What's in a Name: Compulsive Use of the Internet, Internet Addiction, etc?

Although the term “Internet Addiction” is commonly used in mainstream literature, education forums online, and awareness materials, the term is not officially recognized as an addiction or medical diagnosis, yet. There are two reasons for this: 1) Addiction (or disorder) is a term reserved for an bona fide medical condition included in psychiatric, medical, and other diagnostic guides and manuals, and 2) the term has historically been used to describe dozens of different related syndromes associated with the compulsive use of technology in general that are important to distinguish. The preferred term is “compulsive internet use”. Other forms of compulsive use of technology include Facebook and social media use, gambling online, gaming, viewing pornography, online shopping, and financial trading. Any of these may impact and reduce workplace productivity, also known as “time theft”. Beyond electronic discovery of time consumed online, the most common productivity issue is work assignments not delivered on time, lying about use of time on the job, or lying about use the Internet for important business purposes. To document productivity issues, assign your employee measurable goals like a certain number of widgets or tasks that must be completed on time, very week.

Take It to Your Employees: Thinking Positive Gets More Done

Get Workplace Wellness Handouts Here. The power of positive thinking leads to increasing your productivity, not just feeling hopeful and upbeat. Positive thinking fires up a can-do attitude, reduces stress, attracts others (resources) to you, and causes you to be task-focused, proactive, and have more energy. All contribute to improved productivity. Whatever your workload, positive thinking can often remove the drudgery from it. A positive mental attitude rubs off on others, making it more likely they’ll interact with you and others in the same way. This positive contagion is well understood by employers, which means that many employers will first hire you for a positive attitude and teach you the job skills later. A positive mental attitude is not something that magically appears; you must acquire a positive attitude and then maintain it. Explore how to create a positive mental attitude and maintain it and watch the results and impact on your life over the next 30 days. The classic on this topic is Norman Vincent Peale's "Power of Positive Thinking", but the latest book to arrive (March 2014) that examines this topic worth taking a look at is Positive Thinking: The Ultimate Guide To Mastering Positive Thinking (Positive Attitude, Positive Affirmations... by Chuck Winslow

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Brookhaven National Laboratories Traditional EAP (Internal) CLOSED...and Transformed!

It appears another internal EAP has been obliterated into a transformed approach to identifying and resolving performance problems associated with troubled employees, dangerous workers, and behavioral risk by being closed down and its services contracted out to Magellan Healthcare and it's web portal. Send your stories about the "transformation" of the EAP field to publisher@workexcel.com. Need help at BNL? Registration required.