British working women facing energy crisis

New research has revealed that over 60 per cent of working women believe there is more pressure on them now, than in their mother's generation. 

The research of over 2,000 women goes on to reveal that a potent, energy-zapping mix of technology overload, sleep deprivation and work/life imbalance is draining women’s power pack, leaving them working on empty and feeling pressured in all areas of life.

Stress is clearly a problem affecting many women's energy levels, with over two thirds of women (71%) admitting to spending half their time feeling stressed. Another big energy draw seems to be coming from modern technology. 

Even when we finish work we’re still staying switched on – with nearly two thirds (64%) of women leaving their phones on at night, and half of us not even turning them to silent.  And while for some of us the daily commute to work is for catching up on the news or reading, 31% of women admit it’s a chance to check their phones for emails.

Women are also feeling pressured when it comes to diet and exercise. With 65% of women feeling guilty as they don’t do enough exercise and over half (54%) believing they should eat a healthier diet. So it’s not a surprise that energy slumps are on the increase, with 81% of women suffering from energy slumps, either in the morning, after lunch or by mid-afternoon.

As we move towards 2013 I would encourage anyone to make energy a focus for their New Year’s resolution. Forget fad diets or expensive gym memberships, like a new relationship, if you can’t see longevity in your resolutions, then you’re probably going to end up dumping them and grabbing for the chocolate. 

By focusing on increasing your energy levels and creating positive habits that are realistic and sustainable you’ll see massive changes in your waist line, mood and productivity.

For more information and advice on how to achieve great energy visit www.energiseyou.com/book 

Forget the fad diets

Yesterday, equalities minister Jo Swinson's urged magazine editors to stop featuring irresponsible "fad diets and fitness myths" that will not actually help people lose weight.

After twenty years in the health, energy and weight loss business, it's about time something was done about these crazy fad diets, and it's great to see an MP taking a stand.

Fad diets are crazy. They are unhealthy, unhelpful and unrealistic. But worse than that, they can be dangerous.

They are bad for energy levels, which amongst other things effect people's moods and ability to stay active, and often restrict key food groups which are essential for good health.

But their major Achilles Heel is that most ask too much in too little time which is why people rarely stick to them and often end up in a worst place once they've quit the diet.

They may help the diet industry to pile on the pounds, but generally they don't help individuals to lose weight in a sensible and sustainable way. They can in fact have a negative impact on people's health, energy and performance.

The story behind ENERGISE YOU

What a year!  

I’m really pleased to see my book, ENERGISE YOU – The ultimate health and energy plan, in print.

I wrote the book over a year ago now so it’s fantastic to have the hard copy now here on my desk. And it will be on sale in all major bookstores from January…exciting times.

So, why did I write the ENERGISE YOU?

Anyone who has met me knows I really am so passionate about helping people to improve their health and increase their energy. Whilst our corporate business is helping companies to improve the health, energy and performance of their staff I wanted to create something that everyone, regardless of where they work, can use and refer to on a regular basis.

After years of research, I know information alone doesn’t work; you also need a system for taking the information and creating change. This is where the book comes in. ENERGISE YOU includes a proven system which is used by the energiseYou corporate business – this has helped thousands of employees to improve their health and energy.

Having coached over 10,000 people around health and energy, I have learnt four very powerful things:

1. People’s health, energy and happiness is ultimately driven by their habits in 7 key areas:  mind management, nutrition, sleep, exercise, smart computer use, re-energising and work life balance. The book is full of all the best habits we should adopt and all the habits that we should drop in these 7 areas.

2. The large majority of people just want an expert they trust to tell them what to do in a super simple way; they don't want to know about all the reasons why they should do it, just what works.

3. People need a simple yet sophisticated system for change - we need to know what to do but also how to do it.

4. Finally, pretty much everyone I’ve met and coached wants more energy, they just want to know what to do to get it, how to implement the change and most importantly they want it made quick and SIMPLE.

The book is full of the best information and habits for the mind, nutrition, sleep, exercise, smart computer use, re-energising and work life balance. It can be used like a handbook and can be referred back to for inspiration - it has been dubbed the ultimate energy plan, by those who have used it and it really will help you get great results.

But read it for yourself and let me know what you think on Twitter or Facebook.

HR professionals need to think about themselves…

A recent research report, published by vocational training organisation, City and Guilds, has found HR professionals are some of the unhappiest across the UK workforce.

