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Stress and Wellness Programs, Seminars & Workshops For Workplace, Corporate and Private In a nationwide survey from the American Psychological Association 32% of Americans report experiencing extreme levels of stress. Nearly half of Americans believe that their stress has increased over the past five years. One in five reported that they experience their highest level of stress 15 or more days per month - and this was before the economic crash. In 2007, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that "Workplace stress is as bad for your heart as smoking and high cholesterol" (JAMA. 2007;298:1652-1660). Even with all the knowledge of just how stress, disease and employee absenteeism interact, many executives and managers still believe that ongoing stress is essential for job productivity, while studies show that workers under stress produce less. The federal Centers for Disease Control reports that stress is the single highest cause of worker absenteeism, double that of all other illnesses and injuries. It's also been proven time and again that stress interferes with memory, concentration, judgments and decision making. We offer many Stress Management Programs to suite any size company's needs.
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Recent News on Workplace Stress
July 15, 2009 04:17 PM Eastern Daylight TimeSustainable Workplace Means Addressing Employee Well-being, Too, According to Stanford Business School ResearchSTANFORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Corporate practices are affecting not just polar bears and wetlands, but also may be killing human beings, says Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty member Jeffrey Pfeffer. As reported in today’s Stanford Knowledgebase the concept of "sustainability" must be expanded to include consideration of whether workplaces are good not only for the environment but also for people. What Pfeffer calls toxic workplace environments, particularly in the United States, raise rates of disease and mortality. He urges business, government, and the media to pay attention to what has been a shockingly neglected topic. In the present distressed economy, he says, "the problem is only going to get worse." "The lack of attention to employee needs helps explain why the United States spends more on health care than other countries but gets worse outcomes," says Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business. "We have no mandatory vacation or sick day requirements, and we do have chronic layoffs, overwork, and stress. Working in many organizations is simply hazardous to your health." Specifically, he says, epidemiological studies show that holding a lower-level position where one does not have much control over job activities and decision making puts employees at a higher risk of having—or dying from—a heart attack. "There’s nothing more stressful than being in an environment in which you have a lot of pressure but relatively little power," Pfeffer says. In addition, spotty or interrupted health care insurance—a typical consequence of layoffs and job changes—and the trend toward jobs that offer no health coverage at all, leads to a significant decrease in routine preventive medical screening procedures such as mammograms and cholesterol and blood pressure testing, and as a consequence, added risk to workers’ health. Pfeffer cites research showing that overwork and job stress lead to increases in smoking, alcohol abuse, and high blood pressure, while layoffs contribute to depression, violence, and even lowered life expectancy. "There is evidence that people who experience a layoff live 1.5 years less than those who don’t," Pfeffer says. The Stanford professor thus maintains that the concept of "sustainability" must be expanded to include not only whether corporations care for the environment and resource conservation, but also whether they are good for their employees. As to why the serious question of worker well-being has been given scant attention by executives, regulators, and pundits, Pfeffer suggests it may have something to do with current mercenary cultural values. "There was a time when CEOs believed they had an obligation to all of their stakeholders, including employees," he says. "But over time, we've come to look at even the simplest things in financial terms. Childcare, for example, which used to be a matter between parents and children, is now a service to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. This way of thinking is taking out the human factor." The great irony, says Pfeffer, is that most workplace policies that are bad for employees are also bad for companies themselves. Organizations that are more "humane"––offering generous benefits, sick leave, vacation pay, health insurance, and so forth––are shown to be more profitable. Pfeffer points to companies such as Southwest Airlines, Kimberly-Clark in the Andean region, and kidney dialysis provider DaVita as exemplars. "I hope businesses will wake up to the fact that if they don't do well by their employees, chances are they’re not doing well, period," Pfeffer says. In the current economic climate, he notes, more people will be laid off, work longer hours, become saddled with increasing work responsibilities, and operate without health insurance. The government, Pfeffer says, will almost certainly need to step in with regulation. If nothing else, with health care costs on the rise, government should be looking to the workplace as one culprit in the decline in the quality of workers' health.
