Signs of stress to look out for and how to manage them 

Stress isn’t the same for everyone. Some people excel under pressure (this is called healthy eustress), while others suffer from distress. What makes the difference is our ability to cope with pressure. When pressure exceeds our ability to manage stress then we suffer from distress with serious health and performance effects. What I will share with you are the top 5 signs of stress to look out for so you know how to spot stress and manage it.

PS: Find out your stress score with this online interactive evaluation - this should take less than 5 minutes. 

Think back over the course of the last week: 

1. Did you experience any of the following symptoms: headaches, chest pain, muscle tension, nausea, or indigestion?

People think of stress as mental / emotional, but the thing is your body releases stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline which can cause serious long term health issues. In the shorter term, stress can manifest with physical symptoms such as troubles digesting food, headaches, nausea & tension.

Tip: Change your stress flight/fight response to a rest/repair response in just ten minutes by doing a stress release meditation right at your desk. 

2. Did you feel like there wasn't enough time to get everything done?

Stress comes from overwhelm. It will help to quantify, prioritize and reduce the pressure.

Tip: Write all of your tasks down to get them out of your head. Pick your top 3 priorities and only focus on these until you can complete some to make space for more. Hint: Align your priorities with your boss so that you can be sure that you are working on the right things. 

Further resources: Questions you must ask your boss in One on One Meetings. 

Bonus for bosses: Is your overwhelm coming from trying to do everything yourself? Follow the guide “How to identify what to develop” in the Ultimate Guide to Delegation 

3. Did you struggle to stay motivated and focused

Having clear priorities will help you to keep your motivation and focus. If you feel like you can’t concentrate because there is too much going on then this is a sign of what the yogis call “your monkey brain”. Essentially our brain hasn’t been trained to deal with all of our modern distractions (smartphone, social media, email etc. etc.). And your mind exists in an overexcited state like a monkey swinging from tree to tree.

Tip: Sometimes a little bit of success helps to build momentum. Break your big priorities into smaller tasks and do one right away. 

Helpful Resource: Train your monkey brain :-). Meditation is training for your mind so that you control your thoughts, instead of your thoughts controlling you. A single meditation can calm your brain into a focused state and regular meditation practice will train it to stay there. See this example of brain training for focus. 

4. Did you feel like the odds were against you?

Feeling all alone without hope is a distressing place to be. A problem shared is a problem halved. 

Tip: I encourage you to have regular, frequent one on ones with your boss to talk over work issues and get the advice and support you need. After all, the best bosses are those bosses who know how to listen and coach us through our problems. But it’s not always appropriate to share all of your troubles with your boss. Working with a mentor will give you an independent ear and helpful advice / support. 

Helpful Resource: How to work with a Mentor

PS: Stress can be a serious issue with significant physical and mental health impacts. Don’t be afraid to seek expert medical / counselling help.

5. Do you experience fatigue and/or struggle to fall or stay asleep?

Dealing with stress can be a double edged sword because when we are stressed, it makes it more difficult to deal with the problems we need to. And problems then build up, causing more stress.

Sleep troubles are usually some form of low level anxiety from an overactive mind. Dealing with the problems that are keeping us awake is the best way to fix sleep, but for the problems we can’t avoid we need to build up our resilience to manage stress.  

Tip: Eat the frog: Got an unpleasant task / confrontation that you have been avoiding? Deal with this first and everything else will seem easier by comparison. For those problems that aren’t so easy to chase away, use meditation to manage your stress

Wrapping up: Stay Aware, Stress is Cumulative

It’s impossible to avoid stress because life has ups and downs. Sometimes everything seems to happen at once and we find ourselves struggling to deal with life and this is when the usual pressure of life manifests itself in distress. What suffers is our happiness, our work and our health. Being stressed can make it less pleasant for others to be around you too.

Experiencing the occasional symptom is little concern, but experiencing several of these symptoms, frequently during the week is more of a cause for concern. Be aware that the effects of stress are cumulative. Over time stress can have serious physical health effects such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and more. Stress also causes mental pressure which can contribute to anxiety and depression.

Stay aware of the signs of stress so you can spot the early symptoms, before they become an issue. If you think you may be suffering from stress then take the online stress assessment to get a more detailed evaluation. 

Keith Tatley CA(SA) founded Manager Foundation and Karm. Academy to help people with the soft skills they don’t teach you in school. This includes skills such as Effective One on One Meetings, Performance Communications and Delegation. If you would like to start your journey to become a better boss, then find out your BOSS Superpower now.

