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Showing posts with label workplace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workplace. Show all posts
Much of your workplace success is based not on what you do but who you know. The better your relationships with coworkers and others in your workplace, the better your career will go. Here are 7 simple steps to improving your relationships at work.
1) Make small talk: Get to know your coworkers so it does not always seem all about work. The key to making appropriate office small talk is to not get too personal too soon. Keep it general at first and then gradually work your way up to discussing family and more personal issues when your coworker is also moving in that direction of discussions. Also keep small talk at work limited (don’t go on and on) to respect everyone’s tight deadlines.
2) Help each other out: Show them that you are willing and able to help them out when they are under a tight deadline. Not only will they reciprocate for you, but they will begin to trust and depend on you.
3) Ask them for their thoughts and opinions: This is a great way to show them that you really value and respect them. People like those who they feel like them. Show them that you value their advice and feedback.
4) Get away from the office gossip: Even if you have resolved not too gossip about your coworkers, you can be guilty by association. When workplace gossip starts, excuse yourself. This will show people that you will not be involved in the gossip and that they can trust you.
5) Do little things like get them holiday cards or birthday cards, congratulate them on their good work, and offer to grab them some lunch when you are going out.
6) Let others take the credit when they have done most of the work. If you are incorrectly given credit and praise, acknowledge the coworker who deserves the accolades.
7) Handle workplace conflict seamlessly: If you are not directly involved in the conflict, stay out of it, at least initially. If you decide you must get involved, plan out some negotiation strategies ahead of time and facilitate the resolution of the conflict. The key is to show that you care, but without becoming rash or worked up.
These tips, while effective, may not work in every workplace and with every person. When in doubt, ask. Ask your coworkers how you can best help them. Most importantly, be sure to follow up and keep your word by doing what you say you’re going to do.
Written by Jenny Catton
It may be one of the more unusual ways to improve office life but more and more companies are allowing staff to bring their dogs to work due to the health benefits associated with the company of our canine friends.
In a study conducted in the US, researchers found that when dogs were allowed in the workplace, stress levels dropped and staff morale improved.
The health benefits that dogs provide outside the workplace have been widely reported. For example, taking a dog for a walk can be great for improving exercise levels. But now more and more people are finding that taking dogs to work can promote good health too. It is thought that the presence of dogs makes staff more friendly towards one another, encourages people to take regular breaks and can lower stress when people stroke the dogs.
Of course, having dogs in the workplace won’t suit every working environment. It’s important to carry out risk assessments for both humans and dogs before allowing dogs into the office. In particular, check if anyone has a phobia of dogs or a pet allergy before bringing a dog to work. But if you can overcome the practical challenges, allowing canine companions to join you at work could be a positive move.
If you fancy finding out if dogs could provide benefits in your workplace, why not trial the idea on the annual ‘take your dog to work’ day. Find out more at: www.takeyourdog.com
Workplace wellness schemes have become immensely popular over recent years, including everything from work-sponsored biometric screenings to programmes to help you quit smoking and health coaching. There are even exercise classes involved but things are changing, despite workplace wellness becoming increasingly popular additions to employer portfolios. Because the market has evolved to not just include a phone call and a meeting with a coach, schemes are now moving into the technology realm. When the industry started, there was a fear in asking employees to disclose information about their health, and as that portion of the programme has moved on, things have changed. The uneasiness on the part of the employers has been subsumed by the reality that offering health coverage now costs so much more. Workplace wellness is now an industry worth billions of pounds and recent surveys suggest that around half of all companies with at least 50 workers have some sort of scheme in place. But at the backdrop to this is the crisis state of the healthcare market, with many chronic conditions being lifestyle diseases. The concept behind the workplace wellness programme is to help people to navigate the complex nature of lifestyle and health, by giving them the support they need to make healthier changes and the tools they need to improve their lives. In the process, they may help their employer avoid costly health claims down the road, but is this really how companies save money? Just how valuable is it to employers to have a workplace wellness scheme in place?
