Energy management in the workplace

A recent YouGov survey of over 2,000 employees, commissioned by Lucozade Revive, finds nine out of ten of us suffer with a dip in energy in the afternoon. This afternoon energy slump equates to a shocking 24 days in lost productivity per year per employee. 

These two findings really show the benefits that can be gained from improved energy management, for both employers and individuals themselves.

A couple of months ago I was asked by Lucozade Revive to chair their Energy Management Summit. The panel discussed energy management in the workplace and the role employers should play in helping their staff achieve high energy.

The conclusion following the summit is that there are three huge benefits linked to improved energy management within our organisations:

        Employees achieve a better quality life 

      They are not only much happier but their performance at work improves as a result.

      Improved organisational performance 

      Sickness absence reduces, reactive healthcare costs drop and employee performance improves.

Less pressure on the NHS 

      Energy management is directly linked to health, when energy improves our health also improves.  Healthy people put less strain on the NHS, which currently costs the UK £109 billion per year.

To find out how you can help your staff beat the 3pm working slump click here. 

Workers are suffering with poor energy – why?

Research, from energiseYou, shows the large majority of UK workers score just 30-40% on the key drivers of good health and energy.

We now live in a 24/7 world and these things are just some of key changes that are causing us to feel drained or low in energy: 

Nutrition

Our nutritional habits have changed over the last ten years, quite often for the worse. E.g. More processed food, less nutrients in our food

Lack of movement

We are now much more sedentary at work and at home

Approach to work

The way we work now. E.g. Dealing with everything as if it’s urgent, lots of task swapping

Pressure

The sheer pressure people are under

Technology

The excessive technology we are exposed to

Hyper-thinking syndrome

We can get so busy problem solving that thinking takes over our awareness, and we lose our sense of the here and now – this is a common problem

Work-life balance

In today’s 24/7 working world many of us find a blur between work and home, leaving us working too many evenings and weekends and quite often not taking a real break

Lack of sleep

With new technology new information is being delivered to us all the time. Our nervous system is quite often being over stimulated and this is negatively affecting our sleep

The modern world is having a negative impact on our energy and this is just going to get progressively worse unless we take action now. Take action today – to find out what you can do click here to contact one of the energiseYou team  

Creating a healthy mind really can boost success

It’s not just famous athletes and celebrities that are reaping the success of mind management and meditation.

If you listen to any ‘great’ leader they attribute much of their success to having a healthy mindset and adopting the right attitude. Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Bill Ford have all spoken about their use of meditation and the benefits associated with creating a healthy mindset.

Now, if we can get our employees to do the same then we are really onto a winner.

A healthy mind offers huge benefits to us as individuals in terms of increasing happiness, improving creativity and aiding weight loss etc. But it also offers huge benefits to our businesses.

People who manage their mind effectively are more successful at work because they have higher energy levels, are generally much healthier and they are able to handle with pressure more effectively.

Our research, of over 4,500 individuals, shows the large majority of people score just 42% on the key drivers of positive mind management. This highlights a huge opportunity for us as employers to improve performance within our businesses.

In today’s nonstop 24/7 digital world, we lead such busy lives and as a result our mind rarely stops thinking. Most people’s habits mean they are using technology non-stop from the minute they open their eyes to the minute they close them at night. This over stimulation of mind and body can drain energy and cause poor health, such as sleep problems and mental health fatigue.

By helping our employees to manage their mind effectively we can really improve performance. 

To find out how you can create healthy mind and body in the workplace click here and sign up to my free 30 minute webinar today.

This is taking place on Wednesday 15 May 2013, at 12pm 2013. I will cover:

- How supporting your employees' health & energy can improve business performance
- Why your staff need a healthy mind & body at work
- The 7 essential ingredients to create a healthy body
- Innovative mind management practices to improve performance
- Practical steps to improve the health & energy of your staff this summer

#AskOliver health Q&A session

I ran the first of my #AskOliver Twitter Q&A sessions last Friday and it was a great success!