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You have an important report due at the end of the day and have blocked out the entire day to focus on it. Your morning routine was relaxing; the journey to work went without a hitch.  After reading through your emails and having a chat with your colleagues, you feel ready to make a start. Suddenly, out of nowhere, your boss asks you if you have time to help with another urgent task due by lunchtime, which has come in unexpectedly.  Do you say ‘no’? Or do you offer up your time, knowing you will be hard pushed to get your report done in an afternoon? 

Setting boundaries, particularly saying ‘no’ to your boss, can be a difficult thing to do. We are empathetic creatures, and our survival as a species has depended on helping each other. We are biologically wired to work together in order to achieve more than we could individually. This means traits such as selflessness and compassion are valued highly in our society, and focusing on our own needs can feel unnatural or have a stigma attached to it. 

In a work context, setting boundaries is essentially making sure you can negotiate for yourself and ensuring you have plenty of energy to get on with your daily tasks. Although this might sound obvious, when you are juggling the competing demands of customers, team members or clients, as well as your own needs, it can become difficult to find time for everything. It is important to give both yourself and those around you the appropriate amount of attention, and even more important to ensure you feel energised yourself first. 

Although occasionally taking on more work than you can manage won’t do a lot of harm in the short-term, over time this will increase your stress levels and take its toll on your body.  Whereas a little stress is necessary for getting things done, excessive stress can lead to poor physical health, difficulty relating to colleagues and underperformance.  Striking a balance is crucial, and carefully setting boundaries is one way to work towards this. 

In recent years, there has been a huge shift in work culture, with ‘work-life balance’ becoming the phrase of the moment. Although it initially appeared to be a trend bad managers could pay lip service to, millennials are now demanding opportunities for balance from their roles, and employers have had to step up.  Many companies now go beyond empty reminders that employees need to take care of themselves, and offer structures to facilitate self-care and mental health.  

There has never been a better time for taking care of yourself in the workplace, and setting boundaries more frequently is an effective way to begin. 

If you have difficulty setting boundaries with your colleagues, particularly around your available time, these are our top tips to help you navigate each situation and communicate with others appropriately.

Time management: Blocking out your time carefully can be hugely helpful for setting clear boundaries for yourself and with others.  You might prefer to organise your time weekly or daily, but whichever approach you choose, having a visual of the amount of time you have available can be helpful. If somebody asks you for help with a project, you can quickly say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ based on how much time you can allocate. 

Communication: Letting your team members know how you are feeling or whether you need support is crucial.  If you are stressed or feel like you have reached your limit, communicating this well and offering an alternative path forward can help to take the pressure off. If you need to reset, make your colleagues aware of this.  If you are a leader and have a tendency to take on work that others could be doing, don’t be afraid to delegate, especially if you are under the pump trying to complete a task that requires your level of skill and experience. 

Regularly checking in: Mindfulness is now a widely respected and hugely popular tool for managing stress at work. While there are many apps out there to guide you through practice, this approach isn’t for everybody. Mindfulness can simply be tuning in to where you are and how you are feeling in a given moment.  Our thoughts are constantly on the go, and regular practice, however you choose to do it, can be beneficial for keeping our active brains in check. If you feel like your thoughts are racing, take a break and go for a walk.  Focus on your breathing while you do this for extra benefits.  Finding a moment of calm during the day can be rejuvenating.

Focus on the task at hand: On the Go1 Blog, we recently discussed the best ways to maintain your focus at work. Your ability to concentrate can be an indication of whether you have taken on too much, or set yourself too much to do that day. If your mind is darting around to the other activities you need to complete, it might help to review your scheduled activities and make adjustments. Over-committing yourself can be a huge source of stress and it is important to be realistic about what you can achieve. 

Be wary of traditional ‘to-do lists’: Recording everything you need to do in a long, never-ending list may offer you temporary relief from racing thoughts, but it could leave you open to feeling unsatisfied and frustrated with your work when you are unable to check off every item you have recorded. You also run the risk of accepting more work without considering the amount of time you can spare.  

Remember, setting boundaries is a constant balancing act, not something anybody can perfect. It can also feel as though you are letting others down by saying ‘no’, but ultimately they will be more grateful if the quality of your work isn’t impacted by lack of time or stress. By making it a priority in your life to set limits, you can realise when you need to reset or look after yourself. If you can do this, you will be well on the way to feeling healthier and happier in your work and daily life. 

Why setting boundaries at work is essential for mental wellbeing

Stress: it’s all about how you deal with pressure

Why do some people thrive under pressure, while others fold? 

What’s different is how different people manage stress, and meditation is an effective tool to help everyone manage stress. 

Stress causes a range of problems from minor discomfort, to poor work performance and in the worst cases, serious health issues. The temptation is to avoid stress, but we can’t get away from stress because it’s a fact of life. But what we can do is that we can get better at dealing with the negative effects of stress. Meditation is a proven method to quickly move our bodies from an unhealthy flight or fight response, into a rest and repair mode. And in the longer-term, meditation builds resiliency to stress for better mental health.