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Ever want to just shut off your brain? The stream of thoughts is incessant: the 65 unanswered e-mails in your in box, your son's science project, your co-worker's annoying sighing, the roof gutter repair, the grocery list. The endless static of brain chatter can be overwhelming. Sure, a vacation would be great, but meditation offers a cheaper and always-available solution. It's a way of slowing down the active mind. Like cleaning out a cluttered drawer, meditation can have a cleansing effect on your brain. What's more, evidence is convincing Western doctors that the benefits of meditation go way beyond its calming influence. Studies show it can help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, lower the risk of heart attack and stroke, treat insomnia, anxiety and stress, aid in reducing chronic pain and improve treatment of hormonal problems. It's easy to learn, and it doesn't have to be spiritual. Clark Strand says it best in his book "The Wooden Bowl": "To meditate is to return to our natural state, the condition of wakeful simplicity that exists when distractions have fallen away." Give it a try: Meditation is about bringing stillness into your life and mind. All you need to get started is a quiet place to practice and five or 10 minutes. Forget the stuff you've heard about pretzel postures, incense and bells. Sit comfortably in a chair, in a quiet place, with soft light. You're ready to begin. The one constant in all meditation styles - and there are many - is focusing on your breathing. This will help you bring your awareness to one single place. Counting breaths is one simple technique. Or you may want to focus on the feeling of the breath going in and out at the tip of your nose. Another helpful technique is to visualize a calming location - a beach, a mountaintop, whatever appeals to you. Or you may want to repeat a phrase to yourself in your mind. This helps you to focus the brain. If you're practicing meditation to reduce your stress level, one phrase you might use is "I am, peace." Your mind will wander. Expect it. Just keep bringing your focus back to the breathing and the relaxation of just inhaling and exhaling and being present in the moment. Try not to judge yourself with questions such as "Am I getting it?" That's not the point. You also may want to read a meditation book, listen to a tape, take a class or attend a retreat. All will help you reinforce your practice. But again, don't overcomplicate what you're doing. Author Strand advised: "Meditation ought to decrease the drivenness of our lives, not make it worse. That is why I say meditate for its own sake, as a hobby, without losing the lightness of your approach." Medical benefits and reduced stress: As mentioned above, the medical benefits of meditation are compelling and varied. In one of the most significant recent studies, researchers found meditation may reduce atherosclerosis and the risk of heart attack and stroke. The findings were published in the American Heart Association Journal, Stroke in March 2001. This was the first controlled study to suggest that stress reduction can reduce atherosclerosis without changes in diet and exercise. The research team included folks from UCLA, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and Maharishi University of Management, College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine in Fairfield, Iowa. Atherosclerosis is a hardening of the arteries due to the buildup of fat deposits in the artery wall. In a study of 60 men and women over seven months, participants practicing meditation showed a decrease of .098 millimeter in arterial wall thickness, as measured by ultrasound. During the same period, a group that didn't practice meditation showed an increase of .054 millimeter in wall thickness. Researchers said a decrease in arterial wall thickness approaching .1 millimeter would indicate an 11% decrease in the risk of heart attack and a 7.7 to 15% reduction in the risk of stroke. Finding a way to reduce stress and anxiety is what brings many people to the practice of mediation. Better decision-making: When we are stressed, we tend to react instinctively . and sometimes not thoughtfully. Anger comes to the surface because we may be feeling fearful, threatened or just tired. Meditation helps people train their brains to react more deliberately instead of instinctively. This can result in calmer decision-making. Feeling in control reduces anxiety. In a study by the University of Massachusetts, 20 out of 22 anxiety-prone people showed a 60% improvement in anxiety levels after an eight-week course in meditation. Up to 40% of U.S. workers describe their job as "very or extremely" stressful, said the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Problems at work account for more health complaints than any other type of stress. And the American Institute of Stress says 60%-80% of on-the-job accidents are stress-related. So it's not surprising that companies are discovering the benefits of meditation in helping their work forces to better handle stress, and many are offering stress reduction and meditation seminars. Calmer workers make better decisions and are better team players. In the 2000 "Attitudes in the American Workplace VI" Gallup Poll, 80% of workers said they felt stress on the job, and nearly half of those said they needed help in learning how to manage stress. 42% said their co-workers needed such help.
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