workforce where it is propagated. This is also what makes EAP supervisor training so important. You must tell supervisors in EAP orientations to not repeat, disclose, or otherwise imply knowledge of an employee's EAP attendance or even suggest an employee has attended the EAP. This is also a legal issue, but you want to impress upon supervisors the impact on the program's integrity and how this can negatively impact the perception of confidentiality among employees. If you want to make a bigger impression, say that the most at-risk worker--the one that might go postal--just might not attend the EAP because of something the supervisor said. (You can embellish from there.)

Fighting the natural attrition of perception of confidentiality requires promoting confidentiality, and employees who refer friends or coworkers to the EAP are naturally assisting in this effort.

I routinely make mention that the EAP is confidential in Frontline Employee EAP Newsletter to help you boost your utilization. But since articles are editable, you should insert this where, and as needed. It's vital. You want lots of touches during the year on this key point.

Do you have an EAP utilization improvement hack that you would like me to pass along or expound upon? Pass it along here at publisher@workexcel.com

Happy World Mental Health Day!

Each year, on October 10th, World Mental Health Day is celebrated, which is a proclamation initiated

by the World Health Organzation. This year is a bit special: The theme is "The Workplace" (Did you know?)

Work is sometimes--often--a 24/7 experience for many employees in the Western hemisphere (and beyond.) Suffice it to say, that work is on our minds a lot!

Our mental health is directly affected by work, and our mental health affects the workplace, productivity, and the bottom line. It's a two-way street, and enhancing mental health wellness is crucial to human welfare.

Depression and anxeity affect well over 500 million people worldwide. And the cost to productivity is a cool $1 trillion dollars.
Celebrate today by bringing attention to the importance of any work organization's employee assistance program, and remind employees and managers that the EAP stands ready to assist them.

You will find more information about World Mental Health day at these links, and consider any of the tip sheets from WorkExcel.com to help you celebrate it -- they are always reproducible, editable, brandable, and web-usable.

http://www.who.int/mental_health/world-mental-health-day/2017/en/
http://www.who.int/mental_health/in_the_workplace/en/
Resources
Tip Sheets for Workplace Wellness
Catalog of Products
2-Page Catalog
EAP Newsletters
Training/Awareness for Employees
Training/Awareness for Managers
EAP Tools and EAP Resources

Daniel Feerst, BSW, MSW, LISW-CP
Email me: publisher@workexcel.com
Publisher 1-800-626-4327
WorkExcel.com

Office Romances and Productivity: Information for Employees and EA Professionals

​Busier lifestyles have made finding romance more difficult today than in recent memory.

With communication technology often reducing human interaction to abbreviated text messages and shorthand emails, many find the office

Romance in the workplace, think twice before the plunge

to be a rare exception where they are still able to engage in meaningful, face-to-face interaction with others. Romance at work can be a natural consequence. And it can feel quite compelling.

Many companies suffer productivity losses from workplace romance issues, which is why policies against workplace romance sometimes exist. They are not illegal.

The following are the top concerns from a poll of HR practitioners according to research from the IRS Employment Review:

https://www.workexcel.com/blog/hmm-should-i-or-shouldnt-i-romantic-relationship-and-dating-someone-at-work-advice-for-employee-assistance-professionals-offering-guidance/

EAPs Massively Overlooked as Customer Risk Reduction Tools by Property Casualty Insurers and Risk Managers

EAPs Massively Overlooked as Customer Risk Reduction Tools by Property Casualty Insurers and Risk Managers: Risk Managers overlook employee assistance programs as tools to reduce risk for insurance customers and enhance their marketing efforts

Property Casualty Insurance Markets: The One Resource Overlooked in Workforce Risk Reduction

Lew sat quietly in his office at the Chino Mines in the 1950's trying to find a solution to a

massive problem he was hired to fix. Lewis Presnall, D. Div.-- was a pastoral counselor hired by Kennecott Copper Corporation to deal with a massive alcoholism problem among workers and their associated problems placing the company at risk.

These problems included injuries, morale problems, insubordination, harassment, absenteeism, tardiness, property damage, stolen property, firings, conduct and attitude issues, violence in the workplace, and family members coming to work and bringing domestic squabbles with them. Kennecott Copper was at wits' end. Perhaps this Lewis Presnall could figure it all out and solve the problem. He did and his work is what truly led to the creation of broad brush comprehensive EAPs 20 year later. Read more.

Value Added EAP: Burnout Contagion and Employee Assistance Programming

In light of new research, EAPs may want to consider screening for burnout contagion in employee assessments, identify patterns emerging with the workforce, and proactively propose EAP programming to make a impact on the work organization with interventions that reduce risk.