Log in to your Go1 portal to see this example of a stress release meditation. 

What's your stress score? Find out over here.

Because work is a significant source of stress, this article covers what you need to know about stress in the workplace for you personally and also for business owners and managers.

People hear the word stress and think it’s a bad thing. The thing is that stress is just pressure. When we stress ourselves, we grow in response. That’s how exercise works, that’s how we grow personally, this is called eustress or healthy stress. The problem is when we suffer unhealthy forms of stress or don’t have effective methods to deal with everyday stress. That’s when stress turns into distress and has disastrous effects of our health, productivity and work

Distress is bad for your mental and physical health

When we are suffering from stress, our bodies produce stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. This is an automatic reaction that happens in our autonomic nervous system. We can’t control this part of the nervous system. These stress hormones are bad for your health because these hormones increase blood pressure, increase blood sugar, suppress your immune system and stop digestion.

Negative mental health effects of stress include depression, anxiety and irritability. And the negative physical health effects include heart disease, fatigue, indigestion, insomnia and more. 

As you can see suffering from stress causes a lot of health problems. While we can’t directly control our autonomic nervous system, meditation works like a bridge by calming our nervous system which then turns off the unhealthy parts of our stress response. This is why managing your stress with meditation will help you to a healthier, happier life.

Most of the time a little pressure helps us to perform better. But pressure can also make us worse at our jobs. Clearly, when stress makes our mental and physical health worse that’s going to reduce our productivity, but stress also makes us perform worse in other ways too. We all have a limit when it comes to our capacity to work while under stress, but before we reach that tipping point, these are the sort of things that start to slide:

Poor decision making: When we are stressed, our decisions are rushed, driven by irrational emotions and lack planning & rational thought,

Lack of Focus: When there’s too much going on, we don’t know where to focus. We can get pulled from one task to another and we don’t prioritize work effectively. Struggling to focus is one of the symptoms of bad stress

Taking a few minutes to do meditation can stop you from making silly mistakes and can increase your focus. To find out how to use meditation to increase focus, see this short video.

If you’re a business owner or a manager of a team then you need to be aware of the impact of stress on results and what to do about it. Employee productivity is a careful balancing act of being demanding and supportive at the same time. Great leaders know how to inspire their teams to give their best, but unmanaged workplace stress is bad for business. Clearly, if individual productivity falls then this is going to be worse for your results but here are some other ways that stress costs you in business:

Stress leave: 25% of workers take time off each year for stress related reasons ( based on a survey of 5000 workers(1)). And stress-related workers compensation claims are growing

Stress leads to disengaged, low performing, employees

Stress leads to higher employee turnover 

But on a philosophical level, good business comes from creating a workplace where people want to work. Creating an environment where people are challenged and can grow is a good thing, but make sure you balance that out with employee wellbeing.

Now the tricky thing is that your employees are all different and one employee can thrive under pressure while another could have a totally opposite reaction. That’s one of the reasons I recommend that bosses have a weekly one on one meeting with their employees. Weekly one on one meetings will build up familiarity with your employees. You’ll know when you can push for better results and when you need to give your employee more support.

Questions to ask your employees in One on One meetings include: 

Always start with “How was your week?” It’s an open question, over time you’ll build a sense of when your employee has had a tough week, even if they don’t explicitly say something.

“Is there anything coming up (work or personal) that I need to know about?”

Give your employees the knowledge and skills they need to manage their own stress. Ask them to take the Stress Assessment so they know what signs to look for. Use the Go1 course assignment feature to assign them Desk Meditation for Stress Management before they end up calling in sick.

"It's important to differentiate between good stress and negative stress. Good stress is motivating. But as an employee's stress level increases, it reaches a tipping point where it starts to be detrimental and has a negative impact on an employee’s work. That tipping point will vary person to person based on personality attributes, such as the ability to cope with pressure, as well as job factors and aspects of the work environment,” Craig Bosworth, Medibank Private Industry Affairs Manager

If you are feeling fatigued, struggling to focus, feeling overwhelmed, experiencing indigestion these could just be your body’s natural response to the stresses of everyday life. And if you’ve experienced a setback such as personal trauma, conflict or career challenges you can be sure that distress is going to be weighing heavily on your personal health and workplace effectiveness.

To get back to being your normal, happy, healthy self you have to manage stress in your life. This may include seeking professional help. But an effective, easily accessible method is to establish a regular meditation practice to manage stress and improve your focus. Take the 30-Day Meditation Challenge to see what meditation can do for you.