There’s an underlying concept of building a stock exchange for your health, and as such you treat your health as a stock which can go up or down depending on how you treat it. You need to go to the screenings and track your health so, for example, if your blood pressure goes down, your stock goes up. Technology offers an instant form of feedback, so if you light up on your lunch break, it will give you the hard facts – it cost you £5, you lost 146 days from your life expectancy, and all because of one cigarette. These are facts which are harder to shrug off. LifeVest is a start-up from Philadelphia which has now added a number of companies to its roster. What makes LifeVest different is the association of money to your health. Having an investment in your health is bound to affect your behaviour, and direct financial incentives for workplace wellness schemes are still quite rare, but studies show that money is a great motivator. It’s early days, but companies are seeing a rise in engagement numbers which is rooted in economics. Using competition and financial motivators helps to add to the accountability tools – you’ve got competition with your friends, your family are holding you accountable and you’ve got your financial incentives. In fact, smokers have as much as a 50 per cent higher premium than non-smokers. But people are ok penalising smokers as a way of encouraging them to quit their addiction. Looking at obesity though, this is a more complex problem and finding the right balance between incentivising weight control and simply imposing a tax on obesity is very difficult. Workplace wellness schemes have a long way to go before they find the right balance between helping both the employer and the employee, but this new way of working, by offering financial incentives, could well be the answer to this problem.
When it comes to the work-life balance debate, perception is everything. If your employees perceive themselves to be cared for in a workplace culture that encourages wellness, you might be able to boast a more committed and happy workforce in the new world of work which is arguably hi-tech, global and 24/7. According to a new survey by Virgin HealthMiles Inc. and Workforce Management Magazine, 77% of employees felt that ‘health and wellness programmes positively impact the culture at work.’
Judy Martin, of WorkLifeNation.com, details, ‘HealthMiles, a workplace health engagement company and part of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, surveyed about 1,300 businesses and 10,000 employees for its annual survey kicking off National Employee Wellness Month in June. The study found a strong link between the wellness and vitality of an organistion, and the wellness of employees. The result of which was increased job morale, satisfaction, commitment and performance…But measuring a culture of wellness in terms of spreadsheets still evades the bean counters to a degree. And while quantifying the bottom-line impact of such programmes is challenging…the trends in the survey are key to the bigger picture.’
Chris Boyce, CEO of Virgin HealthMiles, comments, ‘Creating a culture-first mentality is a critical step for employers when it comes to building a highly engaged workforce. Employees become much more motivated and productive when they know that their employer cares about their total quality of life, which goes beyond traditional wellness and includes physical, emotional, financial and social health.’ David Ballard PsyD, MBA, director of the Centre for Organisational Excellence of the American Psychological Association, adds, ‘The impact of wellbeing on the bottom line can be difficult to tease out, since human behaviour is complex and determined by multiple factors. Even hard data like health care claims can be affected by plan design and other changes.’
The results of the survey also revealed that just 31% of organisations were ‘satisfied with their health and wellness metrics.’ However, ‘Quantifying such efforts also requires a change in perspective,’ says Martin. She notes, there are employers ‘who understand that wellbeing and performance are inextricably linked, although a return-on-investment might not be directly revealed on the spreadsheets. Every year the APA’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award highlights organisations that are putting more emphasis on the bigger picture of employee wellbeing. According to statistics from the APA, companies that meet the criterion of a “psychologically healthy workplace” benefit from improved work quality and productivity, lower absenteeism, presenteeism, less turnover, and better customer service ratings.’
Ballard points out, ‘Forward-thinking organisations are re-evaluating work practices and providing employees with resources that support wellbeing and performance. They are creating psychologically healthy workplaces that are diverse and productive, resilient and successful.’ However, Martin warns, ‘Alas, communicating those workplace initiatives to employees has been challenging. The Virgin HealthMiles/Workforce survey found that only 51% of employees surveyed said they have a good understanding of how to participate in health and wellness programmes being offered by their employers.’
That said, Fran Melmed, Founder of Context Communication Consulting (a communication and change management firm specialising in workplace wellness), argues that while the wellness argument can sometimes be a hard sell and tricky fodder for those in HR who have to communicate the benefits of such programmes, it doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable. ‘I’ve seen health and wellness programmes keep morale up and people on track during seismic change like downsizing, off–shoring, downturns in economy and business slowdowns – and those things can’t be discounted,’ she says. Martin concludes, ‘Perhaps [perception is] a harbinger of things to come in a competitive global marketplace where attracting and retaining skilled talent is crucial for the bottom-line.’