We know that employee wellbeing often falls to the HR team to manage. The challenge for some HR professionals is that they are so busy looking after the needs of their people that they can forget about themselves.

I often talk about the benefits associated with a healthy, happy and motivated workforce. But this really is essential for our personal wellbeing and if we are to improve the performance of our businesses.

Now is the time for HR professionals to factor their needs into the wellbeing equation. Here are some tips to help you get started…

Replace the word stress with resilience

Stress is a word that is so overused, both inside and outside the workplace. This is not to say it is not a serious issue – in fact new research from the Group Risk Development (GRiD) shows employee stress has been voted the number one risk to employee wellbeing.

But if you are to limit the negative impact associated with, and caused, by stress in the workplace you need to move away from focusing on it so much and think about how you can deal with pressure and become more resilient.

Invest in yourself

Invest in your physical and emotional energy wisely. Develop ways to ensure you are more resilient and make sure you build in recovery time so their energy isn't drained – for expert advice click here to secure your place on our live webinar, on the 12 December.

Try and give yourself 20 minutes of ‘stop time’ per day. Try sitting in a relaxing place in silence and focus on your breathing or listen to some relaxing music.

To check your health and energy click here and take our free online, 10 minute, questionnaire.

Believe

Believe good things can happen. This will give you the motivation to want to make them happen and to be persistent.

Be positive

It may sound very simple but very few people get this right – consistently do more of the things that positively affect you and do less of the things that affect you negatively.

Stay focused

Stay focused on what's important rather than allowing problems or concerns about what might happen to take you off course. 

You can improve your focus and energy by trying to do one task at a time.

                                                        
Make wellbeing part of your culture
Work with your leaders, managers and HR team to make wellbeing part of your organisational culture. Ensure they understand that people need space to perform, relax and take time out to re-energise if they are to give the most at work and your managers need to recognise and support this.

Remember to thank staff this Christmas

Remember to say ‘thank you’ this Christmas. These two words can make all the difference in terms of retaining, engaging and motivating employees.
  

Whilst giving recognition needs to be part of a wider reward strategy and should definitely not be limited to the end of the year, Christmas is a perfect time to give staff an end of year reward and it is an ideal time to formerly thank staff for their hard work.

Do this successfully and you will not only make staff feel great before they take time off over the festive season but you will also set the tone for 2013. So instead of January being the month many employees hand their notice in, you have an opportunity to make staff feel excited about returning to work.

Get the end of year thank you right and employees will be more motivated, to hit the ground running in 2013.

Face-to-face communication is the ideal way to say thank you, as this really allows messages to be delivered in the way you want them to be, but thought also needs to go into the reward if you are giving one.

The research shows money isn’t the number one motivating factor. Whilst it’s important to give employees something that they will appreciate and value it is also worth thinking about what will help support your objectives – what will motivate them to come back to work feeling refreshed and ready to hit the ground running?   

There are lots of options in terms of low cost presents that employers can give their staff, from financial rewards to an activity based gift or something they can take home. Try to think about what you want to achieve and what fits into your culture. 

As Edenred highlight in their recent report, Christmas Rewards Unwrapped, who delivers the thank you is also important. The year end marks a more formal occasion and therefore it makes good business sense for the thanks to come from someone in the senior leadership team.

Doing this will enable you to not only make sure that employees feel valued and that they have made a difference to the success of the business but it will also enable you to set the tone for 2013.

A little thank you goes a long way so let’s get it right…

P.S. Click here to join our live webinar, on the 12 December, to find out how you can improve energy levels and performance this Christmas.
 

Health screening - should you or shouldn’t you?

At energiseYou we recently completed a thorough research project into whether we should provide health screening services, for our clients, as part of our service offering. Following this research we decided not to launch health screening services as part of the energiseYou corporate employee wellbeing offering.

It’s true that health screening can add value to individuals in terms of detecting heath related issues, such as diabetes and high cholesterol. But let’s come back to the real question, should employers proving and paying for health screening?

In my opinion, the simple answer is no…

I’m not saying health screening doesn’t add value or that it’s not right for every organisation. But for the vast majority of organisations their health and wellbeing budget is better spent on other activities – such as coaching, mentoring and inspiring employees to make simple changes to improve their lifestyle.