PS: This does not constitute medical advice. Stress can cause significant health issues. If you feel like you may be suffering from stress, please seek professional medical assistance. This article contains information from the Go1 Online Course Desk Meditations. Find out how to establish a convenient meditation habit right at your desk. 

1. Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) survey as cited at – Workplace Stress (2008)

Keith Tatley CA(SA) founded Manager Foundation and Karm.Academy to help people with the soft skills they don’t teach you in school. This includes skills such as Effective One on One Meetings, Performance Communications and Delegation. If you would like to start your journey to become a better boss, then find out your BOSS Superpower now.

Stress management: how to use meditation to manage stress

There has been a pretty deep-rooted resistance to personal development programs for employees for as long as business has existed. Something about spending more money, beyond the salaries, on your employees, sends a shudder down the spines of execs and shareholders. The usual meta, in which you hire the person for the job, they do the job and you pay them for the job, is certainly satisfactorily clean-cut, but ignores all of the nuances of the modern workplace and work market. 

In particular, how an employee is viewed these days not as a cog in the machine, but as a human being with potential and a personal life. The smart companies are starting to identify the fact that employees can actually be used for more than what their job title is and are making decisions which help employees to help themselves which, in the end, helps the company. So, without any more delay, let’s take a look at what personal development can help to achieve. 

It’s not impossible that you work in an industry where you don’t care if employees quit. But most likely, it’s a pain if someone leaves. “The effect of an employee quitting is huge. Even if they give notice, their personal productivity will inevitably drop. If they don’t give notice, then the scrabble to fill the spot is an immense hassle. Before mentioning the amount of intake paperwork and preliminary training that usually comes with a new arrival”, notes Loretta Phillips, HR manager at LastMinuteWriting and Writinity. Ideally, you retain staff. Investing in them not only shows that you care about them, but it staves off any gnawing personal sense that they aren’t ‘growing’, a feeling which can drive them to seek new experiences at other companies. 

In an ironic twist in cause and effect, training your current employees to become better, in whatever field they would most like to develop in, will actually attract a better cut of employees when you do need to hire. The best candidates will go for places with the best salary normally, but in the modern era ‘lifestyle’ and ‘company culture’ are scrutinized by most candidates. The best candidates want the companies which pay good money but also which are proven to care about employees which a personal development scheme will demonstrate loud and clear.

This is a tad bit counterintuitive but makes sense when you think about it. “It all comes down to the classic ‘you have to spend money to make money’ paradigm”, writes Nathan Sutton, tech editor at DraftBeyond and ResearchPapersUk. “In order to get the best results you need happy, intelligent and up-to-date employees, which a little bit of personal development work should work to ensure.” Personal development will mean that your employees get the best results for themselves and, consequentially, for you and your company as well.  

When you begin a personal development program, your first thought ought to be, for what am I developing them. Partially, you’re looking to make them better at the job they already have. But in another sense, you are looking to develop them in a way which will help the company in the future which forces you to think about where the company will be in the future. This might lead to training in virtual reality tech, or in computer learning or something which is set to shake up your industry. By preparing your employees for this, you’re preparing your company too.

Employee engagement is another one of those things which will have a big impact on company success. Employees who like their job and actively want to be there everyday will bring so much of a higher quality of work as well as an attitude which can be infectious, leading to the improvement of the company as a whole.

So, despite the perceived negative impact of personal development schemes, companies can really benefit massively from these schemes. Hopefully this list has pointed out to you some of the biggest areas, so that you can get started without any sense of trepidation. 

Harry Conley is a content editor at Lucky Assignments and Gum Essays. He develops training procedures and manages the work flow to give writers supplemental support instruction.

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

Here's why investing in personal development is vital for employers

Reasons why investing in personal development is important for employers

Focus is a beautiful calm state where work seems effortless and you can fly through your to-do list. But too often, work is one distraction after another and you end your day exhausted with little to show. The reason for this is: without training your brain exists in a state called the monkey mind. It’s called this because your mind moves from one thought to the next like a monkey swinging from tree to tree. Meditation is simply training for your mind, so that you can control your thoughts instead of your thoughts controlling you.

 Studies have shown many benefits for meditation from reducing stress to improving memory (1). But one of the biggest benefits of meditation is improving your focus. You can even practice meditation right at your desk. See an example of a desk-based meditation for focus, right here.

Practice meditation to achieve a flow state

Focus is that flow state where we can sit for hours without effort or distractions. Instead of wishing for home time, we achieve a timeless state of productive enjoyment. But focus is like a muscle; without training, internal and external distractions are going to win. If you ever feel like you’ve had a busy day but not achieved what you needed to, then that’s a sign to flex your focus muscle.