Thanks to the growing awareness of the impact that stress can have on health, people are looking for ways to de-stress their lives like never before. We tend to focus on stress in our personal lives and accept professional stress as a given. However, workplace stress isn’t difficult to manage if you think outside of the box. Here are four techniques that offices are using to reduce employee stress.
Piping In Some Tunes
For better or for worse, music can significantly affect the energy levels and moods of those that are listening to it. Playing music at moderate levels in the background can reduce stress levels and energize your workforce at the same time. Poll your workforce for recommendations and use a streaming music service like Pandora or Spotify to keep song selections varied and unique.
Team Gaming Sessions
Nowadays, it’s more than socially acceptable for grown adults to blow off some steam with video games. In a workplace setting, a half hour or so spent playing Call of Duty every now and then can make for a great stress reliever. A bonus side effect of playing a video game together as a group is a greater sense of camaraderie shared by co-workers.
Scheduled Yoga Workouts
Physical exertion of any kind is always a good way to reduce tension. However, hectic schedules often make it difficult for office workers to get into a groove. Scheduled yoga sessions held at the office or a nearby gym either before or after work can be great for team-building as well as stress reduction. If yoga isn’t a popular draw, pickup volleyball games work as well.
Pets in the Office
Nothing is more reassuring than a lovable dog or another furry companion. Major companies like Google, Autodesk and Burton have caught on to the fact that allowing dogs in the workplace improves morale and ultimately boosts productivity. Encouraging employees to bring their four-legged friends to work by setting up dedicated areas outfitted with dog beds is a smart move for any office.
Kill the Stress, Reap the Rewards
Besides a marked improvement in employee health, stress reduction techniques such as those discussed here have other benefits. Happy, healthy employees are ultimately more productive, which tends to boost profits in the long run. Furthermore, reducing stress in the office can result in fewer health care claims, which saves money. Any way you slice it, workplace stress reduction is a worthwhile goal.
Dog is man’s best friend in all areas of life, and that now includes the workplace. You may question how a dog can have any positive influence on a corporate environment, but a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University has revealed that taking a dog to work can help to benefit your wellness and wellbeing by reducing your stress levels and making you feel more positive about your place of work. You then have better job satisfaction and feel happier and more productive at work as a result.
It is well known that stress is one of the biggest causes of absenteeism in the workplace. Many high level professions see their employees suffering from burnout as they put too much into their jobs and then become incapable of functioning properly. Absenteeism costs companies millions of pounds in productivity and resources every year. The study, however, found that having dogs in the workplace reduced stress – and not just for the dog’s particular owners, but for all those who came into contact with the dog.
During the study, people who brought their pets to work were identified, and studied alongside those who had pets but did not bring them to work, and those who did not have pets at all. The factors that were looked at were stress, organisational commitment, job satisfaction and support.
The study was published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management, and revealed that dogs in the workplace could have a positive impact on employee wellness and satisfaction. There were notable differences in stress between the days that the dog was present and the days that the dog was absent. Employees had higher job satisfaction as a whole when compared to other industry norms. The stress hormones of the employees, when measured through saliva, gave a clear indicator that having the dog on site was a positive thing for their wellbeing.
You’d think, at a certain age, having to deal with bullies is far behind you. However, the modern workplace proves that, sadly, this is not the case. The office bully can hinder corporate wellness, as well as your personal sense of wellbeing. Not only are you unhappy and stressed whenever the office bully is around, but a hostile working environment also hampers your productivity, which has disastrous effects for your company. Therefore, making sure everyone gets along is a worthy goal for anyone to take on.
“Workplace bullying” is a pretty broad term but it basically means a repeated, wellness-damaging mistreatment of one or more people. This encompasses all negative behaviour, such as verbal abuse, offensive nonverbal behaviours, or purposefully interfering with your ability to get your work done. It sounds like a simple problem to stamp out, but more and more people are reporting being the victim of workplace bullying. In 1998, 25% of those survey revealed that they were treated rudely once a week. However, this rose to 50% in 2011, and recent evidence has also come to light which suggests you’re now more likely to be bullied in the office if you’re unattractive.