Any budget given to employee wellbeing needs to be put to the best use, and as you will see below, health screening is not necessarily the best use of budget:

- It’s not always accurate

Some health screening tests are inaccurate and add little value e.g. BMI, body fat percentage, bio dot test, grip test and peak flow test.

- It’s free at your doctors

Most health related tests you can request at your doctors so there is no real need for employers to provide them.

- It can drain your budget

Health screening can be expensive. This money could be better spent on coaching employees to make changes to their lifestyle.

-  Safety and accuracy means it’s better carried out by your Doctor

For safety and accuracy, some health screening is better carried out with your doctor e.g. cholesterol testing and blood pressure.

-  Encourage employees to see their Doctor

Both cholesterol and blood pressure are beneficial health tests. Therefore as part of our wellbeing activities and health education we encourage employees to have it checked with their Doctor, every five years.

Whilst the screening may detect the odd health problem, we know from our work with some of the best companies that by taking a proactive approach and coaching staff to make a positive changes they can have a bigger impact. By doing this, organisations have been able to improve the health of their staff, reduce absence, reduce the cost of reactive health interventions and increase positivity throughout the organisation.

Therefore any budget dedicated to wellbeing is far better spent on promoting healthy ways of living than health screening, and it is this that will have a positive impact on the financial health of the organisation.

Employee wellbeing – make sure it’s more than a tick box exercise...

Our research, Health and wellbeing at work – where we are at and where we need to be, shows the large majority of employers have wellbeing on their agenda. However, many organisations don’t know where to start or what to do to really improve employee wellbeing and deliver return on investment for their business.

In addition to this, many professionals who are responsible for wellbeing are time poor and have budget restraints. This means welbeing often moves down their list of priorities.

I attended a recent conference focusing on employee wellbeing and two things stood out to me:

1. There are still some organisations that treat wellbeing as a tick box exercise

2. More can be done to deliver return on investment

Let me give you an example...

A senior HR Director talked about his approach to employee wellbeing. He was asked how he got buy-in from those at the top to provide employees with private medical insurance.

He said: “I’m lucky, I don’t have to get buy-in. The directors just get the need for it. They understand the importance of having people in work and therefore understand the need to help those who are off sick get back to work quickly, so I have never needed to make a business case.”

But he then went on to say private medical insurance is very rarely used and claims are very low because of the profile of their workforce.

There we have it. Private medical insurance is not adding real value to this organisation or its employees. In fact, the organisation is wasting thousands of pounds on a service that very few employees will ever need and very few will ever get to benefit from.

Challenge what has been done before
In order to deliver real change we need to move away from treating wellbeing as tickbox exercise or a standalone activity, it is something that needs to be threaded through all talent management activities and that really becomes part of the culture.

It is not enough to simply offer private medical insurance or hold one event or workshop. Only by understanding the challenges your people are facing, such as poor engagement and low energy, can you set your objectives. And these challenges change over time which is why what you offer needs to be reviewed regularly.

In order to influence those at the top and really improve employee wellbeing, HR need to focus on what’s best for employees and what will improve business health.  It is time to challenge what has always been done, review what people related initiatives are in place, start being innovative in our approach to employee wellbeing and not be afraid of change.

To listen to our October 2012 webinar, focusing on practical ways to tackle wellbein, please click here.
 
Please email emma.price@energiseyou.com for a copy of Health and wellbeing at work – where we are at and where we need to be.

Where is health & wellbeing on your agenda?

Health and wellbeing at work has gained a much higher place on the agenda for employers and individuals over the last few years. 

Government attention on the issue through its welfare reform agenda has helped put it firmly on the radar for organisations and barely a day goes by without mention of the issue in the media.

While the Government seems to have grasped the importance of health and wellbeing as a workplace issue – it has invested in employee happiness research and the significant Black and Frost Review into absence and health at work – not all employers feel the same.

There are some forward-thinking companies who are grasping the issue, taking a proactive approach to the health of their staff and reaping the associated benefits. But research suggests that some employers are only just starting to confront the issue and grasp the opportunity to improve the performance of their businesses.

The cost of poor employee wellbeing should alarm any leader: translating the impact of the sickness absence, reactive health costs and staff turnover gives the average organisation with 750 staff a bill of around £3,264,000 according to the energiseYou Employee wellbeing guide.

Employees know there is a problem. Research of over 2,000 UK employees, from energiseYou, shows 80% of people score just 40% with regards to their health and energy.