As a Chartered Accountant I know that some people think that meditation is some spiritual thing that only yogi’s do. And many view meditating as recreational, with no place in the workplace. But as a yoga teacher I know that meditation has real benefits for business and productivity. And the awesome thing is that a good meditation leaves you feeling great too.

What successful people do differently is that they focus on their priorities. They get the important stuff done before anything else. The problem with our minds isn’t too little activity, it’s too much unfocussed activity. The mind is a thought making machine. Thoughts are wonderful things, but before you realise it, all those thoughts take you away from your focus state.

First, achieve awareness, then achieve control

The first thing that meditation does is that it trains our minds to realise that our focus has drifted. Because the first problem of being distracted is that you haven’t realised that you’re distracted. “Look squirrel”. The next part of meditation is that it trains your mind to come back to your focus.

Some people think they don’t have the time to meditate but meditation will help you to break free from time-wasting activities. Meditation helps you to have a clarity of vision and drop into an enjoyable & productive flow state. Think about how much time you waste when you aren’t focussed. Simply put you’re going to be a lot more productive after meditating. As an added bonus, frequent meditators report needing less sleep.

Try meditating at your desk instead of drinking coffee

Sometimes our mind seems like a chatterbox, full of distracting thoughts. And at other times it seems like we need a double espresso before we can do anything else. But the wonderful thing about our mind is that it’s plastic so we can train it to do almost anything. When you feel tired or struggling to focus at work, instead of smashing another coffee, try meditating.   

If you’ve ever toyed with the idea of meditating, there’s no better time to start than now. Experiment with the 30-day meditation challenge and see what it does for your productivity, energy and sense of wellbeing.

A single meditation will put your mind into a focus state. And a regular meditation practice will train it to stay there.

(1)   https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation 

How to use meditation to improve your focus & productivity

You know those people who always seem so confident, capable, and able to get along easily with everyone? Taking everything in their stride and keeping calm under pressure?

Those people most likely have high levels of emotional intelligence (EQ).

Employers are always on the lookout for workers with high emotional intelligence.

Individuals with high EQ are seen to possess calmness, clarity of mind and the skills to conduct more satisfying relationships – which are all very positive assets for an employee.

In fact, emotional intelligence is considered to be one of the most important factors in maintaining successful relationships, impacting on how we connect with the people we work, live, and socialise with.

But how do you know if you’re high in EQ? Or if you’re someone who is lacking emotional intelligence? After all, it’s not really something you can measure or test.

Read on to find out more about emotional intelligence, why it’s so important in the workplace, and what you can do to improve your own EQ.

Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to monitor your own and others’ feelings and emotions, and to use this information to guide your thinking and actions.

It’s made up of four core skills that pair up under two primary competencies: personal competence and social competence.

Personal competence involves your self-awareness and self-management skills, which focus more on yourself as an individual, rather than on your interactions with other people. It’s about your ability to stay aware of your emotions and manage your own behaviour and tendencies.

Social competence concerns your social awareness and relationship management skills – your ability to understand other people’s moods, behaviour and motives in order to improve the quality of your relationships.

Overall, across these two core competencies, EQ plays a significant role in how an individual manages behaviour, navigates social complexities, and makes personal decisions to achieve positive results.

As you can imagine, this has a huge impact on the quality and success of your interpersonal relationships – in the workplace, as well as in your personal life.

We’re seeing that employees with highly developed emotional intelligence are far more likely to be successful in their careers. In fact, studies have revealed that 90% of top performers have high EQs and emotionally intelligent employees can expect to earn more than individuals with lower levels of EQ.

In a recent study by TalentSmart, emotional intelligence was tested alongside 33 other important workplace skills, with the result that emotional intelligence is the strongest predictor of performance, explaining a full 58% of success in all types of jobs.

At this point you’re probably wondering about your own level of emotional intelligence. And if it’s letting you down in your career.

Dr Travis Bradberry, co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, is well-known for his work on emotional intelligence.

“Emotional intelligence affects how we manage behaviour, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions to achieve positive results,” Bradberry explains.

According to Bradberry, these are some of the key behaviours that are the hallmarks of a low EQ.

You make assumptions quickly and defend them vehemently.

You blame other people for how they make you feel.

Working to eradicate these patterns of behaviour will go a long way in improving your level of emotional intelligence and your interactions with the people around you.

So: keen to start building up your own EQ?

Fortunately, your level of emotional intelligence can be developed and improved over time. As Bradberry puts it, “unlike your IQ, your EQ is highly malleable.”

This means you can train your brain by repeatedly practicing new emotionally intelligent behaviours. Over time, your brain will build the pathways needed to turn these behaviours into habits, while replacing any old destructive behaviours.