It’s becoming glaringly obvious that workplace bullying is a problem. Many victims of an office bully have reported developing health issues such as anxiety and depression, while some have even had to leave a job to escape a negative working environment. But why has the situation become so dire? Some experts blame the recession, as this may have put so much undue pressure on your boss that he or she is taking it out on you. It may be the case that it’s just a natural personality thing, as many workplace bullies score high on tests of narcissism and self-orientation.
However, Dr. Christine Porath, a Georgetown University professor who studies workplace incivility, points out that you can become so overwhelmed by your work responsibilities that you don’t even realize when you’re being rude to others. While the cause of workplace bullying remains to be determined, Greatist expert and psychologist Dr. Michael Mantell, who helps train managers in workplace harassment prevention, says that recent research on workplace bullying has paved the way for efforts to prevent it. His main advice is to not let someone bully you out of achieving your best work: ‘You can’t change the bully, but you can prevent yourself from being a victim.’
Stress in the corporate workplace is a serious problem. When people feel stressed, this can have a direct impact on their emotional wellness and wellbeing. Stress leads to physical problems too, and can cause absenteeism, which costs companies millions of pounds each year.
Feeling anxious about work is never a normal response. It’s natural to get keyed up before big events, presentations, interviews and so on, but if you are finding that you feel anxious about going into work on a day-to-day basis, then something is wrong, and you need to look at making a change.
You may find yourself worrying obsessively that people are noticing your nerves, or you may have physical symptoms such as shaking, racing pulse, feeling short of breath, gastrointestinal upsets, cold hands, blushing, stammering, sweating and feeling faint. This can lead to you habitually avoiding situations that cause you stress, which can actually have a very serious impact on your job and, indeed, your future career.
The key to managing stress is to find a balance inside your own head. Throw away any idea that you have to be perfect, or that people are looking at you or that you are somehow not good enough. Instead, think about the words you would say to a friend in your situation and actually say them (whether out loud or just in your head) to yourself. Say things like ‘You are really good at your job’, and ‘You have done this before and it went well’, and you will find that you start to believe yourself.
Provide constructive criticism to yourself. So instead of saying ‘I’m useless at this’, instead feedback to yourself in a positive manner, such as ‘I did ABC very well but I need to work on XYZ’
Everyone has the best intentions when it comes to working out, but most people find that they don’t have the time when all the work and social commitments are out of the way. So how about combining the two? We spend such a long time at work each week that it makes sense to work out as best we can within those timeframes. You may not get as good of a workout as you would at the gym, but it will pad out some of those gaps that your working week creates. Ideally, any workout programme would include the following: aerobic activity, strengthening activities and flexibility exercises. The aerobic activity works on your heart rate and breathing, to improve your heart and lung health. Swimming, cycling and running all work this area of your body. Strengthening exercises involve weights and build your muscle mass – they not only increase your strength but also tone your body. Flexibility exercises, such as stretching, relax your body and lower your risk of injury. Best of all, you don’t need any equipment to stretch!
The current guidelines state that adults should get around 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days each week. The best way to check you’re on track is a pedometer – it tracks your progress and it’s small enough that you can carry it around with your at work discreetly. The best thing you need to remember is that your 30 minutes can be done over the course of the day, making it even easier to achieve during the working day. Why not go for a 15 minutes walk on your lunch break and then top it up with the rest of the day. Challenge yourself to 10,000 steps a day (which equates to around 30 minutes) then up your game when that becomes easy. We all get up to grab a drink, chat to colleagues and go to different departments every day, so why not track how much you’re moving? It will motivate you to do more when you see how much you’re doing each day, and you’ll feel confident of your ability to meet your own challenges.
Strength exercises may seem more difficult to achieve at work but the best way to do it is to buy a resistance ball, which will tone up your torso and improve the ergonomics of your workspace. Simple upper and lower body exercises can be done with this piece of equipment, and only takes around 15 minutes – easy to do on your coffee break without interrupting the rest of your work day. Lastly, stretching is the last component of your workout and helps to create a balanced exercise programme. You should work on the areas that are prone to work-related injuries, such as your back and posture. Resistance bands can help with this portion of the programme, helping you to work your chest, inner and outer thigh, hamstrings, hips and quadriceps. You should try to stretch each day, but a minimum of three times a week is a great start. If you want to stay injury-free, you need to ensure that your workspace is ergonomic. This means looking at the distance you sit from your computer screen, the way your hand sits on the mouse and keyboard, and the type of chair you sit on. With these considerations and three inexpensive pieces of equipment, you can create a makeshift gym from your workspace and help to tone up and get fit in no time.