With sickness absence and stress levels rising across the UK, poor employee wellbeing represents an iceberg which looks set to hit UK business unless action is taken quickly.

So the opportunity is clear: employers need to turn their attention to helping their staff improve their health to support better business performance.

To better understand issues facing organisations around health and wellbeing at work we partnered with Edenred and asked almost 200 senior HR professionals what their organisations are thinking and doing in four key areas:

• Getting wellbeing on the agenda
• Making the link between wellbeing and performance
• Practical actions to improve health and wellbeing
• measuring the impact

The purpose of this report is to share this insight and draw on best practice to establish a framework so that organisations can improve the performance of their business.

For a copy of the survey please email contactus@energiseyou.com

The rules of engagement

High levels of employee engagement is what every business wants.

According to research, from the Best Companies, high levels of employee engagement help to create a more profitable business. This is because it drives performance by:
- Improving motivation so that staff go that extra mile for the business
- Inspiring employees to be the best they can be at work
- Giving clarity so staff understand the organisations objectives & priorities
- Achieving great staff retention and the ability to attract top talent

If we were able to wave a magic wand to create a highly engaged workforce I’m sure most business leaders and HR professionals would take it. But sadly there’s not. As leaders we need to work hard to create a positive work environment where employees feel valued, where they are driven by what they do and able to perform at their best.

There is lots of employee focused research that has been carried out to investigate what creates an engaged workforce and what helps attract, retain and motivate workers. This all shows we are not simply driven by large salaries and job security. Our needs go much further, beyond just our material needs, and they become quite physical and emotional.

Wayne Clarke, International Partner, Best Companies Partnership says, “One of the most important things in achieving strong levels of employee engagement is the relationship between employees and their line manager – people join organisations, but they leave managers. Managers need to focus on providing direction and this means good communication.”

Think about a time when you have produced your best work or performed at your best. How did you feel? What type of environment were you working in? How did you feel about your employer and manager? Did you feel healthy, happy and energised? When we are able to meet our employees material needs and also make sure they feel valued then they are far more likely to put in extra work.

Employees want to know that their employers care about them. They want to be recognised for their work and feel valued, which is why the role of managers is so important – click here to read my earlier blog, which focuses on the role of line managers.

Wellbeing is very important. Wayne says, “Effective managers not only offer clarity for what is expected from their employees but they treat them as individuals, with fairness and respect and with a concern for their wellbeing.

"We know that when employees feel that they are fairly treated and looked after, in terms of their health and wellbeing, that they are much more engaged and far more likely to put in the extra effort when needed.”

As a business leader myself, I want my employees to be committed, feel motivated by their work, be passionate about what they do and able to perform at their best. This means listening to employees so that I can:
1. Understand what is most important to them
2. Identify any potential problems so that interventions can be put in place
3. Create a culture where employees are able to perform at their best

We know from our work with some of the best companies that they remain successful because they stay close to their people and have open communication. They listen to employees so that get a good understanding of their needs and by doing so they are able to create a culture where their staff are happy, energised and able to perform at their best.

Employee wellbeing – where do line managers fit in?

More and more organisations are taking action when it comes to improving employee health and wellbeing but in order to achieve real return on investment it is critical for line managers to play their part. In this blog I discuss the role of line managers in improving the health and wellbeing of employees - this first appeared on Edenred.com.

We know from our experience of working with some of the UK’s top brands that by taking a proactive approach to the health and energy of employees, organisations can really improve wellbeing which in turn helps increase the company’s profits.

But to succeed, and achieve real return on investment, the culture of the organisation needs to be one that embraces wellbeing - this is where line managers come in. Managers can really help create the positive organisational culture that is required to really achieve a healthy, energised, high performing workforce.

Here are five things areas to consider when thinking about the role of line managers in employee wellbeing:

1) Direction, motivation and challenge
It is important for line managers to give clarity about the vision of the business and business objectives, and make sure employees understand how their individual objectives fit in. A little pressure can be a good thing. It is up to line managers to get the balance right, making sure staff feel stretched and are motivated by their objectives but not feeling overwhelmed and unable to handle the pressure.

2) Good communication
Research from Best Companies highlights the importance of good communication in achieving high levels of employee wellbeing and engagement. The most effective way to improve communication is through conversation and this is where line managers come in. It is important for team members to feel that they trust their line manager and can have an open and honest relationship. Managers who listen to and are open to receiving feedback and maintain an open channel of communication will naturally become aware of problems more quickly and this will enable them to fix them much sooner.