You’ll soon start to feel more confident in your ability to recognise and manage emotions – both your own feelings and those of other people. And as you continue to strengthen your emotional intelligence, you’ll notice you can apply these newfound skills to the workplace, improving your working relationships and keeping your emotions in positive balance.

Over the past year, numerous news reports have surfaced about people with mental illness going into a current or former workplace to injure or kill. While some of these people had an existing mental health issue, others either developed or worsened a problem while employed by a specific company.

As more organizations shed light on the growing issue of mental health among the workforce, it becomes apparent that all business owners should make changes. Although you cannot eliminate someone’s anxiety, depression, or paranoia, you can take steps to prevent this type of issue from developing within your company through good design.

Today, it is relatively common to find companies that encourage their employees to talk openly about issues. In fact, some organizations have counselors on staff who listen to employees’ problems and try to guide them through various situations. These positive steps are certainly helpful, but they are not sufficient for workplace health and stress issues.

While it is not always easy to put together an excellent work structure, properly formulate tasks, and build and encourage relationships, the time and effort that you and your leadership teams invest is worthwhile.

Health and Safety – It is imperative you provide your employees with a healthy and safe work environment. Regardless of the type or size of your company, make sure you stay compliant with government regulations and laws. Also, have a company policy in place regarding decluttered walkways and hallways, proper lighting, a fire suppression system, good air quality, and so on. Take air quality as a perfect example of preventing mental health issues at work. When people cannot see well enough to do their job, they experience eye strain, headaches, muscle fatigue, and overall tiredness. Each one of those things alone is enough to cause stress, anxiety, and even depression. Combine them, and you could have a serious problem.

Employee Involvement – Involving your staff is another critical component. Whether engaging them in casual or business conversations, having them jump in on a project, giving them the lead in planning a community event, or allowing them to take online training courses that will enhance their knowledge and skill, you will see a significant change in morale. The more your team feels as though it is part of something important, the better it will perform. In response to that, you can expect to see higher customer satisfaction, increased profit, and even fewer quality defects. The goal is to identify the things that motivate your employees and then act on them.

Balance Between Work and Life – Perhaps of all reasons mental health issues exist in the workplace is that people try to do too much at home and work. Take the opportunity to come up with creative solutions. Schedule a meeting with the leaders of the different departments to understand the challenges at hand. If your company employs a lot of young parents, you might consider adding an on-site daycare center or if they drive long distances to work each day, think about establishing a telecommuting program.

Employee Recognition –Recognition has a huge impact on employees. Unfortunately, many companies only acknowledge employees who accomplish some great feat, meaning entry-level workers without the same opportunities go unnoticed. Create a system whereby department heads identify employees who stand out for things like not missing a day of work within a given month, volunteering for a “grunt” job without complaining, or coming up with an excellent idea. Especially when recognition comes from management, it has a huge impact. The person on the receiving end feels appreciated and noticed, which supports good mental health.

Employee Growth and Development – Most people want to advance their careers, whether in their current department or somewhere else within the organization. Although a better job might come along, they want to stay with their employer, just not become stagnant. Devise a plan that allows for both growth and development. One option is with online training courses. Offering eLearning as a perk of working for your company prepares your employees for greater things that will benefit them and the business as a whole.

Also, incorporate live plants into the décor. Oversized greenery combined with strategically placed water features have a calming effect on the workplace environment. You will discover that your employees have an easier time focusing, which increases their productivity.

For the training aspect of your company, Go1 has the right solution. We offer a vast library of related topics that will give your employees purpose. Have your leadership determine specific courses on an employee-by-employee basis and then make this a standard offer.

Prevent mental health issues in the workplace through good design

The key to increasing an organisation’s performance and productivity levels is the wellbeing of its greatest asset – its employees. This is why supporting a workplace wellbeing programme and encouraging a work-life balance is highly recommended.

The relentless pace of 21st Century digital transformation and the new 24/7 always-on mentality adopted by most organisations and their employees has contributed significantly to increased stress levels, reduced holidays and the rise of absences related to mental health. Each of which negatively affects individuals, both at home and work, impacting their productivity, health and family stability.

In fact, with long work hours and constant multitasking negatively impacting an individual’s ability to address these problems until they’ve escalated, today’s health-conscious society is calling for mental health to be treated the same as physical health, especially in the workplace.

The new Learning & Development organisation is at the heart of driving the wellbeing strategy within modern organisations, throughout all stages of career development, with research showing that directly addressing the wellbeing of your workforce via the implementation of a workplace wellbeing programme can boost performance, improve engagement, reduce absence levels and retain talent.