The term ‘wellness’ is used a lot these days, especially in corporate environments. You will hear this word in the media, in insurance documents and within the HR departments of big companies, but what does it really mean?
Many of us have now read up more on how wellness in the workplace is an important thing and we now understand that employers can play a strong and very positive role in the wellbeing of their employees.
It is very easy for employers to get a bit tangled up in the wellness programme procedure, however, instructing employees to participate in specific programmes and fill in certain health assessments, without having a clear idea of what they hope to achieve from the programme itself.
This kind of surface approach tends to produce middling results at best, as it narrows the focus of wellness to what becomes by and large a simple case of nagging. This kind of programme fails to realise that the best way to motivate employees and change habits in the long term is through company-wide wellness programmes that engage employees fully and actually support them as they make serious lifestyle changes towards healthy behaviour, rather than simply lecturing them on how they ought to be behaving.
This is important at a time when around 52 percent of Americans surveyed recently admitted to being disengaged at work, whilst only 18 percent claimed to be actively engaged in their job.
To fix this, a culture-first mentality must be created in the workplace, where productive employees are created by focusing on their quality of life in every possible sense, including work-life balance, social, spiritual and financial wellbeing and even physical and mental health. Employers should care truly about their employees and aim to be a supportive part of their lives in a holistic sense.
In the corporate world, a workplace mentor is supposed to help you, guide you and to do everything possible to protect your wellness and wellbeing in the workplace. In reality, things can be a little difficult.
Frequently, someone who is assigned to be a ‘mentor’ may not actually be the best person for the job. Some people find that they have a personality clash with their mentor and simply do not get on. This can lead to the one person they are supposed to be able to rely on actually shutting them out of workplace activities, giving them incorrect information or sabotaging efforts that they make at work.
If you find that your mentor seems to hate you, first of all – try not to take it personally. A workplace is a competitive environment, and it may simply be that your mentor feels threatened by your presence for some reason, or finds the role of mentoring you to be an additional burden on top of an already stressful workload.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that whatever title has been given, someone who is not helpful and supportive is not really your mentor in any sense of the word. Instead, you are quite free to look around the workplace and find an older or more senior member of staff who would like to help show you the ropes, and gravitate more towards them.
Do be polite to your formal mentor, though, as her mentoring of you may be part of an HR programme and she may be reporting back to HR about how you are settling in. Don’t directly fall out with her or fail to respond to her.
If your mentor behaves badly, a good trick is to ask yourself what you can learn from this behaviour. It may be that your own job is not up to scratch, or it may be that there is something you can learn from their attitude – and it’s always worth asking them, ‘Is there some way I could have handled XYZ better?’ which will help them to either explain their behaviour or at least feel a bit embarrassed!
Studies have shown that there is a great deal of potential in improving our wellbeing in the workplace by improving our heart health. We spend a large proportion of our time at work, so it stands to reason that this should be one of the key areas we improve when trying to boost our health. A heart healthy workplace helps you to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, which could be life threatening. Work can be stressful and place a significant effect on our mental and physical health, and it can also be a breeding ground for poor eating and lifestyle habits. Think of the vast amount of unhealthy snacks and takeaway foods you eat in a week, not to mention the increasing amount of time you spend sitting at your desk or dodging that walk around the block on your lunch break in favour of sitting in the canteen. Wellness programmes are becoming more and more popular as a way of getting employees to get up and move more, as well as encouraging them to eat better while they’re at work. All in all, a healthier workplace equals a happier one.
If you work an office job especially, you are at risk of developing poor posture from sitting at your desk all day, depression, poor eyesight from staring at a computer screen all day and unhealthy eating habits. Where businesses are concerned, unhealthy employees cost employers money – more sick days, people being signed off with work related injuries, and less productivity. This is why wellness programmes are so popular now – they may cost money to implement, but the rewards are well worth it. Studies have shown that wellness programmes improve people’s body weight, blood pressure, waist circumference, and glucose and lipid concentrations in more than 5000 people. More people gave up smoking and even adding salt to their meals. The improvement to people’s health as a result of the study was astonishing, and showed just what a difference healthier choices at work made.