3) Spot the warning signs
Managers need to work closely with their team to ensure they are working to realistic deadlines and have a manageable workload. There will be times when individuals themselves are unable to spot early warning signs and this is where line managers come in. Are employees unable to cope with the pressure? Do they appear to lack energy? Is morale low? Are engagement levels changing? Is someone working too many hours? Managers need to be close enough to their team to spot potential problems. Only then will they be able to intervene and provide the support required.

4) Address the warning signs
Fail to address these warning signs and the business will suffer. Sometimes it will be as simple as a manager taking their team member to one side and discussing the issue and other times it maybe more complex. It is important to ensure line managers understand how to deal with problems when they spot them and what processes are in place to support their employees.

5) Employee recognition
It is important to give recognition to employees when they do a good job. By treating employees well and giving them recognition they are far more likely to be happy, motivated and engaged in their job and as a result pass on the positivity to customer, clients and colleagues thereby maintaining a positive corporate culture.

High potentials - the missing element

‘High potentials’ and ‘top talent’ are terms that have been used within the business world for quite some time now.

As employers most of us now recognise that our people can give us a competitive advantage. By identifying individuals with high potential, both inside and outside our organisation, we have an opportunity to really accelerate the performance of individuals and achieve great things.

This has created many specially targeted recruitment campaigns and development programmes for high potentials, including special graduate development programmes and leadership programmes.

As a result many organisations are now investing thousands of pounds to identify and train those with high potential. But there are many questions that we need to ask ourselves:
- Are we investing money in the right areas?
- Are we doing all we can to accelerate the development of those with high potential?
- Are we doing all we can to retain those with high potential?

All too often employers miss a crucial element that could really help accelerate the development of these employees and improve their performance that little bit more – health and wellbeing.

Whilst these high potentials may need the relevant technical training so that they are equipped with the relevant technical skills to do their job research also shows individuals perform much better if they are healthy and energised.

Think about yourself. When you get a good night’s sleep and eat the right food do you feel better? Are you more alert? Are you more energised? Are you able to perform better?

Our research of over 1,000 employees shows 80% of people score just 40% with regards to their health and energy. What this means in practice is that there is a huge opportunity for us, as employers, to help our people make simple changes to improve their health, energy and performance.

Investing a little more time in developing a well thought through employee wellbeing strategy makes good business sense.

By incorporating wellbeing activities into these wider training and development initiatives for our high potentials we have a huge opportunity to improve the success of these programmes and maximise the performance of our people.

This is a great example of how focusing on marginal gains, which I discussed in my previous blog post, can be applied to the workplace.

By integrating education around health and wellbeing into wider training and development programmes organisations will really reap the benefits in terms of maximising the performance of targeted talent pools and making the most of their recruitment spend.

What we can learn from our Olympic team for workplace performance

What a fantastic Olympics – it really is inspiring to see Great Britain (GB) scooping so many medals! The coaches and the wider GB team have clearly put everything into helping our athletes reach their peak.

This got me thinking about what we, as employers, can learn from our Olympic team for workplace performance...

I saw a really inspiring interview with David Brailsford, Performance Director of the Great Britain cycling team, whose team won eight out of 10 track cycling gold medals in London. He attributes four key things to their success:

1. Talented athletes
2. Hard working athletes
3. Set a specific goal
4. Make a list of all the elements that impact on the success of your goal and work on improving each element

Brailsford refers to the different elements as ‘marginal gains’. He says that if you break down everything that goes into achieving that goal and improve each element by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.

He focused on obvious things like fitness and conditioning, the technology of the bike and clothing, but also other things like sleeping in the right position and having the same pillow when athletes are away and training in different places. Brailsford said, “They're tiny things but if you clump them together it makes a big difference to performance”.

The GB cycling team used experts in each area to help achieve these marginal gains; technology experts to improve the performance of the bike and sleep experts to ensure athletes got sufficient sleep.

Every aspect of preparation for the cycling has been meticulous. The medals are not a fluke. It’s the preparation, hard work and talent – talented athletes, talented coaches and other talented experts in each of the marginal gain areas – that has led to success.