The end of 2017 saw almost half of all UK businesses implement a wellbeing strategy, including a number of high profile organisations such as HSBC and Barclays whose ‘This is Me’ campaign, designed to normalise mental health in the workplace, has been rolled out across the capital.

These programmes are typically implemented by top-level management, which can be extremely effective, although research suggests that results improve when individuals take active responsibility for their own wellbeing.

To ensure the organisation is inspiring employees to do this, you might consider creating a wellbeing team to champion strategies, including the use of eLearning, encouraging a natural and inclusive approach across the organisation.

MicroLearn is passionate about helping to promote positive working cultures which is why we created our Workplace Wellbeing range, in collaboration with the Learning Architect, Liggy Webb. Liggy is a global best-selling author and behavioural specialist, with a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the field of mental wellbeing.

This suite of bite-sized resources helps organisations mitigate the risks of poor mental health, stress and sickness by highlighting the warning signs and presenting a range of techniques learners can use to improve their own lifestyles. This includes courses on Mental Health, Healthy Living, Resilience, Everyday Energy, Value & Purpose, Relationship Building, Relaxation and Life Balance.

Promoting workplace wellbeing by offering increased education and support will benefit organisations in the long-term as individuals develop healthier behaviours, both in and out of the office, leading to increased levels of happiness, inspiration and motivation which positively impact the overall performance of the organisation.

For more information on how we can help support your organisation’s workplace wellbeing requirements, or to discover more about other ranges in the MicroLearn catalogue, enquire about Go1 Premium today!

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett is the Group Commercial Director at Microlearn. 

The importance of wellbeing for a successful workforce - Go1

A happy workforce is a successful one – the importance of supporting workplace wellbeing

Lost time due to sickness takes a toll on not only the employee but also the business. While sickness cannot be completely avoided, every sick day that an employee takes can create havoc on a business. Unlike vacation days, which can be planned for in advance, sick days typically come completely unannounced. As a result, it can be difficult for management to plan for those days. This often results in a complete upheaval for the business, affecting management, other employees, and even customers. Clearly, it’s imperative that employers find an effective method for helping employees stay as healthy as possible.

E-learning offers a flexible and easily accessible method for educating employees on best practices for improving their health. Not only is e-learning an easily offered education tool in the workplace, but it also happens to be the preferred learning method for millennials. Considering that millennials comprise approximately one-third of today’s workforce, it certainly makes sense for employers to consider the preferences of this demographic when developing training solutions.

With e-learning, employers gain the advantage of maximum flexibility. This can be of significant importance when scheduling time for training. Since all the tools and materials for the courses are prerecorded and digital, training can be offered at any time that is most convenient for management and employees.

Lost productivity due to illness costs businesses far too much money each year. Fortunately, at least some of this is reversible. This can be easily accomplished through specific e-learning courses focusing on reducing the risk of work-related illness and improving one’s health.

Such courses can run include helping employees learn how to balance work and life, so that they are more productive without becoming overworked. For example, employees can learn how to manage their schedules to ensure they have time for working out at the gym and other physical fitness activities. Such activities are not only important for stress relief but also crucial for staying physically fit and healthy. The more physically fit employees are, the less likely they are to become ill. Furthermore, e-learning courses can be used to provide health and wellness information to employees who live in areas where health services might be limited.

Courses to Consider for Helping Employees Boost Their Health

The types of courses offered by an employer to assist employees in reducing their risk of work-related illness may vary based on industry and area. However, there are some courses that all employers should consider offering. These courses include:

This course shows employees how to achieve a balanced life while still having time for work as well as relaxation, relationships, and fun. The focus of this course is goal-centered time management. Employees will learn how to work smarter rather than harder. They also will learn effective stress management techniques, so they will be able to build resilience even while under pressure.

When it comes to keeping employees happy, healthy, and productive, psychological health is just as important as physical health. Regardless of the industry, it is vital that employees be able to deal with challenging situations effectively. This course is designed to assist employees in balancing psychological health matters successfully.

A lack of understanding regarding nutritional eating has led to a global obesity epidemic. This can have a significant effect on the workforce. To address this crisis, it’s important for employees to be educated about strategies for healthful eating. Studies have shown that the consumption of heavily processed foods has contributed to increasing rates of chronic disease. The good news is that many of these diseases are preventable. This course provides employees with both the information and the skills they need to distinguish between foods that threaten their health and foods that will optimize their health.

It’s common for employees to suffer from a variety of health issues, including aches and pains. Unfortunately, those aches and pains can affect productivity and missed work days. Acupressure has been proven to be an effective method for treating everyday issues. With this course, employees will learn how to relieve their own pain without the need for medications using traditional massage points. The course instructs learners how to locate the right massage points for headache and migraine relief, flu relief, allergy relief, anxiety relief, asthma relief, depression relief, and more.