Humankind is, collectively speaking, a social animal. We are aware of one another on certain levels, and if one was to make a map of the world solely based on how relate to one another, you would also be looking at the travels of shared ideas, sickness, love and hate.

We connect with one another through various means and ways, including empathy, emotion, success and defeat. These ribbons of relation changes not just day to day, but sometimes minute to minute.

Among those, though, is something that simply does not get enough credit: burnout.

A new study by Michigan State University education scholars are proving how the culture of an environment (such as the workplace an EAP may find themselves in) can contribute directly to a contagious spread of burnout.

Do consider the information presented here: http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/is-teacher-burnout-contagious/

Burnout is a terrible affliction--an insidious slow boil process--that can strike in just about any workplace, especially in a workplace environment that is not keeping the employees health and well-being into consideration. Late nights, unfair workloads, time away from family and home - all of these are indicative of a ticking time bomb!  Eventually the human animal will break down, and pretending that such a thing will never happen to you can only bring harm to the workplace.

Consider, if you will, the fast-paced and emotionally charged setting of a hospital. RN’s bustling about, residents doing 20-48 hour shifts and worse. All it takes is one person to suffer from the various symptoms of burnout before it begins to spread like wildfire, causing mayhem within the personal lives and habits of the entire staff.

“Wherever there is smoke, there is fire,” or so it’s said. There are plenty of symptoms to be on the lookout for, and recognizing overpowering workload per person is one thing to keep in consideration. A culture that does not promote the mental well-being of their employees is one that will eventually suffer in quality of produced work and overwhelming turnover rates, costing a company in both time and money.

The modern day professional, no matter what level of employment they are at, should be aware and mindful of what kind of environment they are empowering within the workplace. Listen to one another, and hear one out. Pay heed to stressors and how they are affecting the workplace and the workers themselves.

Do consider such resources as found here: https://www.workexcel.com/stress-management-training-powerpoint-ppt-presentation-with-stress-management-tips-for-employees-or-ppt-dvd-web-course-video/
The benefits of having such an employee awareness program will easily pay dividends and help counter burnout within your company! Stress management is more than an art form, it’s a daily awareness.

By recognizing stressors and how to properly manage them, paying heed to co-workers, employees, and employers alike one can certainly fight back against such a negative culture, creating a workplace that will positively affect output and production as well as the mental health and well-being of all involved. #burnout #eap

Seven Reasons Business Organizations Should Offer Employee Drug and Alcohol Awareness Education

Seven Reasons Business Organizations Should Offer Employee Drug and Alcohol Awareness Education: Employee drug and alcohol awareness education and training in PDF, Web Video, Web Course, and DVD Player

Yoga and the Treatment of Depression: Put this in the EAP Tool Box

The statistically high rate of revitalization, flexibility, physicality, and an increase in mind-body connection is what describes Yoga. So, heck it should help depression right? Right.

Let’s talk about yoga and how it’s being proven to effectively reduce depression!

You know the types of tropes that get associated with yoga: upscale and overpriced coffee-drinkers, overly heated rooms, manbuns, yoga pants, and Hollywood’s love of showing how it can enhance those pelvic muscles.  The thing to consider, though, is the actual mentality inherently within yoga itself, the kind of oneness and personal exploration within one’s psyche promoted within the practices.

Studies have been produced at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association which notes how yoga can help with stress reduction, and can impact depression and the symptoms leading to it.

Whether it be bikram, hatha, or some other form of yoga, the increase in quality of life and physical health is noteworthy, and can surely be of use to one’s professional life as well as personal life.  Finding the balance in both is truly key in effective and efficient life management, and can affect the overall output and quality of your work.

EAP professionals guide employees in how to find solutions for personal problems, the kind which may not be easy to simply brush off once they cross that door towards the office. Depression is a common one, and while many resources are recommended, this one has been ignored.

Well, not anymore!  With more studies being produced showing how Yoga (of any known sorts) can help reduce stress and the symptoms of depression, it pays for the EA professional and wellness worker alike to give it a try and see how it can improve the overall health and happiness of the workplace.

It is suggested that you look up your local Yoga studios.  It’s easy to request a sit-in to see if it’s a good feel for you, and no matter the level of expertise of yogi or students, you should always hear that you can assume the easiest pose and simply rest while being mindful.

Mindfulness, stress reduction, and overall quality of progression on an extremely personal level are the hallmarks of a good yoga studio.

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