Research suggests that employees who are more physically active enjoy their work more and are more alert, as well as having higher concentration levels. Exercise is a natural mood booster and can encourage your mind to be more enthusiastic and engaging with your colleagues. There’s also a social element to exercising which can help build team working skills and improve the rapport between colleagues. The best way to achieve this is to have healthy food around the office instead of chocolate and crisps in the vending machines – opt for fruit bowls, for example. Keeping active for just 30 minutes a day could help to lower your risk of heart attacks and strokes, so opt for the stairs or go for a walk on your lunch break – you could even get off the bus a few stops earlier and walk the remainder of your journey each morning. Giving up tobacco is another top tip for improving both your heart health and general wellbeing. There are a number of ways to improve your health through your workplace habits – it’s simply a way of noticing where you’re going wrong and making better decisions about how you spend your time at work. There are often various options for fitting in more exercise or some of your five a day, from the snacks you take at elevenses to how you spend your lunch break. Once you and your employers are aware of this, your workplace can become a far healthier place that carries less health risks for your heart and general health.
The Southern Orange County Paediatric Associates company was named one of the top places to work for the fourth year running, ranking second in the small businesses category. SOCPA also received a special award for their Work/Life flexibility. It seems that their healthcare could be setting this company apart from others in the area, with SOCPA offering 11 paediatricians and 4 nurse practitioners who offer healthcare to infants, children and adolescents in the area since 1977. Their mission is to offer quality healthcare to patients in Southern Orange County, so that they can build a strong community. The organisation also offers sick and well appointments, alongside a programme for weight management, ADHD and asthma, among others.
SOCPA has developed a number of great benefits over the years since being founded – it was the first to utilise an office-based consultant and paediatric nurse practitioner, as well as being innovative in offering a female nurse paediatrician. Employees have stated that what they value is the teamwork aspect of the company and their flexibility – they can see that the company cares about their employees, which makes them feel valued and appreciated. Another element of the company which is novel but effective is the opportunity for employees to bring their children in to work with them – it shows that management are willing to accommodate those who have different schedules. The company is a testament to the idea that if you give to the staff, they will return with a strong work ethic and the flexibility you’ve shown them.
With this in mind, it seems that the way to build a happy workplace is to not only help out your staff when they need it, but to also appreciate them and value the fact that they have personal lives outside of the office. When employees feel trusted to work around their home life without it compromising their job, they’re more willing to give that little bit extra in return. The nature of SOCPA has earned them the title of one of the best places to work in the area – and it seems to be largely based on their attitude towards their staff.
Getting sufficient sleep is a need that every human on the planet shares, but, for most of us, the ability to do that is increasingly under assault. Whether it’s the changing nature of work or your always-on technology, life’s stressors and distractions get in the way of your good night’s sleep – but they’re the exact reasons you need sleep in the first place! Sleep is vital for emotional health and your overall wellbeing, but this is something we often overlook.
In the three-legged stool of good health, nutrition and exercise are constantly discussed, while sleep has so far come up short. There is a mountain of evidence about the incidence and costs of sleeplessness, and the efficacy of various interventions, and so changing your attitude towards sleep could change your life for the better. But why stop with your attitude? How can we get everyone sleeping better, so that relational wellness improves?
First, we need to influence the influencers. As it stands, scriptwriters and directors portray people operating on no sleep as models of machismo and dedication, but no real person can function that way. We also need to get the tech community involved, as new apps, for example, could nudge people toward more healthful behaviour. The healthcare and education sectors have a huge amount of influence, as these are made up of the trusted professionals with whom you already interact about health and informed behaviour. How could we make sleep a more prominent topic in these conversations?
However, as you spend the majority of your week at work, perhaps its time to generate better attitudes towards sleep and mental health in the workplace. Your company would stand to benefit directly from a greater awareness of the importance of sleep, as it makes all the difference to productivity and healthcare costs. Plus, if your company understood the importance of sleep, this may translate into a better working environment for all. The office can be the primary reason you don’t get enough sleep, whether it’s because of a hypercompetitive culture or a level of pressure that leaves decision-makers lying awake at night, so it makes sense to pull more businesses into the movement to change attitudes and behaviours toward sleep.