Yoga for All: Lose Weight and Detox to Better Health

This course instructs learns how to take advantage of three authentic yoga practices to lose weight, sleep better, and detox in a safe and completely gentle manner. Through this course, employees will learn how to perform more than 100 yoga poses to increase flexibility, strengthen their core, and tone their muscles. Instruction regarding meditation is also provided, showing learners techniques for guided meditation and breathing exercises. Additionally, learners will receive information about the Saathvic diet, including information on the benefits of natural foods and how they can accelerate weight loss.

Lost work days and productivity can be among the most serious issues faced by management in the workplace. However, managers can take steps to assist employees in reducing illness while boosting their health. E-learning offers an effective method for delivering vital information to employees, allowing them to take greater control of their health and wellness.

Did you know that having a bad work-life balance is one of the number one reasons why people quit their jobs?

There’s no doubt that the working world is a more fast-paced environment these days. There’s simply a much bigger focus placed on “overnight” success and achieving milestones quickly and more frequently.

Whether that’s businesses coming out with new products or simply growing their customer reach, everyone wants things done now. 

Of course, this means that employees often face bigger workloads and naturally a lot of people don’t switch off and get enough ‘me time’ when they leave the office as a result.

There’s more to life than just working. Now, we know you want your employees to work hard, but hear us out on this one. When your employees don’t have a good work-life balance, it can be detrimental to your business. Then everyone suffers.

Having a work-life balance is crucial for maintaining good mental and physical health. Let’s face it, work gets stressful a lot of the time, which means that employees can feel under pressure and overworked during the week.

There’s big workloads and difficult interactions with customers that can weigh you down. This gets worse if employees don’t know how to cope with this level of stress and this constant pressure can increase the risk of suffering from stress-related diseases, as well as mental issues like depression.

Nobody wants to be the cause of employee unhappiness or for their jobs to have an effect on their health.

In addition, when you work this hard constantly with no time for rest and reward, you can reach a burnout. This is a fatigue that you can’t shake and mean performance at work dips.

Not only does this have a negative effect on the person suffering it, but it also has a negative impact on the work they’re doing. It can affect your motivation to get things done, your ability to do your job properly and also bring down your overall productivity.

Your employees might spend long hours in the office even after it closes, but this doesn’t mean they’re getting more things done. This affects the whole team and it’s important you find a way for employees to feel in control.

Not having a good work-life balance can also make employees feel resentful towards you as an employer and unsatisfied with their workplace. This is what leads new and experienced employees to seek a new place to work. This is the last thing that you want!

But, there’s something you can do to prevent all of these things from happening and affecting your business. As an employer, you’ve got to encourage healthy habits and good work-life balance.

Sure, you can make little adjustments around the office, such as team meetings, regular breaks and making sure everyone leaves on time at the end of the day.

But, one of the best ways to encourage your employees to have a good work-life balance is to provide them with the resources they need to learn about how they can do this themselves.

You can do this simply with a good online e-learning course from Go1 Premium. Here you’ve got access to thousands of amazing courses that will allow employees to improve their skills and learn how they can have a better work-life balance.

Once they’re finished, there won’t be any groans on Monday morning when they’re back at their desks – instead there will be that proactive attitude that says they’re ready to get started

Having time to get outdoors, enjoy some rest and spend time with friends and family will let employees have some downtime that will mean they’re refreshed and clear-headed, ready to work hard and enjoy their job again. That’s what every employer wants, right?

Plus, there’s lots of skills you can learn in your daily life that your employees can bring back to the office. Downtime allows employees to gain life experience and knowledge from other people around them. This gives them another dimension to bring to the table at work.

So, it’s important to motivate and teach your employees to work hard, but also to play hard too. Let’s introduce you to our favorite work-life balance course from Go1 Premium that you need for your office.

This Go1 Premium course is suitable for your whole team and it’s going to help employees learn more about enjoying a healthy work-life balance and how it can be achieved.

In addition, the content educates your employees on how having this balance is important individually for their health and happiness, as well as for the productivity and progression of the whole team.

With the help of this course, employees can get back on a track to success and find ways of managing any stress they encounter through downtime. This is a way to make sure employees want to stay at your business for the long haul.

Of course, some people start off on the right path and are motivated to change their ways. It’s like new year resolutions – everyone starts off well, but by the end of January, they are burnt out.

So, from the beginning, you’ve got to get employees on board with the course and teach them, so that not only do they want to have a work-life balance, but so they maintain a work-life balance moving forward.

A good work-life balance is becoming increasingly more important in today’s business world. Through this Go1 Premium course, you can make sure that employees learn how they can enjoy a successful working life, without sacrificing the things that they love.

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