The formula should be no different for businesses – we need to ensure we have talented people who are working hard. We also need a clear goal and by breaking this goal down we can identify and improve the different elements to ensure success. One of these elements has to be achieving a healthy, energised and engaged workforce.

I am not suggesting that we buy all of our employees a comfortable pillow, but by educating them about the simple changes they need to make to improve their health, energy and performance we have a real opportunity to help them maximise energy, improve their performance and increase business profits.

Click here to listen to our August 2012 webinar. This focused on how you can use the Olympics to inspire your workforce, drive business performance and get your employees to focus on gold.

Senior executives cannot afford to ignore their own wellbeing

I have been working with senior executives for years now, helping them to improve the wellbeing of their employees and helping them as individuals improve their own health and wellbeing.

Many leaders do recognise the need to invest in the wellbeing of their workforce but all too often they ignore their own needs - this not only has a negative impact on their own health but also the health of their organisation.

It’s true that senior executives are there to lead and need to hold everything together but this does not mean that they should ignore their own wellbeing needs. In fact, Ben Wilmott, Head of Public Policy, at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) recently told the Financial Times that it is no longer good enough for senior executives to pass stress on. He said that by failing to deal with their stress this will in turn create a toxic culture and will undermine performance.

I agree with Ben. We know that by improving employee wellbeing organisations can reap the benefits in terms of the increased productivity – individuals are more energised and motivated to achieve goals.

It doesn’t matter whether you are just entering the workplace or whether you are at the very top, the fact of the matter is that someone with more energy and positivity is going to be much more beneficial for the organisation. It is this that has a positive impact on bottom line.

The CIPD’s 2011 Employee Absence survey finds stress is now the top cause of long-term absence and senior executives are not immune to the impact of stress. In fact Michael Sinclair, City-based psychologist and author of Fear and Self Loathing in the City, raises real concerns about the pressure high-flying executives in the City face and the fact more CEOs are being signed off work.

There is a real need to help those at the top as well as the average worker. Individuals, whether they are at the top or bottom of the food chain, can only take such pressure and ignore their own wellbeing for a short period of time before it starts to impact on those around them.

We have all seen it in the press – senior executives burning out. Failing to address the health and wellbeing of those at the very top will have a detrimental affect on the business long-term. By giving those at the top the tools to improve their health and become more resilient they will be in a much stronger position to lead their organisation.

A call to ban the word stress in the workplace

Stress – it is a word that is so overused, both inside and outside the workplace. This is not to say it is not a serious issue but if we are to limit the negative impact associated with, and caused, by stress in the workplace we need to move away from focusing on it so much and think about pressure and resilience.

It is true the side effects of stress on individuals can be terrible, from both a mental and physical perspective. They are also terrible for businesses and can lead to mistakes, loss of productivity and high levels of sickness absence. But by focusing efforts soley on stress itself we have already decided it exists within our organisation and in fact we will probably end up fuelling it.

I worked with someone who suffered with stress on and off over 10 years. Her company sent her on a couple of stress management workshops, but generally they made her feel worse and just gave her another thing to worry about. She then attended a health and energy related workshop and it was here that she learnt about what the early warning signs of stress are. As a result she has been able to manage pressure at work more effectively and has developed more resilience to the pressure and challenges when they arise.

Let’s face it, pressure exists everywhere. In fact, as I have said in previous blog posts a little bit of pressure can actually be a good thing, helping motivate and engage people. It is how people deal with this pressure that will determine whether our businesses are successful or not.

So, rather than focus all of our attention on stress let’s focus on giving our people the tools they need to manage pressure effectively. By taking a more proactive approach to the health and wellbeing of our workforce and the initiatives we put in place, rather than simply reacting to problems, will enable us to create a much more resilient workforce.

How high-flyers can avoid burnout…

We have all seen it in the press – reports about senior executives burning out. It can be a lonely job at the top and a role that comes with immense pressure. But it is how we manage this pressure that will determine our success.

Once reaching the top things often change. Not only is there more responsibility but colleagues can react differently to you when you move into a leadership position and very few individuals can truly be used as a sounding board. This adds to the pressure.

Also, when you are in a position of leadership and authority you are quite often tasked with having to make difficult decisions. Get it right and you’re doing a great job, get it wrong and your reputation can be tarnished. Unfortunately this is quite often the reality of the corporate world that we live in.