Boosting your corporate wellness is always important, but what happens if you take time out to have children? Doubtless, you’ll have certain concerns upon returning to work; are you good enough anymore? Will your kids cope without you? Let’s take a look at the challenges that face mothers who want to rejoin the workplace, and how you can overcome them.
Firstly, is your field of expertise fast-moving and ever-changing? If you work in an area such as IT, knowledge and programmes often become obsolete within a matter of months or a few years, and so you might need to make sure you’re up-to-date with industry developments before you start applying for jobs you’re no longer familiar with. It may also come in handy to network with those who work in your field, as the right contact could get you an interview, or even endorse you to a company once they know how good you are, and how hard you’re working to get up to speed.
However, an important thing to remember is to have realistic expectations. According to Priya Verma, co-founder of HR outsourcing firm Crossover, ‘Staying abreast of developments in one’s field, being confident and having realistic expectations on salary and designation are needed when returning,’ to the workplace. That is not to say that you should lower your expectations to anything less than you deserve, but try to see the opportunities in all jobs, even if your first one back is just getting you a foot on the ladder.
A short-term course or internship may be just the thing you need to upgrade your skills, and would be something solid you can put on your CV to show prospective employers that you’re not too proud to put the work in, and improve. Taking on a course or internship can also refresh your memory of what it’s like to be in the workplace, and boost your confidence in going for more substantial roles once you’ve reacquainted yourself with the basics. Many programmes are geared towards mothers who are returning to work, and as such consist of flexible hours and peer support. Look online for more information.
How to Get Back on the Career Ladder after Having Children
Your employer is not allowed to discriminate in hiring, firing, discipline, pay, promotion, job training, fringe benefits or in any other term or condition of your employment, based on a disease or disability. If you have diabetes, you are considered to have a disability because of the substantial limitations of your endocrine system. Thanks to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), employees who miss work because of a serious health condition are protected, and allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. This leave does not have to be taken all at once, but can be taken as intermittent leave, or used an hour at a time if that is what is needed.
The American Diabetes Association has provided a checklist that can help you to identify any problems you might be having at your workplace. Are you prevented from taking breaks at work to check your blood glucose levels, eat and take insulin? Is your employer not providing reasonable accommodations (such as breaks, permission to keep diabetes supplies nearby, leave for treatment, permission to use a chair or stool if you have diabetic neuropathy, or accommodations for diabetic retinopathy)? Was your job or promotion offer taken back when you said you had diabetes? Do you have to have specific blood glucose levels in order to keep your job?
If you have answered “yes” to any of those questions, or are experiencing something similar, start tackling unlawful discrimination by keeping a log of actions and copies of important documents, such as emails and letters from your employer or performance reviews. Also, get a copy of your company’s employee handbook and leave policy, so you know your rights, and educate your employer of the issues you face, as they may not be aware of them. If education is not enough, then you can take further action.
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How To Deal with Diabetes Discrimination in the Workplace
These policies include the likes of flexi-time or part-time working; job sharing, term-time working; days working from home; help with nursery or childcare costs; time off for family emergencies; parental leave and maternity leave.
For employees looking to start or add to their family, some progressive employers also offer the opportunity of a career break – a fixed term away from the workplace with a return guaranteed at the same level as before.
While many government departments have led the way in introducing such family-friendly schemes, more businesses are also implementing schemes and work practices that ensure they recruit and retain the best possible staff as employees’ private lives changes.
Companies that have been proactive in introducing flexible working practices that chime with their employees’ lives and work are now among the most popular to work for and their websites will usually reveal how far these policies go with the best firms happy to trumpet their achievements and entice employees.
While large companies, such as public sector employers and multinational businesses, have the capacity and scale to incorporate flexible working practices, it is tougher for smaller employers to implement such policies. Handling maternity leave, flexitime and part-time working is more difficult when you only have a handful of employees. However, more employers are becoming open to suggestions from their staff on how to get the very best out of them while allowing them some leeway on how they do their work.
Whether you’re interviewing for a prospective employer or already employed, you can offer some of your own suggestions for family-friendly working and are likely to have those suggestions welcomed because businesses understand that happy employees are productive employees.
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How Flexible Working is Making Employers Family Friendly
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