I asked my Twitter followers to tweet their health and energy related questions using the hashtag #AskOliver and I logged onto Twitter to answer them, between 12-2pm. I received a variety of health and energy related questions and thought it would be helpful to write a short blog post to summarise them and share some of my tips.

@katemallett

Hi Oliver. I always have a 3pm slump. How do I combat this?

@Olivergray7

Make sure you include healthy protein (fish, chicken, tofu, lentils) in your lunch & Matcha tea is a great 3pm energiser

@GaylinJee     

Morning coffee at work - good 'energiser' to start the day? What's your view?

@Olivergray7 

Try to limit your caffeine.Matcha green tea is a much better option. Gives u an energy boost & won't leave you feeling low later

@VickieCollinge

How many breaks should you take from your computer screen during an average 8 hour working day?

@Olivergray7 

About 5 mins per hour, and a longer break from lunch, also regular fresh air breaks & back stretches helps to energise

@EmilyBPerry

Oliver, I use my mobile phone right up until I head to bed (midnight) - is this wise??

@Olivergray7

Not so wise ;) Start a new habit to improve sleep, avoid all technology an hour before bed, no TV, laptop, iPad & phone

@EmilyBPerry

Oliver, are short bursts of fitness (15mins) really as effective as longer sessions in the gym??

@Olivergray7

15 min workouts are great when you're time poor Mon-Fri & def as effective as longer sessions. Morning = max benefits

@RSMeintjes  

Hello @olivergray7 what is the best way to keep your energy levels up when at work? Snacking? Fresh air?

@Olivergray7

Fresh air breaks & lunch away from your computer is key + healthy breakfast & lunch with a mid afternoon fruit & nut snack

@RSMeintjes  

Having an afternoon energy slump. Your thoughts?

@Olivergray7 

It's a beautiful day for some fresh air energising lunch Sainsbury's local now do lentils pre-cooked, great with green salad 

@matilda501 

What's the best way to avoid food cravings e.g. sugar?

@Olivergray7 

Avoid refined processed foods, these are often high in sugar, the less sugar you eat the less you will crave. Try for 1 month

@Toxovic       

Why do I feel so full/sick when I eat small amount of eggs, then hungry soon after. Have to eat them in two sittings

@Olivergray7 

Maybe intolerant or the way you digest protein, this is likely to be the case if the same thing happens with other protein foods

@matilda501  

My job is community based, and stressful, not sure when to fit in exercise before or after work?

@Olivergray7

Exercise doesn't have to mean going to the gym @matilda501 - it could be walking to work

Do keep posting any questions on Twitter. You can contact me via @olivergray7 I am always up for interacting with people who are taking an interest in their health and energy levels!

What's your focus for 2013?

Traditionally December and January is a time when many people start thinking about what they want to achieve in the New Year.
 

This month all the staff here, at energiseYou, have picked an area that they want to focus on to improve their health, energy and happiness. Some of the team plan to eat more fruit, there’s Lily who is going to learn to cook and someone upping their marathon training.

This got me thinking about what I want to focus on in 2013. I’m already very proactive when it comes to nutrition and exercise so I started to think about other areas that will really help energise me – this led me to success and fun…

Why success? Having played professional tennis for four years and always being interested in sports I am naturally very competitive and love the thrill of a win. For me, losing is just not an option and this is why success is so important.

Why the fun? Whilst it is positive to have an objective in mind and a belief that you will achieve it the danger is that you become so focused on the end goal that you stop enjoying the journey. So, for me, this is where the focus on fun comes in.

It’s so important to enjoy work and our day to day activities. When we have fun and enjoy life we are more energised, more likely to achieve our goals, and we are naturally much happier.

All too often we take life and work too seriously, especially in the workplace. Yes, there are serious issues that will need my attention and yes there might be challenging moments but this doesn’t mean work can’t be fun.

By having fun along the way I know I will enjoy everything a bit more and hopefully those around me will too. So here is to a fun and successful 2013.

Some of the energiseYou team will be sharing updates on how they are doing with their new habits on Twitter @energiseyou and @olivergray7 and Facebook You can do the same – don’t forget #ENERGISEYOU

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.