It’s how we as leaders handle this pressure that will lead to the success or failure of a business. All too often we talk about stress – it seems like every other week there is a new report out highlighting increasing levels of stress among managers, leaders and employees.

But let’s face it, if we are honest a little bit of pressure is good. As a leader myself I know that a little bit of pressure can motivate me and give me the drive to achieve great things but I also see it in my team. Pressure of some sort will always exist and it should not be considered a bad thing. What is important is our reaction to it.

As leaders, we need to learn how to deal with this pressure effectively and ensure our employees are able to do the same. Only then will we be successful in creating a resilient workforce.

Schools are beginning to take wellbeing seriously but what about businesses?

I read a recent article showcasing a school in Berkshire that has introduced wellbeing lessons
to help boost pupils' grades. The lessons were introduced to the school's curriculum in 2006 and since then, A level grades have risen - from 69 per cent achieving A or B grades to 93 per cent achieving an A*, A or B.

Clearly investment in pupil’s wellbeing, giving them time out from other lessons to focus on this, is having a positive impact. But how long will it take for other schools to get this and start investing in it? My conclusion – it will take a long time if businesses are anything to go by.

Government statistics show that for every £1 invested in staff wellbeing, there’s a return of £3 in improved efficiency and productivity and research from Roffey Park has repeatedly found a correlation between individual wellbeing and the financial and strategic success of the organisation they work for.

Like some of the businesses we work with the school in Berkshire is being innovative and reaping the benefits. However, some employers are not doing anything when it comes to employee wellbeing or simply dipping their toes in the water - perhaps they just don't understand the true cost of poor wellbeing or they see it has being just too difficult to tackle? As an expert in health, energy and performance I know that it doesn’t take much to see a little increase in energy levels and performance – one simple change can have a huge impact.

To achieve meaningful results a culture shift is needed, which has to start at the top with senior
management. As managers and leaders we need to lead by example – only when we take our health and wellbeing seriously, will this will filter down to staff.

A reduction in sickness absence is not always a good thing…

In a recent article on the Guardian Online Professor Gary Johns highlights the fact presenteeism is a much worse problem than absenteeism. He says, "There is considerable agreement across studies that presenteeism accounts for more aggregate productivity loss than absenteeism."

I agree with Professor Gary Johns. Yes, we need to reduce sickness absence but if staff are simply coming into work to show their face then the numbers are deceiving. Whilst on the face of it there maybe a reduction is sickness absence productivity may not have improved, in fact it could have got worse. And it is this that we need to be focusing on because it is quality and high productivity that will create a successful business not an extra person sitting at a desk.

This is not to say stop monitoring sickness absence but as employers we also need to be proactive in our approach to employee wellbeing, offering a range of initiatives to educate staff and really help them improve their health and energy. This is what will ultimately lead to staff performing at their best and increased productivity.

So it is simple really – a healthy energised workforce results in improved productivity and reduced absence. And it is the organisations that get this and are being proactive in their approach to employee wellbeing that will succeed. They are the innovators that are investing in the health and energy of their staff, making employee wellbeing part of their organisational culture, and in turn creating a much more resilient workforce.

Wellbeing initiatives – should they stay or go during financial difficulty?

Healthy staff = healthy profits

The business case for employee wellbeing should be simple. But some argue that business leaders cannot possibly justify wellbeing related initiatives when they are making cut backs.

When an employer asked Lucy Kellaway, from the Financial Times, whether they should keep their subsidised staff canteen her answer was simple – yes. But it wasn’t so straightforward when it came to the gym membership.

She explains the benefits that a staff canteen has on a business in terms of bringing people together. But what about the other benefits associated with it?

A staff canteen not only brings people together but it means organisations can help staff achieve a balanced diet and maintain high energy. It is this that will improve performance.

Then there is the gym membership that Kellaway dismisses. It’s true that some people will value this more than others but it’s all about educating employees and giving them the tools to improve the health and energy – achieve this and productivity will improve.

So when we are asked should wellbeing initiatives be slashed during difficult economic times? In my world the answer is simple – no.

We know from our work with some of the top UK brands that a healthy workforce results in improved productivity and reduced absence. It is the forward thinking organisations, like eBay and Google, that are being proactive in their approach to employee wellbeing that will succeed.

These organisations are the innovators that are making efforts to help their staff improve their health and energy, making employee wellbeing part of their organisational culture, and in turn creating a much more resilient workforce.